UN Summit starts today--- with more poor in the world today than last year.

Great editorial today in the NYTimes by Kristof, as the UN General Assembly gathers today in NY.  The disparity between the rich and poor is getting greater and greater, rich are getting richer and less, but the big tragedy, is more people are becoming poor.  This goes for both the world and our country.  Kristof refers to the Human Development Report that was just released, clearly mocking the rich in the world for not supporting just 70 cents of every $100 dollars to go to the poorest in the world, but yet money is spent on much more frivelous things like pet food, perfume and cosmetic surgery, when 2.6 billion people can't afford clean water.  Kristof writes:

The world's richest 500 individuals have the same income as the world's poorest 416 million people....We Americans set a dreadful example as hosts to the summit. President Bush has been trying to wriggle away from his 2002 endorsement of the principle that rich countries should try to provide 70 cents in official development assistance for every $100 in national income. It notes that the U.S. and other rich countries seem unwilling to provide a total of $7 billion annually for the next decade to provide 2.6 billion people with access to clean drinking water. That investment would save 4,000 lives a day, and the cost is less than Europeans spend on perfume - or than Americans spend on cosmetic surgery.