Are the poor getting poorer?

Oxfam reported “the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990,” citing World Bank Data.

There is no doubt the rich are getting richer, much richer. This is not avoidable. Even if you could raise taxes on the rich, very hard, confiscate their wealth, almost impossible, or just get them to give more of their money away, maybe some hope there, they would still be getting richer. It is the nature of wealth and power, the rich will always get richer on aggregate.

So, if the poor are not getting poorer, what is the problem? It is the inequity of the problem, the divide between the rich and the poor gets larger all the time. It is a perception problem, a morale and a moral problem. If the rich are getting richer and the poor are not getting much richer if their situation improves at all, the poor don’t feel good about it. It is not just the divide between the rich and the poor, the working class and the middle class feel like the upper classes and the rich are sucking up all the gravy.

Everything is relative, except when it isn’t. Like when you can’t make ends meet.

TEK