New bad news from good old countries

Suffering from thirst in Egypt: “Five out of 26 governorates are currently suffering from thirst. For the first time in the history of Egypt people have taken to the streets to ask for water and have protested in front of the state’s main directorates.”

Suffering acquires new face in India: “As the landlords of eastern UP begin to reap the harvest of their fields, little boys and girls hunt for whatever they can find to eat. Till a few years ago their parents had farmed this land. Today agricultural labour, which makes up nearly 60 per cent of this region’s population, is being increasingly replaced by machines.  (…) Kushinagar is where the Buddha passed away. At this site on the northern banks of the Ganga associated with him for two and a half thousand years, suffering acquires a new face.”

The Suffering Rich

From a 2003 report by Clive Hamilton, titled Overconsumption in Britain:

“It has sometimes been observed that, no matter how wealthy people are, they believe they need more money to be happy. A BMRB Access survey conducted for this study reveals that 61 per cent of Britons believe that they cannot afford to buy everything they really need. When we consider that the United Kingdom is one of the world’s richest countries, and that Britons today have incomes nearly three times higher than in 1950, it is remarkable that such a high proportion feel their incomes are inadequate. It is even more remarkable that almost half (46 per cent) of the richest group of households in Britain (with incomes over £35,000 a year) say they cannot afford to buy everything they really need (see Figure S1). Even amongst those with incomes in excess of £50,000, 40 per cent believe that they cannot afford everything they really need. The proportion of ‘suffering rich’ in Britain appears to be even higher than in the USA, widely regarded as the nation most obsessed with money.”

(Thanks to the blog make wealth history for its inspiring post on this subject) 

Misery index could determine level of suffering

A piece of news from the Jamaica Observer:

MONTEGO BAY, St James – Arguing that there is widespread poverty in the country, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding has called for the introduction of what he called a “misery index” to determine the quality of life and the extent to which people are struggling to survive. 

“We need an index that measures the agony, the suffering, the pain and the frustration that people are going through,” Golding told thousands of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters at a mass meeting in Sam Sharpe Square, in this resort city on Sunday night.”

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, he added, was not interested in a “misery index”.

“I am not surprised that Mrs Simpson Miller does not have an appreciation for the level of misery that people are going through and I am not surprised that she is not interested in a misery index that would measure the pain and suffering that people are going through. You don’t need to go any further than in her own constituency to see the misery and suffering staring in the people’s face,” said Golding.