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| Poverty on track to be a thing of the past. Not good for OXFAM... |
LATER: Pinker at Quillette
I just heard Helen Szoke, CEO of Oxfam Australia, on ABC Radio National.
Australia comes in at 30 which places it at 133 — that is, better than 132 other countries. In short one of the best(= most equal) countries in the world. Moreover, it has improved from 35 to 30, a 15% improvement in ten years.
She was talking about inequality and, given where Oxfam's coming from these days, I wasn't surprised at what she said: namely that inequality is bad and getting worse, not just in Australia but world wide.
Thing is: both of theses statements are false.
She said that in Australia 1% of the richest own the same as the bottom 70%. For the world the figures are 1% and 83%. I won't dispute those figures. They may sound bad, but are they?
The accepted best measure of wealth disparity is the GINI index. It goes from 0 (best) to 100 (worst).
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| GINI Index in CIA World Factbook |
As for the world, again the global GINI index has improved in recent decades, not gotten worse.
A more startling measure of the improvement in world wealth (and health) is this: 30 years ago 40% of the world was in extreme poverty. Today the figure is 9%. That is a staggering, unprecedented, phenomenal improvement. And one utterly unremarked upon by Ms Szoke. One might almost think she had an agenda.
These improvements are all pointed out by Harvard Professor Steven Pinker in his books and a recent Quillette essay.
But for the likes of Ms Szoke it's all the world going to hell in a hand basket. It's fault of capitalism. And the answer is to tax the bejeesus out of rich folk.
The fact is: the world had got richer. The poor have got fewer. And the reason for the improvement is... drum roll... capitalism.
I'm guessing that for Ms Szoke this is a problem. Hence the suspected agenda. Because Oxfam's mission is to fight poverty. What if poverty is declining (as it so clearly is)? What if the chart above touches the X-axis? Woooah... no more need for Oxfam...
Enter friendly ABC, softball questions from a know nothing interviewer. And enter yet more nonsense about the parlous state of our world.
Shame on Ms Szoke and shame on the ABC.
