One of the biggest global challenges is economic inequality --the gap between the rich and the poor. How to improve the life of the poor? Education and access to information? Creating markets for the poor? Giving the poor a chance to enter the economic system, to get out of poverty, diseases and lack of education, and to climb up the social ladder? Provide the poor with adequate social opportunities, basic healthcare (e.g., vaccination, antibiotics, toilets and clean water...), so that they may be able to help each other, control their own lives, and climb up the social ladder. "With adequate social opportunities, individuals can effectively shape their own destiny, and help each other." (Amartya Sen)
In 2013 the median net worth of upper-income
families in the USA reached $639,400, nearly 7 times as much of those in the
middle, and nearly 70 times the level of those at the bottom of the income
ladder. From the data of the Federal Reserve, the middle income for a family
of four is $44,000/year, and the yearly income of $132,000 for the same family
size pushed the household into the upper ranks. (NY Times Business, B3,
Dec 18, 2014)
Wealth inequality hurts economic growth. The
latest increases in wealth.are the result of existing assets ballooning in
value --like a penthouse apartment with a river view --rather than productive
investments.(Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz)
Another huge challenge to humankind is climate change. "No nation will be immune to the impact of climate change. However, the distribution of impact is likely to be inherently unequal and tilted against many of the world's poorest regions, which have the least economic, institutional, scientific, and technical ability to react." (The World Bank)
There are many levels of actions: international level, national level, community level, societal level, individual and home owner level. How to change? Create a social consensus; provoke care; marshal resources; design patterns of intervention. A non-violent process that requires everybody's universal responsibility, determination and perseverance.
Sources:
www.worldbank.org/climatechange
Patricia Cohen. "Fuel by Recession, US Wealth Gap Is Widest in Decades, Study Finds." The New York Times Business, B3, Thursday December 18, 2014.
