Meahgan Hayes
10/28/2011
The article that I chose for this week discusses the fact that while the current protestors of the Occupy Wallstreet campaign are the 99% here in America, they are actually better off, economically, than the majority of people throughout the world. The point that this article is trying to make is that yes, while the inequality found in certain countries around the globe is astounding, the overall global inequality is so much worse and has the capabilities to do more damage on an even bigger scale. When looking at the rates of inequality of the different countries and how they compare to the rest of the world, it is common to use a system that is known as the Gini coefficient. On this scale 0 represents a nation that has perfect equality, meaning that absolutely everyone earns the same amount; and 100 represents a nation the has perfect inequality, meaning that the only one person in that nation holds any income. And as of late, countries such as Sweden have scores that range around 25, while certain countries found in Africa and South America are given scores in the 50’s. However, there is some good news. Within the last five or six years, the global Gini score has dropped from a solid 70 to a 67-68. And while it may seem to be a dip that isn’t substantial, if it continues it could possibly be the first decline in global inequality since the Industrial Revolution.
I personally applaud this article. It doesn’t happen very often that you come across a news article that gives you an impression that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I think that there could be a great possibility that the world will eventually reach a point in time were things are more equal. But, I also think that there are lots of factors that this outcome is balancing upon, and I think it will take a great number of years until we reach that goal.
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