The UN’s World Food Program is suspending its food aid program to 1.7 million Syrian refugees due to lack of funds. This tragedy hits Syrian families as they face a fourth winter living under terrible conditions. The WFP needs $64 million to continue its program of food vouchers for December. For context, the world spent about $1.7 trillion last year on the military, or about $142 billion a month.
Globalization is a process that outstrips traditional methods of control and management. It has brought incredible benefits but also the possibilities for catastrophic failure. One obvious point, made by Professor Ian Goldin, is that globalization is a process that requires institutions that are much more globally oriented than the traditional nation-state. Yet public reactions to globalization often require nation-states to protect a national interest often at odds with the global interest.
Income inequality in the US is a serious issue, and it parallels a trend in wealth inequality which is more difficult to measure. But the evidence suggests that wealth inequality in the US is as bad as it was in the period just prior to the Great Depression. The situation is a threat to economic stability in the US largely because the increase in wealth at the upper levels is clearly mirrored by the decline in wealth in the middle and lower levels. In short, instead of a “trickle-down” process from rich to poor, we are witnessing a “trickle-up” process from poor to rich.
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