Thursday, April 26, 2012

Peace Boat


The Peace Boat moored in Istanbul, with the Galata Tower in the background.  This is a cruise ship with a mission, and is based in Japan.

The End Poverty 2015 goal is noble, but it's hard to accomplish when the definition of poverty seems to become more and more broad.  As an example, in the US the Bureau of Labor Statistics has introduced a new poverty measure that ... doesn't in any way relate to the ability of a family to cover expenses.  This useless Supplemental Poverty Level is defined as the food/shelter/clothing spending of a family in the 33th percentile of income.  Wages and standard of living go up by a factor of ten?  Caviar, smartphones, and business-class flights for everyone?  The bogus Supplemental Poverty Rate doesn't change.

It will be challenging for the Peace Boat people to end poverty if we go about describing it in this nonsensical way.

No comments:

Post a Comment