Rich, poor gap a threat to world peace: News24: Columnists: Chris Moerdyk

Rich, poor gap a threat to world peace

2011-06-20 12:30

Chris Moerdyk

As world leaders still struggle to find ways of solving the global economic crisis and curb corporate greed, it might be appropriate for them and us to consider these startling facts.

In the time it has taken you to read this column so far, one child, somewhere in the world, has died of hunger. As you ponder the injustice and inhumanity of this tragedy another two children have died agonisingly from empty stomachs.

In the time it takes to do the weekly shopping and wonder whether to spend R100 plus on a leg of lamb for the family or just choose a cheaper chicken, 1 200 children will have died without ever having known what lamb or chicken tastes like.

And in the time it takes to finish a lavish meal in a restaurant even if you pass on the pudding, another 2 000 children will have died not knowing a thing about pudding other than that those a little older than themselves would literally kill for it.

Surpluses and shortages

Every six seconds of every day, a child dies of hunger. In the time it takes to eat a chocolate bar, to argue over petty problems with those we love, to decide on whether to sell shares or buy a new motor car,  children, no different to our own except for being much, much thinner, are dying horrible, agonising deaths.

According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, half the world's population is obese. Which does not for a minute suggest that half the world's population has too much to eat. Obesity, according to the UN, is more often than not a consequence of malnutrition.

So, why do we keep hearing about food surpluses and gluts? Sure, we also hear about food shortages.

The problem, according to the UN, is that the bulk of the world's resources are continually being funnelled to a tiny minority of its inhabitants. Something that has been happening for eons but which has now grown to cataclysmic proportions.

Equally, the gap between rich and poor has been widening alarmingly. The difference in earnings between the average company chief executive and one of its workers has risen from six times to somewhere in the region of 150 times within a decade.

Remuneration madness

In an effort to assuage the demands of shareholders in free market economies the world over, boards of directors have to pay more and more for executive skills with some CEOs earning more money a minute than most workers earn in a lifetime.

A few years ago a former CEO of the New York Stock Exchange earned more than R1bn a year in salary and bonuses. Surely and act of remuneration madness?

But, what's to be done? Well the only answer, I believe, came from the Pope Benedict. He suggested quite simply and emphatically that wealth needed to be shared.  Not as an act of charity but as an act of responsibility.

Now the point is that with those top 4% of the world's population who own 96% the world's resources, being basically motivated and somewhat obsessed by the accumulation of material wealth, there is very little chance that anyone, including the Pope, will have much success in persuading them to part with what they see as their hard-earned income. Sure, a handful of billionaires such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson have magnanimously started sharing their wealth but the gestures of these few will not come close to solving the problem.

Practical solutions

Human nature is such that even if one takes into account that there are many millions of wealthy people around today who actively support charities, there is also an atmosphere of insecurity. So much so that a lot of wealthy people who have far too much money, are very reluctant to give away any surpluses simply because in the rather brutal ebb and flow of modern economies, jobs, positions and status hangs on a thread. Riches gained over a lifetime can disappear in an instant.

From a practical point of view it is far too optimistic to expect individuals to solve the problem of poverty and the death of so many children. Another 3 000 of whom have died, incidentally, since you started reading this column.

Perhaps the most practical way of solving this problem is to appeal not to corporate conscience but rather corporate strategy.

Corporations the world over need to be reminded that with the way things are going now, the more the gap between rich and poor increases the more likely it is that there will be fewer and fewer people who can actually afford to buy the zillions of consumer products being manufactured with such frenzy today.
And that the only way global market economies can be sustained would be by increasing the active consumer pool through eliminating poverty.

Anger

The big fear, however, is that civil disobedience and revolutions are often born out of poverty and hopelessness.

We have seen here in South Africa how angry communities can get when they are deprived of access to housing, basic service delivery and employment.

It does take much to turn anger into anarchy.

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