Last year United Nations member states spent $886 billion on arms. The World Health Organisation spent $65 billion, and another $15 billion was spent on dealing with preventable diseases.
In 1999, Britain received one asylum seeker from Turkey for every £47,898 Turkey spent on UK arms.
As the Celtic Tiger continues to make lots of cash for the idle rich, it's a different story for the rest of us. 14,800 households are stuck on the housing lists of the four Dublin local authorities, and Dublin Corporation's new five year "battle plan" predicts that there will be no reduction in the 7,000 on their list alone.
After the Lawrence enquiry in Britain, the police were supposed to have dealt with their own racism. Chief Inspector Robin Lumsden of Fife deals in it. Not only has he so obsessed with Hitler's Nazis that he has written no less than 14 books about the SS, he also has a personal collection of nazi memorabilia valued at £250,000. As if no emphasise that he is no mere history enthusiast, the number plates on his car read N5 DAP. The letters stand for National Sozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiter Partei - better know as the Nazi Party. This man is responsible for protecting Jews and Blacks from racist attacks!
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed, wages in Mexico have declined by 10%, while labour productivity increased by 45%. This is mainly due to the fact that many workers have had their working time increased from 8 to 12 hours a day. In 1980 the average carworker in Mexico earned about one third of the hourly wage of an American car worker. By last year this was down to one twelfth.
Of the world's richest 100 economies, 50 are corporations. 87% of the world's wealth is controlled by just 1% of the population.