Wealth, Equality, Outsourcing and the $240,000 a minute!

For people who think the US doesn’t have people living in the lower socio-economic barrier, need to look around again. When Fatin Bundagji (Saudi Arabia) popped the question about the spread of the wealth across the spectrum of people, my ears perked up.

Andrew Cassel, Economics Columnist at the Philadelphia Enquirer responds to this by saying, and this is in summary so I hope I’m not putting too many words in the horse’s mouth –

“though that may be a problem, if you look at the how much the average American Citizen consumes today as compared to what they used to, that number has also grown considerably.”

What I still don’t understand is that though the amount and dollar value of consumption is on the rise, the cost of living has definitely gone up and the value of the dollar doesn’t purchase what it used to. Yet, seeing that there are policies that are specifically targeted towards the upper and wealthier classes, it would just seem that the gap between the upper and lower classes seems to be widening, and there is just no closing up that gap. Sure, I’m not an economist and my understanding of policies and government is limited, but this would be something I’d be interested in learning a lot more about, because there is a similar problem faced by Pakistan. There might not be a solution but a better understanding of the problem will only help us to work towards a solution.

After hearing Joe and Andrew, it seems to be that though there are things wrong with the American economy, there are more positive things happening than the negative which usually translates to more movement forward than stagnancy. Everyone has money – some departments have more than others. But what continues to amaze me is if there is so much money available to everyone, why isn’t all this surplus money put into the education or healthcare systems. If there is really so much money there, can the US Government not find better use for it?

Hopefully not boasting, but I did pick up a hint of it, was this statement: “The war in Iraq costs the taxpayers 240,000$ a minute.” $240,000 a minute!?!?! Good lord! I can’t help but think that if more people knew this figure, they might have another reason to stay out of the war zone. But I am nobody to pass a judgment on the people of the US. I happen to like quite a number of them. I just wish more of the “average American” voice would be heard.