Comparing the Rich versus the Poor Essay -- Poverty

Rich vs. Poor Distributing the Worlds Wealth EquallyThink about the house that you live in, the neighbors that surround you and the town where you come from. more(prenominal) importantly, think about the car, clothing, and material things that you possess. Living an absolutely affluent life, as most of us do, is something that we take for granted. Now put yourself in the shoes of a child at the age of 5 in Zambia. There is no roof over your head, no shoes on your feet, and no food on the table to eat. You live every day wondering how much longer you will survive in this home. This example may represent an extreme situation in Zambia, but forces one to think about how many people ar living in poverty throughout the world. Poor people much lack adequate food and shelter and education and health, which keeps them from leading the kind of life that everyone values. They are extremely vulnerable to illness, to economic displacement, and are treated negatively by institutions in society. Of the worlds 6 billion people, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 a day, and 1.2 billion live on less than $1 a day. In rich countries, fewer than 5 percent of all children under 5 are malnourished, in poor countries as many as 50 percent are (Attacking poverty 3). This impoverishment continues to exist even though human conditions have improved more in the past century than ever before. Global wealth and technically advanced capabilities may be at their highest levels yet, but the distribution of these gains is tremendously unequal. The increasing rank of poverty throughout many countries in the world and the imbalance of wealth leads me to believe that the rich have a moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate. According t... ... and improving sanitation conditions would better the life of the poor. If people would be willing to make small contributions to the poor, poverty rates could possibly dismay to decline altogether. If the extremes of relative wealth and poverty are diminished I believe it would lead to a world where being absolutely poor no longer exits.Works Cited * Attacking Poverty Opportunity, Empowerment, and Security. World Development Report 2001/2002 1-12. http//www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty * Rich vs. Poor Stats. Online http//geocities.com/mrastafari/richpoor.html * Singer, Peter. Rich and Poor. Practical Ethics, 2nd ed. 218-246. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1993 * Singer, Peter. The Singer declaration to World Poverty. The New York Times. September 5, 1999 1-7. http//www.fordham.edu/economics/combs/savechild.pdf