Eye-Popping Numbers: 220 Million People at Risk of Death

Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet at 1:15 PM on September 18, 2008.

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I've written quite a bit about the economic pain so many American families are feeling -- about the mortgage crisis, stagnant wages amid spiraling costs, the assault on unions, the decline in upward mobility in the U.S. economy and the increasing difficulty people have of achieving the "American Dream."

I want to to take a moment, though, in the midst of our financial system's current meltdown, to consider the plight people in other, less affluent parts of the world, are facing in a time of global crisis. Wrap your head around this stunning fact: the number of people living on the "edge of emergency" -- nearing famine -- has doubled over just the past two years, according to Care International. That means that 110 million more human beings are on the brink of disaster today than in 2006.

The BBC reports, "too much money is being spent on short-term fixes during emergencies, rather than on longer-term prevention work."

"Care says a failure to resolve the underlying issues trapping people in extreme poverty has left millions now unable to cope with surging food prices. In countless previous emergencies, aid has often arrived too late, was short-term, and policies were targeted too heavily on saving lives rather than building resilience in the population, the report says."

I interviewed economist Dean Baker in 2005. He had been predicting that the housing bubble would burst for some time, and told me that he could see Americans' incomes dropping by as much as 40 percent, an eye-opening number. Nobody knows how deep the crisis will go, but if he's right, our average incomes would bottom out at about $27,000, give or take a grand.

According to the United Nations, 80 percent of the world's population lives on $10 per day or less.

Just a little perspective.

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.