[Boston-editorial] new feature

[Matthew Williams]

Hello all -- I featured this even though it had no content specifically 
connected with Boston because it was by someone with a Boston-area 
organization, kind of like we featured the article by the folks at Mass 
Global Action on the World Social Forum. I figure a local author is a 
good enough local connection for a good piece of commentary like this. 
-- Matt

The Cavernous Divide: More Billionaires, More Poverty
by Scott Klinger,

Two magazine covers stood out in poignant contrast on newsstands last 
week. Forbes magazine released its 29th annual listing of the world’s 
billionaires. Time Magazine’s cover story wondered “How to End 
Poverty.”

It was a good year for the global billionaires’ club. Their ranks grew 
to 691, up 17 percent from the previous year. Collectively, the wealth 
of the world’s billionaires reached $2.2 trillion, up more than 57 
percent over the last two years.

Poverty is growing as well. Time reports that nearly half of the 
world’s 6 billion residents are poor. Over one billion of them subsist 
on less than $1 a day. In the United States, according to the US Census 
Bureau, the number of impoverished Americans rose 3.7 percent in 2003. 
The number of children living in poverty rose 6.6 percent.

Read the full article »
18 Mar 2005 | Filed under: Commentary / Labor : Social Welfare