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Tag: Poverty

  • Google Talk Discusses Living On A Dollar A Day

    Google recently hosted The Forgotten International founder and president Thomas Nazario for a talk, in which he talks “Living on a Dollar a Day,” which is the title of his book about that very subject.

    “Slightly over one billion people on the planet live on a dollar a day,” the video description says. “While the reasons for their poverty may be different across geographic regions and political circumstances, the results are much the same. Extreme poverty robs people of options in life, and the cycle is nearly impossible to break without help. While the poor often work very hard at jobs many of us would not even consider doing, not having access to basic health care and education keeps them at the bottom of the economic ladder, usually for generations.”

    “Living on a Dollar a Day shares the personal stories of some these poorest of the poor, honoring their lives, their struggles, and encouraging action in those who can help,” it adds. “In making this beautiful and moving book a team traveled to four continents, took thousands of photographs, conducted numerous interviews, and researched information on the agencies around the world that strive to help the destitute. The resulting stories and photographs offer a heartrending glimpse into the everyday realities of individuals and families facing extreme poverty. Personal profiles give voice to their experience, and research about the root causes of global poverty is shared along with information on how those in more fortunate circumstances can get involved.”

    The talk was recorded on December 10.

    Image via YouTube

  • Switzerland $25 Minimum Wage Voted Against

    Switzerland voted Sunday to reject a measure called the Decent Salary Initiative, that would establish a minimum wage of $4,515 per month in that country, with 76.3% of voters opposed to the idea.

    The proposed monthly minimum wage equates to roughly $25 per hour, which would be the highest in the world. Proponents called the wage hike necessary, while opponents felt that it would seriously damage the Swiss economy.

    Hans-Ulrich Bigler, director of the Swiss trades association, commented that “It is a clear vote by the people, a vote of trust in the economy.” The Decent Salary Initiative would benefit roughly 300,000 Swiss workers, with the vast majority being immigrants working in agriculture, housekeeping and catering jobs.

    Swiss voters turn out:

    At present, 90% of Swiss workers already earn more than the proposed $25 per hour, with the average wage being roughly $37 an hour, though union leaders in the country of 8 million will continue to push for higher wage rates for unskilled laborers, which are still some of the highest paid in the world. Though the average household income in Switzerland is about $6,800 per month (as compared to $4,300 in the United States), that country likewise features some of the highest prices for goods and services worldwide.

    The Swiss Business Federation president Heinz Karrer commented that the landslide result in the poll revealed that “the initiative hurts low-paid workers in particular.” Voters realized that forcing wage hikes could lead to job cuts, and Switzerland’s 3.2% unemployment rate is among the lowest globally.

    Luisa Almeida, an immigrant from Portugal who works in Switzerland as a housekeeper commented, “If my employer had to pay me more money, he wouldn’t be able to keep me on and I’d lose the job.”

    In April a minimum wage referendum was on the table in the United States Senate. Democrats had pushed for a $10.10 hourly minimum, which was promptly shut down by the GOP.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Connie Britton Named Goodwill Ambassador by the UN

    Nashville actress Connie Britton was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Wednesday. Her concentration will be global women’s empowerment and an emphasis on the eradication of poverty.

    Britton, who has been involved with various charitable organizations for years commented, “In my own travels, I’ve seen many places where people are living in extreme poverty. It’s unacceptable that, in 2014, one billion people live in such conditions, and a full sixty per cent of the chronically hungry in the world are women. I look forward to working with UNDP to help change this and improve the lives of vulnerable people worldwide.”

    Britton joins nine other UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors that include five soccer players; Ronaldo de Lima, Zinédine Zidane, Didier Drogba, Iker Casillas and the world’s top female soccer player, Marta Vieira da Silva; tennis star Maria Sharapova; Spanish actor Antonio Banderas; Japanese actress Misako Konno; and HRH Haakon, the Crown Prince of Norway.

    Zinédine Zidane is an overlord:

    Here’s a clip concerning Britton’s new appointment:

    UNDP Director for External Relations Michael O’Neill commented, “We are thrilled to have Connie Britton join UNDP’s efforts to fight poverty worldwide. Connie is passionately committed to humanitarian causes and she will be a great partner for UNDP, helping us raise awareness of development issues among the American and global public.”

    Constance Elaine “Connie” Britton (née Womack), 47, is best known for her roles as Nikki Faber on the ABC sitcom Spin City, as Tami Taylor on the NBC/DirecTV sports drama Friday Night Lights, for which she was Emmy-nominated twice for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and as Vivien Harmon in the FX horror-drama anthology American Horror Story, for which she was nominated for another Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

    Britton currently portrays the lead role of country music star Rayna Jaymes on ABC’s hit Nashville, for which she was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe. The actress currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

    Image via YouTube

  • Peanut Butter Dumped in Landfill, Thank Costco

    Peanut Butter Dumped in Landfill, Thank Costco

    Roughly one million jars of peanut butter are being dumped into Curry County landfill in Clovis, New Mexico to speed up the bankruptcy of Sunland Inc., the peanut processing plant that was the source of a September, 2012 salmonella outbreak which caused 41 cases in 20 states, prompting a nationwide recall. Sunland was forced to file a Chapter 7 after membership-only warehouse club Costco declined to accept a large shipment.

    Bankruptcy trustee Clarke Coll said that Costco also refused an option to allow the completely safe peanut butter to be donated, or even repackaged for sale to institutions like mental hospitals and prisons. Coll commented, “We considered all options. They didn’t agree.”

    After extensive testing of the peanut butter to confirm it was free of salmonella, Costco had initially accepted the order which was made with $2.8 million worth of Valencia peanuts. Yet after receiving eight loads, the retailer rejected further shipments, calling the peanut butter “not merchantable,” due to leaking peanut oil. The remaining jars had been sitting in the Sunland warehouse since.

    Here a clip concerning the process of making peanut butter:

    Court records show that on March 19, Costco’s stance on the matter was that “it would not agree to any disposition, other than destruction.” Coll commented that “all parties agreed there’s nothing wrong with the peanut butter from a health and safety issue.”

    Sonya Warwick, a spokesperson for Roadrunner Food Bank, New Mexico’s largest, said that salvaged food comprised 74 percent of what was distributed across New Mexico in 2013. “Our fleet picks up rescued food from hundreds of locations weekly and brings it back to the food bank,” she said, adding, “Before distributing it, volunteers help label, sort or repack it for distribution to partner agencies across the state. Access to rescued food allows us to provide a more well-rounded and balanced meal to New Mexicans experiencing hunger.”

    Instead of putting the peanut butter to good use, Sunland has spent $60,000 to transport 58 truckloads of jars, or roughly 25 tons worth to the landfill, where public works director Clint Bunch says it “will go in with our regular waste and covered with dirt.” The peanut butter is said to be worth $2.6 million, and should have been completely dumped as of Friday.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Olivia Wilde Helps Others By Being Consciously Fashionable

    Olivia Wilde Helps Others By Being Consciously Fashionable

    Olivia Wilde, 29, is taking Hollywood philanthropy to another level.

    The “Cowboys and Aliens” actress, who is also a first-time mom-to-be, has been working on elevating a benevolent online business that blends charity and fashion into one.

    Conscious Commerce, also what Wilde refers to as a”FUNdraising” expenditure, uses a shopping savvy technique that not only gives consumers what they want but also provides the less fortunate with what they need. By connecting brands with selective charities, it guarantees that proceeds will be funded to an organization.

    “It should be shocking when a product isn’t somehow helping the people who made it,” Wilde told Forbes.

    As stated on the company’s about page:

    “Along with pointing you in the direction of cool, ethically sound businesses, we have paired some of our favorite brands with small, locally run organizations, to create limited edition products. These exciting collaborations are our way of bringing together consciousness and commerce, and making them make sweet, sweet love…”

    The fairly new commerce delivers an online store that consists of a variety of stylish products. Every item bought encompasses its own donation component, but just not to any charity.

    Wilde and her partner-in-crime, Barbara Burchfield, have made sure to team-up with small, local charities that would need the extra boost financially.

    Deals with big-time clothing companies like New Light India ensures that they donate a portion of their sales as dresses to schoolgirls in India.

    Despite Wilde’s passionate zeal for Conscious Commerce, she feels that philanthropy is hard work and can be repetitive at times, especially when it comes down to pleading with the same companies to donate money.

    Thus, Wilde obtained her inspiration from traveling to Haiti with film director and humanitarian, Paul Haggis.  From then on, she decided to take a different approach to philanthropy and develop something that would ultimately be consciously fashionable.

    “By incorporating a giving back structure into small purchases, it can make a huge difference,” she said.

    Just last month, Wilde opened up to People StyleWatch about some of her beauty mistakes following her nomination as Revlon’s spokesperson.

    One of her issues has always been with her eyebrows, which she equated to “devil horns.”

    “If I brush them up they look like crazy, pointy, “devil horns,” the actress previously said.

    Well, two things are for certain, she is far from mirroring the facet of a devil and she knows more than she thinks when it comes to using fashion the right way.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • $11.50 Minimum Wage: Sound Nice?

    Community leaders in Seattle have vocalized desires to raise minimum wage, and now leaders in Maryland have instigated the process to implement policies that increase wages. Presently, the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour though some states have set the level higher. On December 17, 2013, a representative from Prince George’s County signed a document to increase minimum wage in the area to $11.50 by 2017. Likewise, another county in Maryland (Montgomery County) signed documents to also increase minimum wage.

    Economic Policy Institute analyst David Cooper said, “We estimate that only about 10 percent of the workers earning less than $12 per hour in Montgomery County are teens.”

    According to the president and CEO of the chamber of commerce for Prince George’s County, David Harrington, there needs to be a balance between satisfying the needs of employees and determining the functioning level of viability for employers. “Clearly there’s a need for an increase, but what is the level to which businesses can still create jobs even while paying a higher wage,” Harrington said in an interview with CNNMoney.

    The city council for Washington D.C. also approved increasing the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour on Tuesday. The bill will now be sent to Mayor Vincent Gray who has been outspoken against raising the minimum wage to an amount as high as $11.50. Mayor Gray had previously proposed increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour in order to determine how an increase would influence the labor market. While Mayor Gray has the potential to veto this bill, the council could then opt to override the veto.

    Council member Tommy Wells spoke about his support for this legislation. , “I had the leadership to get nine votes…I led the first bill to show I could get this done. I promised I’d get this done, and I’m getting it done today,” Wells said.

    Council member Vincent B. Orange said, “This is legislation introduced by me.” Orange added that the underlying support behind this process is “not leaving people behind” in the midst of the present economic climate.

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons

  • McDonald’s: Not Paid Enough? Get Food Stamps.

    McDonald’s: Not Paid Enough? Get Food Stamps.

    McDonald’s loves to see you smile–just not their employees. When full-time employee Nancy Salgado called McResources, McDonald’s employee help line, and said she need a raise to help cover the cost of groceries and her heating bill, she was told to she could apply for food stamps and other public assistance. The mom of two has been working for McDonald’s for 10 years and is still making $8.25 an hour, just a dollar over minimum wage, which puts her below the poverty line.

    Check out parts of the conversation below:

    “You would most likely be eligible for SNAP benefits,” the operator says after Salgado says she needs help with groceries. “You know it’s a federal program, the federal money comes down the states, and the states administer it.” In addition to telling Salgado that she could get on food stamps, when Salgado inquired about medical care, the operator told she could apply for Medicaid, another federal program.

    Salgado, who got in trouble last month when she told the company’s president that she couldn’t afford shoes, wasn’t satisfied with this answer. “Do you think this is fair, that I have to be making $8.25 [per hour] when I’ve worked for McDonald’s for years?” Salgado shouted at the McResources operator. “The thing is that I need a raise. But you’re not helping your employees. How is this possible?”

    In fairness, it doesn’t appear that Salgado was directing her angst over her paltry pay to the right person, since McResources isn’t HR–the program is available to simply to help employees get help making ends meet when their paychecks aren’t enough (the existence of the program says a lot about McDonald’s pay). “We can be a good program,” the operator said. “We can do a lot of the leg work that takes a lot of the stresses off of you making a million phone calls trying to find services.”

    When McDonald’s was asked to respond to the situation, they released the following statement: “This video is not an accurate portrayal of the resource line as this is very obviously an edited video. The fact is that the McResource line is intended to be a free, confidential service to help employees and their families get answers to a variety of questions or provide resources on a variety of topics including housing, child care, transportation, grief, elder care, education and more.”

    Do you think McDonald’s should be advising employees to sign up for food stamps? Respond below.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • African Billionaires Flourish as Population Explosion Starves Masses

    If you want to know why humanity fails and succeeds, just compare Africa, a continent of 1.2 billion people on one side and China, a continental size country of 1.35 billion on the other.

    In 1980, freshly liberated from the communist tyranny rule of Chairman Mao, China was so impoverished that measured on a per-capita income basis it was at the bottom in international rankings. Even Sub-Saharan Africa’s per-capita income was more than 3-times that of Red China.

    In 1980, China was the poorest nation, far behind Africans, in income per capita (PPP basis).

    Fast forward 32 years later and the landscape of prosperity appears completely reversed. China’s per-capita income in 2012 was 4-times that of Sub-Saharan Africa, a monumental achievement in no small part due to unprecedented efforts by Chinese family planning authorities to curb unsustainable fertility rates and market capitalism introduced by Deng Xiaoping, Mao’s successor.

    And now comes another displeasing revelation on the state of inequality in Africa. As the number of billionaires are soaring, the continent is left trailing in most measures of human development, with population explosion constricting its teaming masses from reaching their full potential.

    Ventures Africa, a pan-African bi-monthly print magazine and a daily online business news service, reports that Africa today has as many as 55 billionaires, with a combined fortune of $143.88 billion.

    Nigeria, where Christian-Muslim sectarian conflict and explosive fertility rate have taken a high toll on human dignity and standard of living, leads the pack with 20 billionaires, followed by crime-ridden South Africa with 9-billionaires, and an increasingly politically unstable Egypt with 8 billionaires.

    Altogether, there are 10 African countries on the list, with Algeria, Angola, Zimbabwe and Swaziland part of the select club.

    One bright note worth mentioning is that a tiny minority of billionaires have made their fortunes in construction and retail, two sectors which are essential in helping African economic base diversify from its tragic dependence on mining and resource extraction.

    Fertility Rates (births/women), rapidly declined in China, but are unsustainable in Africa and India.

    So what advice can one give to the African and global billionaires to improve humanity’s future? Perhaps invest some of their billions towards family planning, long term contraception, and women’s education in Africa and Indian Subcontinent.

    When fertility rates will resemble those of China, adequate human capital accumulation and prosperity will not be far behind.

    [images from world bank via google visualizer]

  • Poorest State in America Revealed by the U.S. Census Bureau

    The U.S. Census Bureau recently released estimates from its 2011 American Community Survey showing that Mississippi is the poorest state in the U.S., with a median household income of only $36,919. Last month it was revealed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that Mississippi is also the fattest state in the U.S.

    West Virginia and Arkansas round out the top 3 poorest states, with $38,482 and $38,758 median household incomes respectively.

    On the other end of the spectrum, the survey shows that Maryland has the highest median household income at $70,004. Alaska and New Jersey come next, with $67,825 and $67,458 medians respectively.

    Overall, the the median for the U.S. is estimated at $50,502, down from before 2008. In fact, no state in the U.S. except for Vermont saw an increase in median household income last year. The median declined in 18 states, including Ohio and Nevada.

    A correlation with these medians is found in the poverty statistics, which the American Community Survey also tracks. Mississippi, of course, has the highest poverty rate with 22.6% if its households living below the poverty line. New Hampshire has the lowest poverty rate, at 8,8%.

    Health insurance rates among young adults are the third statistic released recently by the Census Bureau. The uninsured rate of young adults aged 19 to 25 actually increased to 71.8% in 2011, up from 68.3% in 2009. However, the rate for those age 26 to 29 declined from 71.1% in 2009 to 70.3% in 2011. Part of the reason for these seemingly conflicting statistics could be the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) in 2010, which allows young adult dependents to remain on their parents’ health insurance plan until they are 26.

    “The American Community Survey provides reliable, local statistics about our nation’s people, housing and economy that are indispensable to anyone who has to make decisions about the future,” said Census Bureau Acting Director Thomas Mesenbourg.