Slashdot Mirror

See where you are:
Go ahead, take this test, I bet you score better than 85% of all people. Yes, that's pretty privileged.

What those beneath you get:
Poverty is not only low income and no assets. It is a condition of exclusion from the institutions and organizations of modern life. In many countries law courts, banks, education, health services, roads, water, electricity, even respect, are not available to the poor. It is harder for them to get permissions to open businesses, and they are often forced to pay bribes. I first became aware of this in 1972, when Robin and I wrote a check to a Kenyan family. When they tried to bank it, they were told they needed to file a lengthy application, with two recommendations by "respectable persons," to open an account. Neither an illiterate person nor one with no connections would have been able to do that. In most of the world, the poor live in a society distinct from the affluent - different institutions, organizations, and customs, and little communication between the two. The poor are looked down on and denied the courtesies available to others.

The growing disparity between you and them
Gini Index
"Estimates for the early years should be taken only as rough guides, but it's safe to say that income inequality is at levels not seen since the climax of the 1920s boom and the collapse into Depression. After peaking in 1932, the gini began a long downtrend that ended in 1968. It's been almost straight up ever since, pausing only during the mid-1970s and early-1990s recessions."

According to the Global Rich List the richest 5% in the world have a yearly salary starting at $26,000 and the richest 1% starts at $40k.

Life is hard here in the US in 2003; open your eyes people! I know of children in this "land of opportunity" who are scraping by without even the benefit of a current generation game console!

What we need is a return to the hunter/gatherer economy. The ONLY economic system that has ever ensured full employment.

You can see just how bad off you really are at www.globalrichlist.com.

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It can be quite sobering to find out that you are in the top 0.9% richest people in the world. Thats a hell of a lot of people poorer than you.

I'm sure people will rip this apart because it's based on global data, doesn't take into account cost variations in countries and 101 other things - but give it a go anyway.

Considering the fact that 16% of the planet doesn't even make $400 a year , this is still ridiculously expensive.

I am a college student, married with two kids, going into international development, microfinance in particular. When I read about IT people whining about lack of opportunity, I think about the people that microfinance services. Why do Americans deserve "benefits of citizenship" when it was luck that we were born here? Why do the other posters in this thread "deserve" to be able to pay their mortgage, when most of the world has a dirt floor? You'll find an interesting perspective if you go here. According to this, living on welfare in the US puts you in the top 7-8% of the world's wealthiest people. I stand by my previous post about *whining*.

Compare what you pay for gas to what the rest of the world pays, and you won't feel so bad. You might also want to go to the Global rich List and feel similarly good about your salary.