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06/01/2004:

"Growing Wealth Gap Rates an 'Orange Alert'"

In just 14 days the problems of the poorest countries in the world -- starvation, lack of education, scarcity of potable water, etc. -- could be solved if each nation donated its military spending budget for just that period of time -- 14 days.

Rich-poor gulf widens
'Inequality Matters' conference puts nations on alert
By Thomas Kostigen, CBS.MarketWatch.com cbs market watch
Thursday is when the Inequality Matters conference begins in New York City to discuss the biggest wealth and income gap -- and its consequences on society -- since the Hoover Administration. The Congressional Budget Office says the income gap in the United States is now the widest in 75 years.

While the richest one percent of the U.S. population saw its financial wealth grow 109 percent from 1983 to 2001, the bottom two-fifths watched as its wealth fell 46 percent.

Alarming? You bet. And here's why: The number of Americans without health insurance climbed 33 percent during the 1990's, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The biggest indicator of a healthy society -- average life expectancy -- has dropped. People in the U.S. now don't live even as long as people in Costa Rica. Meanwhile the U.S. infant mortality rate has risen, so much so Cuba has a better success rate of bringing healthy children into the world.

Citing those facts and figures, James Lardner, who heads Inequality.org, says "there is no way you can deny the power of money." He, along with Bill Moyers, Barbara Ehrenreich and numerous other leaders, activists and institutions hope to bring some of these startling facts "to the front burner of politics."

In an election year, you'd think these issues would be on the "front burner" already. But these overarching social trends reflect poorly on politicians and the government -- those supposedly elected to protect those members of society who can't protect themselves.

Indeed, politics, and access to the process will be addressed at the conference too. "McCain-Feingold is not nearly as effective as it should be," says Lardner. The campaign finance reform act he's speaking of is easy to poke holes in this year, as John Kerry runs against George Bush's $200 million war chest.

Beyond the campaign, political policy will be highlighted. For one, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy exacerbating the disparity between rich and poor. Even the wealthy themselves are concerned about the long-term ramifications of tax policy.

Members of United for a Fair Economy (who include billionaires and the wealthiest of our country, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett), are calling for the estate tax to remain, despite its scheduled elimination in 2010 following phased-in declines. Buffett says the estate tax helps to keep America's "meritocracy" in check. Repealing the estate tax could create an aristocracy based on wealth, he says.

Fighting for attention

The war in Iraq, of course, obfuscates many of these disturbing long-term trends.

That's why "it's something we have to focus on now," says Betsy Leondar-Wright, spokesman for United for a Fair Economy.

With military casualties and terrorism high on many people's minds, it might be difficult to shift national attention. And for that, the Inequality Matters conference matters.

To be sure, the U.S. economy is rebounding from its hangover after the boom time of the late 1990s, but that good news too is reserved for the fortunate working public. The more unfortunate among us are becoming even more downtrodden, as higher education gets further out of reach. (The number of lower income students able to afford a college education has fallen sharply, according to a recent BusinessWeek study.)

Instead of putting the nation on high red, orange or whatever color alert this summer, instead of spending almost $200 billion dollars (so far) for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and sending more than 100,000 young people to fight overseas, perhaps those resources and that money could be put to use to make us truly a more healthy nation. Wouldn't that be a more admirable model to show the world than the Abu Ghraib photos?

A litany of problems

In just 14 days the problems of the poorest countries in the world -- starvation, lack of education, scarcity of potable water, etc. -- could be solved if each nation donated its military spending budget for just that period of time -- 14 days.

As it stands, the United States and other developed nations have even fallen below their commitments to the World Bank, which helps fight social causes like poverty and education.

Three billion people are living in "poverty" on less than two dollars per day, 800 million people lack access to basic health care, 17 million people -- including 11 million children -- die every year from easily preventable diseases and malnutrition, 2.4 billion people lack access to proper sanitation, 1.1 billion do not have safe drinking water, 275 million children never attend or complete primary school education and 870 million of the world's adults are illiterate.

The toll there is a lot bigger than the casualty count coming in from Iraq. But it gets much less press.

If the Inequality Matters meeting can articulate just one message, its title would do.