[kj] Jaz would nt appreciate this article

[Nuclear Boy]

Also in early 20th century economists estimated that working hours by the
end of century would be 12 hours a week. This estimate was based on growth
of labour productivity at a time. In fact labour productivity grep faster
but still working week is around 40 hours and in many countries more. Those
economists failed to realisme that almost a third of all those who can work
would be unemployed - that makes it something between 800 milion and one
bilion unemployed worldwide.

Richest 225 people has a combined wealth of poorest 47% of the world's
population.

Only about 600 milion people are "useful" as consumers for corporations.

I have also read some estimates that today 300 milion people are involved in
slave labour, 200 milion of them children - that is about 10% of worlds
workforce.

 

 

From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On
Behalf Of GregSlawson at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 3:15 AM
To: gathering at misera.net
Subject: Re: [kj] Jaz would nt appreciate this article

 

In a message dated 4/5/2005 7:28:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
jagargal at lycos.com writes:




You got a point, that may be true: it seems there are few extreme poor
people. A very few percentaje of the people in the world die because they
are poor (starving)... I can't assure it, but it seems to be this way. At
least there hasn't been another "USA for Africa"or things like that.



The latest figure, compiled by world hunger groups and such, is 50,000 die
each day due to hunger and preventable disease (like diherrea due to
untreated drinking water, or, in the UK, to Peter West's open mouth, lol). I
think the figure used to be 30,000 a day, but I'm not sure how it's changed
in recent years. 
Second, the fact that tech-related consumer goods get cheaper with time is
both good and bad. Good for the consumer, but bad because the labor required
to produce each unit is less. THat means that the company profits less on
each unit sold (for example, a cell phone solf for $50 yeilds less profit
than one sold for $100). And guess what happens when less profit is made?
Wages, hours, benefits, etc. go down! That's why the total buying power is
going down (and people are less able to afford necessities). For example,
when I WAS A KID, almost everyone could afford to buy a home by around age
30, even if you didn't go to college. Now, it's a complete fantasy to buy a
home before age 30, and if you didn't go to college it takes even longer, or
never. Karl Marx predicted all this 150 years ago and it came true--not
fortune telling, just economics. 

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