What a wonderful world we live in!



Take some of the examples:

The richest 3 people in the world are wealthier than the poorest 48 countries.
The wealth of the worlds 225 richest people is equal to the annual income of half the worlds population.
The worlds annual military spending (£538 billion) is almost 20 times greater than the total annual spending on basic education (£4 billion), water and sanitation (£6 billion), womens reproductive health (£8 billion) and basic health and nutrition (£9 billion).


Ireland has the second highest proportion of people living in poverty in the industrialised world - second to the United States, the supposed great bastion of freedom and democracy.
Irish women are worse off, relative to men, than in any other Western country.
We can boast of the highest level of functional illiteracy of 17 industrialised states (Functional illiteracy is defined as people having difficulty with basic tasks such as following instructions on a medicine bottle or reading a story to a child).
The second highest level of long-term unemployment among industrialised countries (7.6%) is to be found in the Celtic Tigers lair. Only Spain has higher levels.


Sean Farrell

This article is from Workers Solidarity No 55 published in October 1998

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