Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream

An informative documentary about wealth gap in the US

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6niWzomA_So

“China is like a sumo wrestler who is fighting against global inequality”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a0b8168-6bc0-11e3-a216-00144feabdc0.html#!

US aid

Maybe US aid is not too bad after all?

http://www.one.org/us/2013/10/21/proof-that-us-food-aid-works-in-15-pictures/

Comparison between UCTs and CCTs

Here is an interesting article about uncoditional cash transfers (UCTs). It is being compared against conditional cash transfers (CCTs).

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21588385-giving-money-directly-poor-people-works-surprisingly-well-it-cannot-deal?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/penniesfromheaven

Budget Plan

Dear Executive Board of Wealth Gap Club,

I'm in the process of creating a budget plan for our club. We would like to get some money because after all everyone wants money, right? Okay, now jokes aside. We need funds in order for our club to move forward. So the first step toward getting funds from the Budget Committee is to come up with good reasons for getting those funds. So here is what I have come up with so far:

1. Movies
2. Protest
3. Exhibition
4. Speakers
5. Potlucks
6. Trips to visit some prominent NGOs

Let me explain first what I mean by those terms. In the last meeting, we were talking about putting on a movie for the whole campus to see. In this way, we can hope to get more attention from people to get involved in what we are striving for. In order to put on a movie, we have to pay around $500 for movie rights. The first movie that we are planning on watching will most likely be sponsored by the other clubs because they already have access to the funds and we don't. Plus, other clubs are active, so they can bring more viewers to the event, so it's actually wise to partner with other clubs. 

The second reason why we need funds is that we need money to prepare for the protest. The protest is coming up very soon in the upcoming semester. We have to buy T-shirts, wristbands, and whatever that can be useful for advertisement of the club. After all, we want to tell them who were and get across a clear message.

The third reason is that we are planning on organizing an exhibition. Our project will be called "Bringing poverty to the museum". Our project requires some art work and colorful pictures that we need to show people what poverty is all about. We will, therefore, need some money to print out the colorful pictures. 

We would also like to bring some prominent speakers to the campus. It would be interesting to see what kind of ideas they have for solving the problem of poverty. Prominent speakers, obviously, will demand some money, so  funding from the Budget Committee will be required. Apparently we could bring to the campus somebody like Paul Ryan or Muhammad Yunus.

In order to fulfill our social requirement, we need to get some funds to buy food for our potluck event. It is an ideal way to socialize and bring together people interested in wealth inequalities. 

I was also thinking about taking a trip to visit some interesting NGOs that work toward eradication of poverty. That also requires money. 

So what do you guys think? I will give an estimate of how much money we need in the next report. If you guys have any ideas regarding our budget proposal, please let me know, so that I can put everything together in a document. I will also seek advice from Bill Conover, Carol from LAPCs, and other clubs that are also interested in the problem of poverty (Peace and Justice, ONE, Model of United Nations).

Best wishes,

Minh

October 22 2013 minutes

1. discussion:
what is the viability of capitalism?
capitalism versus mercantilism versus communism
is inequality inherent?
why is vast inequality globalized?
luxurious lifestyles of rich core nations unsustainable w/o the periphery
corporations treated legally as people, but behave under feudalism model
2. DO IT NOW:
send Chief Martin brief personal information and picture to be published on wealthgapclub.com
middle name, box number passwords
make sure to finish tasks allotted from fall break!
3. plans for this semester:
movie event?
BlueGold movie showing w/ OEC
also increase collaborations w/ Peace and Justice-- protest against school training leaders of developing countries
think about potential partners; One, BSU, spanish club, iclub etc.
use of raffle to fund raise during movie night?

Anant Vikas's mission statement

Check out this inspiring video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJOOQ5qbe5I&feature=youtu.be

I was working for Anant Vikas during summer. 

Why is wealth gap the problem?

Okay, we had a nice discussion last time. I would like to, however, point out a few problems that we will face in the future. Estiaque told us that there is no need to explain the reasons why there is wealth gap because it can extend to infinity and that we just need to realize that wealth gap exists. Period. I’m sorry to say this, but we will definitely run into many issues in the future if we don’t plan accordingly. I’m not here to defend capitalism. I’m not here to defend communism. I’m here to defend moderation. I might be considered a skeptic by some of you. I agree. I do tend to be skeptical. However, skepticism has played an important role in my life. It showed me that identity is overestimated in today’s society. People focus too much on who they are, instead of on who they want to be. What their identity is the middle-aged homeless guy roaming about the streets? If you truly want to be homeless, that’s where you are going to end up. But enough of this. Let me get to the main point.

The question here I would like to pose is this: why is wealth gap the problem? Let’s consider this scenario. We are protesting in the streets of Beloit with the banners titled “WEALTH GAP. GO BACK HOME”. Then, a bunch of people walk up to us and say “THERE IS NO PLACE FOR COMMIES. WEALTH GAP IS THE REASON WHY OUR ECONOMY IS STILL FUNCTIONING” How will we respond to that? Why do we think that wealth gap is bad? 

October 8, 2013 minutes

Plan for Vandana Shiva's arrival: March 31- April 5; set one hour for Vandana Shiva to come to speak @ protest

1. why wealth gap?: the problem of poverty 
2. goal: spread knowledge about global wealth gap 
3. how to narrow it down? ideologically, that is...
4. will develop budget plan for wrist bands, t-shirts, etc.by October 21
5. create and put up posters in advance of the event
6. continue to add materials to Wealth Gap Club blog via Technical Guru--add money boosting post, send brief and organized writing
7. Welcome our new executive member: Chief Martin!!-- Technical Guru
8. goals for this semester?: perhaps make a list of specific demands/issues to research and discuss to decide on a specific topic for the protest 

problems that cause/perpetuate poverty-- (potential focuses for the protest)
be clear w/ Vandana Shiva about topic, so she can speak about it

• Monsanto's poverty 
• lack of health care for farmers 
• agribusiness
• the Gap (clothing co) exploitation of workers 
• educational inequalities**

1. Becky, former director of Riverside Park: resource
2. Bill Conover adviser knows Congressman to visit
3. Bill Conover also has meeting topic list** focus on throughout fall semester
4. Join with other clubs to discuss topics of interest [w/ organized moderation] ie. Peace and Justice, GOGA, BSU, I club, Voces Latinos, Multicultural Club
5. Make list of speakers for Fall 2013; otherwise discussions and planning for Spring 2014 will be main agenda for this semester's meetings
6. PR responsibilities--> Estiaque, BUT poster spreading responsibilities--> Everyone!
7. Will assign specific locations for each person to put up posters

 Wealth Gap Club Goals for over the Break:

1. research methods for protesting/ other campus activism groups: Rules for Radicals-Saul Alinsky: Dylan, Yunji
2. research specific topics for discussion: Sudan, Dylan, Minh, Chief Martin
3. contact financial advisor: Minh
4. make a plan for massive advertisement--posters, etc: Estiaque 

Where are the worlds’ poor?

There is no consensus on what poverty is amongst the experts and but this is not a debate worthy topic amongst the worlds’ poor. However, to quench our insatiable desire for knowing, we are going to follow the custom and assign definitions for the sake of understanding with or without the world’s poor approval or even knowledge.

Poverty has been classified by Jeffrey Sachs into three; extreme poverty, Moderate poverty and relative poverty.

Extreme poverty means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. They are chronically hungry, unable to access health care, lack amenities of safe and drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education, for some or for all the children and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter – a roof to keep the rain out of the hut, a chimney to remove the smoke from the cook stove and basic articles of clothing such as shoes. Unlike any other forms of poverty, it only occurs in developing countries. This represents those who live under 1USD a day.

In moderate poverty, conditions of life are generally met, but just barely. This includes the incomes between 1 USD and 3 USD a day.

Relative poverty is construed as a household income level below a given proportion of average national income. Those who are in this level, in high income countries, lack access to cultural goods, entertainment recreation, and to quality healthcare, education, and other prerequisites for upward social mobility.

World Bank economists Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion estimated that roughly 1.1billion people were living in extreme poverty in 2001 down from 1.5 billion in 1981. It is, however, important to scrutinize these figures to learn whether the whole planet has achieved the gains in order to determine a course of action.

In their 2004 World bank report, How have the World’s poorest Fared since the 1980’s, they first showed the distribution of the world’s poor by region from 1980 to 2004. Looking at the data, we see that overwhelming shares of the world’s poor are in 3 regions, East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The world’s poor has fallen generally but it has almost doubled in Sub-Saharan Africa from about 150 million people in 1981 to about 310 million in 2001. The greatest fall was in East Asia from 800million in 1980 to 270million in 2001. 

The second data set shows the proportion of the population in extreme poverty, rather than the absolute number. Almost half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is deemed to live in poverty and this number has risen over the period. The proportion of extreme poor in East Asia has plummeted from 53% in 1981 to 15% in 2001. The proportion of those in extreme poverty in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has also shown a small increase from almost 1% in 1981 to 3% in 2004. 

The next data set shows the numbers of moderate poor and the proportion living in moderate poverty. The numbers of the moderately poor in East and south Asia has risen as the poorest households have improved their circumstances from extreme poverty to moderate poverty. In Africa, the proportion of moderately poor has reduced falling to the extreme poor level. There has been a drop in living circumstances. All the countries show an increase in the number of the moderate poor from the 1981 figures.

This report has shown that the world’s poor are in three regions Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and South Asia with extreme poverty being concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa. The report, however, has failed to show the poor in the WEIRD countries, Western Educated Industrialized and Developed countries. This is a selection of data of the World Bank to sustain its existence and to determine where next to structure a “development” project and to repel fear of the poor being in the neighborhood of the donors.

In the aim to inform us where the world’s poor are they again engage in this thing called “self-interest” which shifts our focus and less is done to eradicate poverty. May the poor be given back their own voices.
dennis

Good morning Wealth Gap members! :) 

I would like to humbly ask for a link to the Youtube channel. Thank you very much + good luck to all of us!!! ^_^ 

                                                                              -Andrea López-Arteaga (Andie)