Dr' Shirley Browning

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Poverty Plenty Who gets How Much? of What?
Why? Does it Matter?
Dr. Shirley Browning January 23, 2009
University of North Carolina, Asheville
Humanities 414 Common Lecture
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• How much of what should a person have or have
  access to in order to live an appropriate life
  style.
• What is necessary in terms of food, housing,
  clothing, transportation, health care, education,
  etc.?
• Explain what you mean by Should and
  Appropriate.
• What criteria are you using?
• What are the characteristics of Poverty?
• 1989
  1995 2008
• Just to get by 20,000
  25,500 ??
• Reasonable comfort 30,000
  41,100 ??
• Fulfill your Dreams 75,000
  102,200 ??

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SUGAR not much of a democracy if you ask
me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an
equal crack at the dough dont it?
From The Lesson, Tony Cade Bambara 1972
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Manhattan NY Incomes
365,826 1
7,047 2 cents
Top 1/5
Bottom 1/5
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Lorenz Curves for Income and Wealth
Line of equality
income
wealth
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2006 / 2007 Median US Household Incomes
65,652 (New Hampshire)
49,901 (US)
36,499 (Mississippi)
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Poverty vs. Wealth Quality of Life Indicators

• Lifespan (b. 2004)
• Andora (between France and Spain) 83.5 years
• Japan 82
• France 80.4
• Macau 82
• Switzerland 80.3
• US 77.9 years (lifespan 42 in the world but
  wealth 1 in world)
• Africa /Middle East range (34.1 (Swaziland)
  42.5 (Afghanistan)

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Poverty vs. Wealth Quality of Life Indicators

• African Americans lifespan is 5 years shorter
  than White Americans
• (African American Men 69.8 slightly longer
  than Iran and Syria and slightly shorter than
  Nicaragua and Morocco)

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Poverty vs. Wealth Quality of Life Indicators

• 40 countries Cuba, Taiwan, and most of Europe had
  lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in
  2004
• (U.S. rate 6.8 / 1000 births 13.7 for African
  Americans (the same as Saudi Arabia)

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Poverty vs. Wealth Quality of Life Indicators

• 1/3 of U.S. adults (20 yrs) obese
• 2/3 of U.S. adults overweight

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• All humans appear to prefer to be free to make
  choices and live a personally secure life.
• Failure to accomplish these universals for large
  masses of human beings is dangerous-
• Point Is it appropriate for all human beings to
  have equal access Shares ? Equal distributions
  of s and things? Should we all have
• A beach house?
• The Same living space (sq ft / person)
  educational opportunities? Health care
  opportunities? Income? Wealth? Etc.
• Is this a question of morality?
• A question of good vs. bad?
• Is strict equality a human right?

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Lorenz Curves for Income and Wealth
Line of equality
income
wealth
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From Star Trek (as presented in Michael
Shermers The Science of Good Evil, 2004.)

• Alien There can be no peace. Dont you see?
  Weve admitted it to ourselves. We are a killer
  species. Its instinctive. Its the same with
  you.
• Captain Kirk All right, its instinctive. But
  the instinctive can be fought. We are human
  beings with the blood of a million savage years
  on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit
  that we are killers but were not going to kill
  today. Thats all it takes --- knowing that
  youre not going to kill today.
• From this we might conclude that at the core
• We are simultaneously moral and we are immoral.
  It is a matter of choice and control.

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• When the distribution of resources is
  drastically unequal violence emerges.
• TANSTAAFL

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• Life is more than material accumulation however
  spiritual wealth to some extent depends on some
  basic level of material wealth in order to
  sustain life at some level of quality and
  dignity.
• Spiritual poverty can occur simultaneously with
  material wealth, but spiritual wealth seldom
  exists when one is starving, homeless,, and
  without the means to sustain life.

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World Per Capita GDP - 7,958 World Per Capita
GDP (17 of US - down from last data
reporting) U.S. Per Capita GDP - 46,040 U.S.
Per Capita GDP (5.79 times world- up from last
data reporting) Note  Inequality between U.S.
and rest of the world has continued to grow.
 Current Domestic AND World recession impact?
 Stay tuned during 2009 / 20010.  
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• MARKETS
• DEMOCRACY
• TRADE
• COMPETITION
• CAPITALISM
• ALL IMPERFECT THEN AND NOW, BUT HUMANITY HAS
  STEADILY GAINED IN LIFE SPAN, HEALTH STATUS,
  POWER FOR EVERYONE, ACCESS, ETC. UNEVENLY, BUT
  GAINED
• PERFECTION IS WORTH STRIVING FOR, YET IS ELUSIVE
  AND DIFFICULT TO ATTAIN

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World GDP per capitahighest 20 lowest 20
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World 6.7 B
POPULATION 2007
US 305 M (5)
World 54.3T
GDP 2004
U.S. 13.48T (25)
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2007 list by IMF World GDP 54,584,918
Highest 20 Lowest 20
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POVERTY is More than just low
income POVERTY also means NOT having a happy
secure life NOT having ACCESS NOT having a
rising quality of life NOT having a chance to
achieve ones potential Being dehumanized,
objectified, ignored,otherized
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Poverty Thresholds for 2007 by Size of Family and
Number of Related Children Under 18 Years
Source U.S Census Bureau
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SELECTED DEMOGRAPHIC DATA U.S. CENSUS BUREAU 2004
Total Population White African AM
Native Am Hispanic Asian
rounding errors due to data variance
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Percent in Poverty by US Region (2007)
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Percent in Poverty by US Region (2007)
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Percent in Poverty by Race in US (2007)
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Rise in Inequality
Quintile 1947-1979 growth 1979-1999
growth Lowest fifth 120
-1
Second fifth
101 6
Middle fifth 107
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Forth fifth
114 19 Top
fifth 94
42 Data from US Census Bureau


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Other Poverty statistics

• Female Head of Household 28.3
• Male head of Household 13.2
•  
• Children under age 18 make up 25 of the
  population and 35 of the poor

OVERALL POVERTY RATES Late 1950's   22.4 1973  
  11.1 1983     15.2 2007     12.5
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Household Income Inequality 1967-2007 All races
share
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We have seen the enemy, and he/she is us.
(POGO)
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Paul Newmans Motto Shameless Exploitation for
the Common Good

• Sometimes you get what you want but it aint
  what you expected (Over 200M for the Common
  Good)
• Hole in the Wall Camps
• 1988 - Newman started first camp in Connecticut
• 2006 - Worlds largest family of camps for
  children with serious illness or
  life-threatening conditions
• 114,000 children (all 50 states / 32
  countries) attend FREE!!