[kj] Jaz would nt appreciate this article

[GregSlawson at aol.com]

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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