You may already know that this is an unequal world. There are many very rich people around, as there are many very poor people.
But I am sure you will still be shocked to find out how unequal this world actually is :
Just some statistics:
Businessweek estimated that in 2006, there are 9.6 million household with net worth more than US $1 million dollars. Together , they control about one third of the world’s total wealth.
4.6 million of them are in United States. 2,300 out of this 4.6 million are worth more than 100 US million each.
Japan, Britain, Germany and China made up of the other top 4 nations in the world with the most millionaires. China has the fastest rate of increase for millionaires at 39 % per year .
On the other extreme, 1.1 billion population live under absolute poverty, meaning that they live with less than US$1 a day. Another 2.7 billion live in relative poverty, meaning that they earn less than US$2 a day.
How to have a more equitable world? Perhaps there should be more Warren Buffet, the investment guru and the second richest man after Bill Gates, who donated most of his wealth to charity to help those in poverty.
More than anyone else, he really deserves a Nobel peace prize.
Dr. Hsu's forum 
Oct 21, 2007 @ 20:00:13
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two wonderful human beings who understood there are reasons for them to be so rich and by donating most of their wealth back to charity to help the poor….this is the kind of human beings who truly believe in God.
I think both may have turn down Nobel prize.
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Oct 21, 2007 @ 20:36:53
The statistics that compiled by Businessweek were based on economic angle. It is good to show the huge disparity in net worth so to show the rich the even if they impart a tiny fraction of their wealth to the poor, it can mean a lot to them and mankind. At the same time, such good deeds will do a lot of good to their ‘Karma’. Bill Gates is showing a very good example to the rich. After all, material worth is nothing to us if come to ‘judgement day’. At that moment, all living beings are just the same.
Again, rich or poor are actually a ‘relative term’ in a matter of fact. A rich man can be a poor man among the rich, a poor man can be a rich man among the poor. So, the important thing is look at our ourselves what we actually want to achieve in life for ourselves, or else, there will be no end in comparing where we stand among the rich or poor.
I have visited an Orang Asli family in Tasik Chini. They maybe poor in my eyes but they seemed happy to me. So, rich or poor are actually not the issue here. Material wealth can actually harm us in many ways, come to think of it. To me, self-help is the most important.
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