Politics > Politics-USA > Neo-fascismUpdate: Globlization, outsourcing, etc., makes the poor poorer.
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Politics > Politics-USA |
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"Black Elk" |
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26 Aug 2005 08:35:11 PM |
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Neo-fascismUpdate: Globlization, outsourcing, etc., makes the poor poorer. |
Published on Friday, August 26, 2005 by the Inter Press Service
Globalization Driving Inequality, UN Warns
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - Despite unprecedented economic growth in recent years, the
rich have become richer and the poor even poorer, says a new U.N. report
that also shows women facing more hardship than men in all walks of life.
Focusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a
development strategy is ineffective, as it leads to the accumulation of
wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many.
The report, titled "The World Social Situation: The Inequality Predicament,"
was issued Thursday just three weeks ahead of a major world summit called by
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to address the pressing issues of global
poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy.
Sounding the alarm over "persistent and deepening" inequality, the authors
focus on the chasm between the formal and informal economies, the widening
gap between skilled and unskilled workers, the growing disparities in health
and education, and opportunities for social, economic and political
participation.
The world is more polarised today than it was 10 years ago, says the report,
which calls for a deeper commitment to keeping the pledges made by world
leaders at the Summit for Social Development held in the Danish capital of
Copenhagen in 1995. At that meeting, they promised to confront profound
social challenges and place people at the centre of development.
"But (since then) some decades-old social gaps have actually widened,
particularly gender disparities," Jose Antonio Ocampo,
under-secretary-general of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, told reporters as he introduced the report.
Noting that one of the "most pervasive" forms of inequality is gender
discrimination, Ocampo noted that about 60 percent of the world's informal
workers, who lack legal protections, are women. "That's a very hard
proportion given the fact that women have a lower level of labour force
participation than men," he said.
Although more women and girls are being educated, formal employment figures
for women have stagnated or even decreased in some parts of the world, he
said, describing the sharp increase of women in the informal sector as "even
more troubling."
The 158-page study shows that inequality between and within countries has
often accompanied greater economic globalisation. These inequalities have
had negative consequences in many areas, including employment, job security
and wages.
"Ignoring inequality in the pursuit of development is perilous," the report
warns. "Focusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a
development strategy is ineffective, as it leads to the accumulation of
wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many."
The authors note that in a world of increasing technological development,
when societies should be benefiting from economic progress, many are facing
"alarming increases" in the discrepancies between rich and poor.
Even comparatively wealthy nations like the United States, Canada and
Britain have failed to escape this trend. And while China and India have
seen considerable economic growth, the two largest Asian nations have also
failed to address the issue of inequality.
Similar patterns are found in the distribution of wealth elsewhere in Asia,
Latin America and Africa. The report says that in sub-Saharan Africa alone,
the number of poor people increased by almost 90 million in little more than
a decade (from 1990 to 2001).
In Latin America, unemployment rose from nearly seven percent in 1995 to
nine percent in 2002, with many workers forced to turn to the informal
sector, where conditions are "often inhumane and the wages are low".
The report suggests that in countries like Brazil, Guatemala and Bolivia,
race and ethnicity continues to be a main determinant of economic
opportunities. Indigenous and Afro-descendant populations earn an average of
35 to 65 percent less than white men, and are much less likely to have
access to education and housing, the report says.
Regarding solutions to inequality, the report stresses the need to adjust
the economic imbalances not just within nations, but also among them, noting
that 80 percent of the world's domestic product belongs to one billion
people living in the industrially developed world, while the remaining 20
percent is shared by five billion people living in developing countries.
Worried about the slow pace of progress towards the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), Annan has repeatedly urged wealthy nations to fulfill their
pledge of giving at least 0.7 percent of gross national income for
development in poor countries.
This issue is also highlighted in the draft document for the September
Summit, but the United States has expressed strong reservations.
In fact, the United States recently introduced more than 750 amendments that
would eliminate new pledges of foreign aid to poor countries, instead
focusing on issues such as terrorism and security.
The eight MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and hunger;
universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds;
cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; the promotion of gender
equality; environmental sustainability; reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other diseases; and a global partnership for development between
the rich and poor -- all by 2015.
"The U.S. government calls for striking any mention of the MDGs, and the
administration has publicly complained that the document's section on
poverty is too long," according to the Washington Post, which obtained the
text of Washington's proposals this week.
In their report, U.N. researchers also argue that the growing schism between
the "haves" and "have-nots" poses a major threat to democracies around the
world, and will breed further violence and terror if the trend is not
reversed.
In his remarks, Ocampo warned the world community of the consequences of
inaction.
"Failure to address this inequality predicament will insure that social
injustice and better living conditions for all people remain elusive," he
said, adding that it would lead to further social instability in the world,
"for which every one will have to pay the price".
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0826-03.htm
--
Virtually all of the specific economic policies advocated by the Italian and
German fascists of the 1930s have also been adopted in the United States in
some form, and continue to be adopted to this day. Sixty years ago, those
who adopted these interventionist policies in Italy and Germany did so
because they wanted to destroy economic liberty, free enterprise, and
individualism. Only if these institutions were abolished could they hope to
achieve the kind of totalitarian state they had in mind.
http://www.banned-books.com/truth-seeker/1994archive/121_3/ts213l.html
--
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