Seite 60, Amid Affluence

The number of wealthy like the number of poor is growing

There is more to the story than statistics.

The rich are becoming increasingly rich, but at the same time the number of poor is increasing. There are more and more homeless who are not able to pay the rent in the big cities. But only there do they have a chance of finding a odd job.

Recently the German Federation of Trade Unions judged "poverty to be on the march" in wealthy Germany because of climbing numbers of social assitance recepients. In the old federal Republic about four million are dependant on social assitance in order to afford the cost of living. This is one side of the coin.

The other aspect appears like this way: The workers of the Federal repulic are among the top earners compared to other countries [international]. A representative, for example, doesn't state this rather the chairman of the federal trade unions. IG-Metal [IG is the trade union's name] board of directors member Bleicher comes to the conclusion that two thirds of the population are said to have a relatively high living standard, assets, and they are said to have more inheritance. And the Office of Statistics has calculated Germans are becoming richer and richer.

Poverty and wealth, these are certainly very vague terms. For the homeless, someone who lives in the worst backroom dwelling, is probably already a rich man.

And the poor in the Federal Republic is a rich man if you compare his situation with the millions in the third world who have nothing and don't know how to quiet the hunger of their children