The Economist (May 21)
“By invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will destroy the lives of people far from the battlefield—and on a scale even he may regret. The war is battering a global food system.” Russia and Ukraine produce roughly 12% of all traded calories. If “the war drags on and supplies from Russia and Ukraine are limited, hundreds of millions more people could fall into poverty. Political unrest will spread, children will be stunted and people will starve.”
Tags: Battlefield, Calories, Children, Destroy, Food, Invading, Political unrest, Poverty, Putin, Russia, Starve, Stunted, Ukraine, War
Washington Post (January 8)
“Money for war, but not for the poor.” Arguments over Mideast intervention overshadow “our failure to invest in or prioritize the safety and health of 327 million people living in the United States.” This “is also a threat to our safety and well-being.” In the U.S., 15% of children live in poverty, an opioid epidemic rages, suicide presents a massive threat, and life spans are actually declining.
Tags: Arguments, Children, Epidemic, Failure, Health, Intervention, Invest, Life spans, Mideast, Money, Opioid, Poor, Poverty, Safety, Suicide, Threat, U.S., War
The Economist (October 27)
“Blind adherence to ESG criteria… could skew capital flows towards the most privileged parts of the world. That would make it harder for poorer economies to escape poverty—a failure that could, in turn, inhibit their progress on green, governance and social-justice matters.” For this reason, Charlie Robertson and others are arguing that “ethical investors should instead adopt a kind of economic relativism, judging countries relative to their GDP per person.”
Tags: Capital flows, Economic relativism, Economies, ESG, GDP, Governance, Green, Poverty, Privileged, Robertson, Social justice
US News & World Report (March 20)
Though large gaps exist between urban and rural populations, common perceptions, like “urban poverty,” are often rooted in misconception. In the U.S., poverty is actually “higher in rural areas…. In fact, levels of rural poverty were often double those in urban areas throughout the 1950s and 1960s.” In 2015, the gap had narrowed, but the poverty rate still stood at 16.7% of the rural population and 13.0% of the urban population.
The Economist (January 2)
“India is taking the idea of a universal basic income seriously.” Few expect the current proposal, which “would cut absolute poverty from 22% to less than 0.5%” with a proposed annual income of slightly over $110 income, to be adopted soon, but “the idea will not go away. It may seem folly in a country home to over a quarter of the world’s truly poor to give people money for nothing. But it would be a swift, efficient way to make it home to far fewer of them.”
Financial Times (October 31)
“In the past 10 years, South America never had it so good” as economies soared, fortunes were made and poverty fell. Now, however, “there is a new sense of anxiety” as China’s economy slows and commodity prices drop. “Like all good things… the party is ending.”
Tags: Anxiety, China, Commodity prices, Economy, Fortunes, Poverty, South America
Wall Street Journal (August 20)
“Mr. Modi’s plans to unleash market forces will lift millions of Indians out of poverty, but he also has ideas about how government can better meet the immediate needs of the poor.” Though some of his plans “may sound oddly simple to developed-world ears” (e.g. access to toilets and bank accounts), “the Prime Minister’s humble background gives him an understanding of what the poor need to find their own path to prosperity and the credibility to build a new consensus for those policies.”
Tags: Background, Bank accounts, Consensus, Credibility, Government, Humble, India, Modi, Policies, Poverty, Prosperity, Toilets
Forbes (March 13)
“Like Iceland in its heyday, Singapore’s economic stability and vitality – on the surface at least – has made it the envy of the world at a time when most Western economies are languishing with feeble growth, and high rates of unemployment and poverty.” And, just like Iceland, the Switzerland of Asia will suffer when its economic bubble is punctured. In the meantime, “Singapore’s bubble economy may continue inflating for several more years if the U.S. Fed Funds Rate and SIBOR continue to be held at such low levels.”
Tags: Asia, Bubble, Economic stability, Fed, Growth, Iceland, Poverty, SIBOR, Singapore, Switzerland, U.S., Unemployment, Western economies
Economist (June 1)
“Nearly 1 billion people have been taken out of extreme poverty in 20 years. The world should aim to do the same again.”
Tags: Development, Poverty, World
New York Times (January 18)
“The number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.7 million to nearly 47.5 million” or nearly 16% of the population during 2008. Regrettable, this was nonetheless expected given the extent of the Great Recession. Surprisingly, the poverty level remained stable during 2009, despite mounting job losses. This shows the Government’s stimulus and safety net measures made a difference. The New York Times urges Congress not to slash essential spending, “reducing federal help now will almost ensure more poverty later.”
Tags: Congress, Great Recession, Poverty, U.S.
