Tag: Nicholas Kristof

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Factfulness by Hans Rosling

The subtitle of this book is: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think.

Read on for a link to the Factfulness quiz.

First a couple of confessions, this is not a book I would normally have read, and it is definitely not one I would have picked off a bookstore shelf.   I have a few charities that I have on automatic pay, including the Fistula Foundation,  a wonderful charity that does good work, and is well managed.  I discovered this charity in an opinion piece by the former New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof. I do not remember the name, but an individual donated copies of this book to the Fistula Foundation along with the money to distribute them.  Being a regular donor they sent me a copy. After reading the first few pages, I became very interested in the book.

My second confession may confound folks who know me as I am betting Continue reading “Factfulness by Hans Rosling”

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Huge concentrations of wealth corrodes the soul of any nation

A couple quotes from the Nicholas Kristof editoral linked to below:

A Hedge Fund Republic? Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times

“But there is also a larger question: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? Would we really want to be the kind of plutocracy where the richest 1 percent possesses more net worth than the bottom 90 percent?’

“I’m appalled by our growing wealth gaps because in my travels I see what happens in dysfunctional countries where the rich just don’t care about those below the decks. The result is nations without a social fabric or sense of national unity. Huge concentrations of wealth corrode the soul of any nation.”

I’ve been watching and crying over this growing problem for years.  Part of me just cannot understand how in a democratic society where the vast majority of folks are in the middle and lower economic classes this happened.  After all 9 to 1 should win ever time, right?

In large part it has happened because both political parties are unabashedly junkies when it comes to financing political campaigns.  Continue reading “Huge concentrations of wealth corrodes the soul of any nation”