This was the heading of an article in Time magazine, and was picked up and ran with by many in the media:

One Stat to Destroy Your Faith in Humanity: The World’s 85 Richest People Own as Much as the 3.5 Billion Poorest

Yes, that 3.5 billion is about half of the world's population.  So, that is the group being discussed ...but I believe certain other facts must also be brought out.

A study was led by Andy Sumner, at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Sumner said half of the world’s poor live in India and China; one quarter live in heavily populated middle-income countries, such as Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia. The rest are in low-income countries.

The United States leads when it comes to charitable giving and services to those in need around the world. And many poor nations that receive our aid have leaders that do not have great concern for their own population of citizens.  Many countries that have been taken over by dictators do not want the people to prosper ...and do anything to prevent it from happening.

In the United States we have a different sort of dilemma. So many people claim they don't want the government to tell them what to do ...they want to smoke pot, ride their motorcycles without a helmet, manipulate the definition of marriage, and promote abortions (to only name a few). Many don't want the government to tell them what to do, yet they are eager to have the government subsidize as many of these things as they can.

It is well known that many people sell food stamps to enable them to buy drugs and other things that were not intended for the government to subsidize.  So, is our country going to pot?

I suggest that we not take these news tidbits and run with them ...as we join the ranks of those who claim injustice, while ignoring all but what we just what to hear.