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World Bank Poverty Figures: What Do They Mean?
	Adam Parson's insightful analysis of recent World Bank Poverty Figures provides a backdrop to today's Blog Action Day. This is a good place to start if you want a quick contemporary overview of worldwide poverty, globalization, and the rhetoric surrounding both. Posted: 10/15/08; 7:23:58 AM #

Let's Just Say You Had $700 Billion to Spend

No exploration of the topic of poverty today would be complete without asking: How else might we have spent $700 billion? Alternative budget scenarios of this kind routinely break my heart, but I have now read dozens of these and they fill be with more grief than ever. The human suffering - not to mention environmental degradation and so many other problems - that could be aggressively alleviated by this kind of money is truly staggering. Posted: 10/15/08; 7:19:46 AM #

Making Money Off the Poor

I highly recommend either watching or reading the transcript of Bill Moyers'The Poverty Business. Unlike right wing attacks on nonprofits that take government and private money to help alleviate poverty, this is an examination of the businesses that would like to get rid of those nonprofits, so that they can squeeze every last penny from the unique market that is poor people. Posted: 10/15/08; 7:15:44 AM #

Will the Word "Poverty" be Used Even Once in Tonight's Presidential Event?

Presidential "debates" in the United States are really simulated events, with elaborate rules designed by the major parties to prevent actual debate, but to look as much as possible like one to the public. It should therefore come as no surprise that terms and issues that don't suit the rhetorical strategies of the candidates don't even come up. The word "poverty" was apparently not mentioned in the first debate at all and I'll be interested in finding out if it is mentioned tonight. Posted: 10/15/08; 7:11:58 AM #

5 Pieces of Advice for the New Paupers
	I just read John Dolan's compelling story about his descent from grad school-level poverty to the real thing. It's both bitter and practical in tone and just the titles of the lessons he shares should get you reading: Warmth, Car, Shame, Food Banks, and Antidepressants. Posted: 10/15/08; 7:11:42 AM #