Thread: The miniature earth

If the population of the earth was reduced to one hundred, it would look something like this.

Really neat video!

Here is a transcript:

If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this:

61 Asians
12 Europeans
08 North Americans
05 South America and the Caribbean
13 Africans
01 Oceania

50 women
50 men
47 lives in urban area
9 are disable

33 are Christian (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christians)
18 are Muslims
14 are Hindus
16 are non-religious
6 are Buddhists
13 practice other religions

43 live without basic sanitation
18 live without an improved water source

6 people own 59% of the entire wealth of the community

13 are hungry or malnourished
14 can’t read
only 7 are educated at a secondary level
only 12 have a computer
only 3 have an internet connection

1 adult, aged 15-49, has HIV/AIDS.

The village spend more than US$1.12 trillion on military expenditures UN
and only US$ 100 billion on development aid
If you keep your food in a refrigerator
And your clothes in a closet
If you have a roof over your head
And have a bed to sleep in
You are richer than 75% of the entire world population.

If you have a bank account
You’re one of the 30 wealthiest people in the world.

18 struggle to live on US$ 1.00 per day or less…
53 struggle to live on US$ 2.00 per day or less.
Appreciate what you have
And do your best for a better world.

Transcript courtesy of The Miniature Earth blog

The is some fascinating stuff.

Originally Posted by Noogah

If the
If you keep your food in a refrigerator
And your clothes in a closet
If you have a roof over your head
And have a bed to sleep in
You are richer than 75% of the entire world population.

If you are an American with all of that and a cell phone, X Box, stereo, bag of McDonalds food, and car, you are not really poor. Capitalism works.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

If you are an American with all of that and a cell phone, X Box, stereo, bag of McDonalds food, and car, you are not really poor. Capitalism works, at the expense of everyone that does not have these things.

lololololol

Ha ha, but obviously the least wealthy benefit from capitalism. That was my point. Wealth stimulates the world economy.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

Ha ha, but obviously the least wealthy benefit from capitalism. That was my point. Wealth stimulates the world economy.

It does here, certainly, and I found a lot of humour in the way you expressed
that. Werry clever, UM, werry clever indeed.

I do however believe that the world's least wealthy actually suffer from
the way we do things. This may not be the place to discuss it, but our
incredible rate of consumption of material resources suggests (most
obviously) that someone is doing the hard labour at the lowest amount of
pay that our capitalist overlords can manage to find. I think of the indiginous
peoples of South America that get relocated so that we can have access to
local lumber or mineral deposits, as an example.

My gripe with capitalism should not be misunderstood. Capitalism in and of
itself appears to be working flawlessly, and I agree that it is the way to go.
It is unfortunate though that we do not have the regulations in place to
protect those that are being abused as a result of our "must have more,
always more" mentality. Capitalism needs a responsible hand, so to speak, so
that it may benefit everyone at the same time. Other than that, I think we're
just dandy.

The concept of capitalism never intended to make everybody richter. By
'everybody' only the people of the first world were meant - the majority
always was exploited. Capitalism is just a ressource-oriented imperialism.
Even Joseph Stiglitz admits that there was never any intention to help
everybody, moreso that the "poorer countries" were never part of any
business regulations and they were not to be considered in economical
choices. There have been and still are plenty of countries that are exploited
by big corporations to the worst extend. Child Labour, War funding (both
sides), absolutely insane working conditions - no regard for human life
whatsoever.

Also by a lack of seeing a limitation in ressources and factors like ecology
that have been ignored, capitalism, or our system, how it operates today,
will have a bad outcome for everybody involved - at least in the longrun.
(Not only the natural ressources, destruction of oceans and forests, but also
the flawed monetary/financial system will lead to this, in my opinion).

This approach has, like so many others before, failed due to greed and thirst
for power. The longer we lie to ourselves and pretend everything is well, the
worse it will come down on us in the end.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

Wealth stimulates the world economy.

How do you figure? The priests of capitalism have convinced you that wealth can be created as easily as printing a few numbers on some nice paper but it doesn't really work like that. No matter how many dollars there are in the world, they still all represent the same amount of real wealth. We live on a finite planet with finite resources, and their is a finite number of pretty shapes we are capable of carving our minerals and fibers into. Everything you have, you had to take from someone else, regardless of whether you gave them a piece of mostly worthless paper or a thousand pieces of mostly worthless paper in exchange.

Step out of your bubble for just one moment and take a look at what the rest of the world looks like. Your life improves only as someone elses degrades.

You should do some reading

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

Do you know how many countries are in the world? 193. 1 of those countries outdoes the other 192 combined in the area of food donations, and you call that a bone?

I got sick of your food aid argument real quick, so heres to ruining it for you.

why_u.s._food_aid_benefits_big_business_and_not_st arving_people

abcnews.us-food-aid-contributing-africas-hunger

The total budget request for 2010 for Foreign Affairs of USAID, the government body in charge of food aid is $49,497,528. That is 0.000347% our Gross Domestic Product in 2008 ($14.7 trillion), 0.0004125% our current national debt, and 0.0007067% of $700 billion that has been set aside to give to banks that are "too big to fail". Keep in mind, this is USAID's entire requested budget and not the actual value of food they will deliver.

If we take another country to compare that to, say Belgium, (the last country on the list of largest donors of food aid in 2007)we can see that they donate about $1.4986 million annually in food aid (an average of 1 M€ per year). Thats about 0.00038494$ Their GDP in 2008, so really number 25 on the list of biggest donors is beating number 1 by about 0.00004%. Actually, a lot more than that since I forgot again that I didn't actually find the value of food that the US donates, and could only find the entire budget of the bureacracy we set up to deliver that food. How much do you want to bet that your precious capitalism reduces that amount by more than half before even one dollar is actually spent on food to other countries?

Originally Posted by The bible, Mark 12:41-44

Then he sat down opposite the offering box, and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, 84 this poor widow has put more into the offering box 85 than all the others. For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.”

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

How do you figure? The priests of capitalism have convinced you that wealth can be created as easily as printing a few numbers on some nice paper

Nope. You made that up. Wealth comes from trade and job creation.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

No matter how many dollars there are in the world, they still all represent the same amount of real wealth. We live on a finite planet with finite resources, and their is a finite number of pretty shapes we are capable of carving our minerals and fibers into. Everything you have, you had to take from someone else, regardless of whether you gave them a piece of mostly worthless paper or a thousand pieces of mostly worthless paper in exchange.

Oh, so receiving a paycheck is theft? When you eat a hamburger and fries, somebody else loses a meal? No. What happens is that the burger joint makes money and you eat food. When enough people buy burgers and fries from the burger joint, the burger joint expands and creates more jobs so people can buy more burgers and fries from other burger joints and in some cases start their own businesses.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

Step out of your bubble for just one moment and take a look at what the rest of the world looks like. Your life improves only as someone elses degrades.

You should do some reading

Oh, I automatically agree with any opinion you post. Instead of acting like a schmuck, try countering my argument about job creation.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

I got sick of your food aid argument real quick, so heres to ruining it for you.

why_u.s._food_aid_benefits_big_business_and_not_st arving_people

abcnews.us-food-aid-contributing-africas-hunger

The total budget request for 2010 for Foreign Affairs of USAID, the government body in charge of food aid is $49,497,528. That is 0.000347% our Gross Domestic Product in 2008 ($14.7 trillion), 0.0004125% our current national debt, and 0.0007067% of $700 billion that has been set aside to give to banks that are "too big to fail". Keep in mind, this is USAID's entire requested budget and not the actual value of food they will deliver.

If we take another country to compare that to, say Belgium, (the last country on the list of largest donors of food aid in 2007)we can see that they donate about $1.4986 million annually in food aid (an average of 1 M€ per year). Thats about 0.00038494$ Their GDP in 2008, so really number 25 on the list of biggest donors is beating number 1 by about 0.00004%. Actually, a lot more than that since I forgot again that I didn't actually find the value of food that the US donates, and could only find the entire budget of the bureacracy we set up to deliver that food. How much do you want to bet that your precious capitalism reduces that amount by more than half before even one dollar is actually spent on food to other countries?

I know. Guess what... It proves the effectiveness of capitalism. If we raised taxes so much that we gave 50% of our GDP to foreign aid, it would cripple the economy and we would have so much less money to give to foreign aid that we would be in a pathetic position. We give such a small portion of our GDP because that is the only way it can be done effectively. Socialism is not a viable method for charity donation, as illustrated by reality. How are Cuba and North Korea coming along in giving foreign aid?

Originally Posted by Invader

lololololol

Haha, when I read that quote I thought what the hell has gotten into him. But unfortunately it was not true

If you are an American with all of that and a cell phone, X Box, stereo, bag of McDonalds food, and car, you are not really poor. Capitalism works.

Sure, if we focus on the richest capitalist economy in the world and ignore its huge debts and also ignore all the poor capitalist countries too.

If I see the words "America" and "free market" together in the same sentence in this thread, I might have to do an internet face-smack. Please do not let that happen.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

If you are an American with all of that and a cell phone, X Box, stereo, bag of McDonalds food, and car, you are not really poor. Capitalism works.

Ha ha, but obviously the least wealthy benefit from capitalism. That was my point. Wealth stimulates the world economy.

?????

You don't seem to be talking about the least wealthy here.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

The is some fascinating stuff.



If you are an American with all of that and a cell phone, X Box, stereo, bag of McDonalds food, and car, you are not really poor. Capitalism works.

It's funny how you often point this out. I will agree with you that a lot of America's so called poor, are not really experiencing absolute poverty, although there still is homeless crackheads with real problems. But the thing is, the West has developed at such a rate at the expense of the rest of the world. the actions of the US around the globe have been instrumental in restricing the economic and miloitary power of developing nations. Support for tyrants and right wing paramilitarys in Lain and South Amrica are prime examples of the US providing support for those willing to curb the American line regarding economics; historically, espeically in and around the Cold War era those leaders trying to nationalize their natural resources and lift their countries out of poverty were removed by CIA intervention and replaced by tyrants supported by the US. The situation is such that the old model of a bourgeoise and a proletariat are changing, the Wetern World is now the bourgeoise and we are faced with an ever growing global proletariat living in the very worst of conditions.