As Thomas Kostigen observed in his Marketwatch article entitled Harsh Reality, “the real tragedy of this financial crisis is that people will die.”
It’s not just the stock markets and lending institutions that are affected. Each and every one of us will feel the effects of this sooner or later. Living in a developed country does not grant you immunity to the ripples on this particularly murky pond. As Mr. Kostigen points out:
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported this week that the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger around the world, and that the U.S. is experiencing the biggest dichotomy.
Just how many people worldwide are affected by that ever widening gap between the haves and have-nots is made plain by The World Health Organization. They note on the WHO website “inequality in income is increasing in countries that account for more than 80% of the world’s population.” In case you’re wondering, The US Census Bureau’s projection for today’s world population at 6,732,572,877.
We can expect our world not only to get poorer but sicker. According to The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH),”poverty, social exclusion, poor housing and poor health systems are among the main social causes of ill health.”
With less money, comes poverty. With poverty, comes the inability to access the most basic of needs including sanitation, shelter, food and health services.
That’s how it is already. Imagine how much worse it’s going to get.
No one can afford to be complacent about this situation and think it’s not going to touch their lives. It may not affect your pocket too much if you’re a very rich man who can afford to ride it out. It should however at the very least touch your heart.
Let’s all do what we can to help each other get through these challenging times, no matter who or where we are and in whatever way we can.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. ” - Samuel Johnson.
3 Responses to “This financial crisis is a killer - literally”
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October 25th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
[...] This financial crisis is a killer - literally By Kay Elizabeth Just how many people worldwide are affected by that ever widening gap between rich and poor is made clear by The World Health Organization. They note on the WHO website ?inequality in income is increasing in countries that account for … Hill Holler - http://www.hillholler.com/ [...]
October 26th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
The article is spot on, Kay, but getting people to be proactive instead of hiding away in their caves is a problem in, and of, itself.
Methods for making this crisis less of a problem abound, if people would just think. It is easier for people to hide away and pretend that nothing will get to them, till it is too late.
October 26th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Exactly, pendelton and thanks for the comment. Apathy and denial are huge problems in and of themselves. If you can’t get people to gear themselves up for action instead of covering their eyes, what can you do?
All I can see right now to do is to put the thought in their heads front and center by writing about it like this. If just one person does something different, then it was worth it.