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The article looks at the economic challenges facing Kansas Governor-elect Laura Kelly in 2018. Kelly is expected to address the state's falling revenues caused by tax cuts and exemptions introduced by the former governor, Sam Brownback. The concern on the impact of the state's high levels of sales tax on the poor population is discussed.

The article focuses on the growing dominance of solar power in Africa, which enables poor people in the continent to easily access electricity. Topics discussed include the spread of off-grid solar power in Africa, unrealistic circumstances affecting off-grid solar power's spread in Africa compared to traditional electricity grid, and the role played by the affordability of solar panels in the hike of off-grid solar power.

The article discusses the trend towards microlending in India. Topics discussed include microloans offered to small entrepreneurs which can be repaid once their businesses start to make profits, the aim of microlending to help people get out of poverty, and a comparison of active microfinance borrowers in several Asian countries.

The article discusses international economic assistance to development countries, including the politically corrupt Malawi government's stealing aid money. An overview of the percentage of international economic aid that reaches poor people in developing countries is provided.

The article explores the scandal affecting El Cantri, a housing project for poor people in Jujuy, Arnetina. An overview of the building of the settlement by the social movement Túpac Amaru is given. Some of the problems encountered by residents in El Cantri are identified, including water shortages. The impact of political conflicts on the settlement is also discussed.

The article discusses the relationship between mortality rates and income in the U.S., referencing a study conducted by social scientists Janet Currie and Hannes Schwandt published in the journal "Science." The increase in life expectancy among poor people in the U.S., including the role that decreasing smoking rates plays in health improvements, is discussed. Decreases in mortality rates among middle-aged white Americans are also discussed.

The article discusses chronic non-infectious diseases among the poor slum-dwellers in Kenya, including the impact of diet on health and Kenyans' non-infectious diseases of asthma, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

The article discusses the efforts to eradicate poverty in the U.S. in relation to the costs that low-income Americans incur while conducting financial transactions with banking and non-bank financial services facilities. According to the article, there is a discrepancy between the costs of money orders issued by banks and U.S. post offices. Bank fees and the process of cashing a pay cheque at a credit union are examined, along with pre-paid debit card and credit card costs.

The article offers information on low income people spends major amount of their incomes on things to enhance their status as well as impact of different personality on poverty.

The article argues that the Indian government should replace the nation's welfare schemes with a universal basic income (UBI) single payment plan as of 2017, and it mentions how India offers subsidized food, fuel, and electricity to the country's poor residents. The impacts that artificial intelligence and automation are having on employment in places such as India are examined, along with India's economic conditions and the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), and bank accounts.

The article focuses on the calls for post office banking in the U.S. in 2014, which describes the offering of financial services to consumers by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Topics include how post office banking could offset revenue losses caused by the widespread use of electronic mail (e-mail), the number of Americans that are underbanked in 2014, meaning that they lack a bank account, and how post office banking could increase financial services for low-income or distressed Americans.

The article discusses antigovernment protests, food shortages, and violent crime in Venezuela as of March 2014, focusing on the claim that support among the poor people for the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is conditional. According to the article, opposition leaders have been arrested and armed civilian gangs (colectivos) have been filmed and photographed using firearms against protesters. The Democratic Unity alliance and data from the Datos polling firm are examined.

The article considers finance for U.S. poor people. Research by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) finding that approximately one in 12 U.S. households do not have a bank account and that 20 percent more rely on alternative financial services such as payday loans is discussed. The increased use of stored-value cards by households without bank accounts is examined.

The article looks at the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2012 decision to uphold the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, focusing on the impact on poor Americans. Topics include the changes to the Medicaid health programme, states' concerns that the law is unfairly coercive, subsidies available from the federal government for the uninsured to buy insurance on newly-created health exchanges.

The article focuses on economic and infrastructure development on Angola in 2012. It states that Angola's economic success is a result of oil exports and mentions it is Africa's second-largest oil producer after Nigeria. It comments most of Angolans are poor, with 40 percent undernourished and a third of adults illiterate. It mentions that the political party People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola has run Angola for 37 years and talks about parliamentary elections on August 31, 2012.

The article discusses who in American qualify as the top one percent of the wealthiest Americans in 2012. Information is provided on the profile of the top wealthy who often work in finance, make half of their annual income from interest, dividends, and capital gains, and often have wealthy parents. It is noted that the wealthiest Americans are more likely to be married and have children than middle class or poor Americans.

The article focuses on former Peruvian army lieutenant-colonel Ollanta Humala who defeated Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, in Peru's 2011 Presidential election runoff. It states that uncertainty over Humala's economic policy plans resulted in the Lima stock market index to drop 12.5 percent on June 6, 2011. It comments on some of his political promises, including expanding a conditional cash-transfer program aimed to assist poor Peruvians and expanding child care.

The article focuses on efforts to reduce micronutrient deficiencies in poor people. It states that the nutrients iron, zinc, iodine and vitamin A are chronically in short supply and that as food prices rise, poor people switch from more expensive nutrient-rich foods to cheaper, nutrient-poor staples. It mentions that studies found increases in the gross domestic product had a greater effect on reducing malnutrition than agricultural growth.

The article discusses signs of improving economic conditions for colonias, impoverished districts in Texas along the border with Mexico populated largely by Mexican-Americans. The author focuses on the Cameron Park colonia in Brownsville, Texas. Between 2000 and 2010 per-capita income in Cameron Park has grown from $4,100 to $5,700..

This article presents information about how microfinancing is using the success of its lending program for poor people to help the same people save. Microfinance institutions such as Grameen Bank in Bangladesh also offers savings accounts to poor customers. The global financial crisis has spurred interest by other microfinance institutions to offer savings accounts.

The article focuses on a poverty reduction measure in India in which all Indians were provided basic bank accounts with the accounts remaining unused by most Indians, and reports the success of the program was the result of bank managers donating tiny amounts of money, between one and ten rupees to their own customers.

The article discusses the link between unhealthy eating and low income in the U.S. Topics include the problem of food deserts or areas without grocery stores, the impact of income inequality on public health patterns, and the influence of time constraints on the eating habits of poor people. The costs of health problems related to obesity are noted.

The article discusses child poverty in Japan, including the impact that dropping out of school has on poverty, poor children's eating of junk food and the impact of low-paid jobs of parents on child poverty.

The author discuss the case for free trade in the U.S. Topics discussed include increase in job losses and unemployment in the country due to its dynamic economy which created and destroys jobs each month, according to a study by American Universities majority of decline in factory jobs being caused by Chinese competition; and increase in imports of clothes, shoes, furniture, toys and electronics from China increased the spending power of those in low incomes.

The article offers information on the skepticism of some individuals to charitable giving in China. The topics discussed include the use of large pandas in enticing individuals to donate some unwanted items to the needy, the awkwardness felt by some middle-class people in charitable giving, and the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) per Chinese individual.

The article discusses the economic success for the black people in the U.S. It highlights the increase number of student protests due to the poor handling of racist incidents and racial tensions between the blacks and the whites. It also examines the influence of discrimination to the educational failure of blacks that could reflect to drop out of the black students from poor families.

The article discusses public services in Great Britain and the author's claim that wealthy individuals are receiving larger shares of British public spending as of 2015. Services for poor people are addressed, along with economic inequality and public services-related data released by Great Britain's Office for National Statistics. The economic aspects of public services such as education and medical care are examined, along with private school tuition in Great Britain.

The author argues that government subsidies and protections for rice farmers in places such as Asia actually cause harm to the poorest people in the world, and it mentions data released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development regarding financial aid for rice and maize (corn) farmers. Tariffs, state monopolies, and the efforts to stimulate domestic production in Asian countries are also examined. Consumers in China, Indonesia, and the Philippines are assessed.

The article reports that the middle class in Brazil has grown significantly since 2002. Brazil was previously known for the wide gap between its rich and poor populations, but in 2008 the middle class rose to more than half the nation's population. People in Brazil put a high value on status symbols and spend large percentages of their income on fashion and brand name products seen on television shows.

The article discusses reports that the average American income has risen slightly while poverty rates have slightly fallen. The number of Americans without health insurance, however, has continued to increase. These figures are questioned, as the author points out that poverty censuses do not take into account government health insurance, subsidized housing, or food stamps.

The article discusses the spread of Western chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer and diabetes to developing countries. The United Nations' millennium development goals for reducing poverty, adopted in 2000, contain a clause for combating infectious disease in developing nations, but no specific framework for combating chronic disease. Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death in both poor and affluent nations, but in poor countries the diseases are more deadly.

The article focuses on microcredit in India. A new report from the central bank, the Reserve Bank, argues that microcredit helps the poor and allows banks to increase their business, enhance their profit and spread the risk. Microcredit is already a flourishing business. "Self-Help Groups" (SHGs), supported by banks, bring together women who pool savings for a few months, allocate them to members who need small amounts temporarily, and are then eligible for a bank loan. The finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, has promised to promote microfinance institutions and to help them to act as intermediaries between banks and borrowers. Despite its recent growth, however, microcredit is far less widespread in India than in neighbouring Bangladesh. Most of India's rural poor still do not have access to formal finance, a World Bank study found. Moneylenders are no longer as dominant as they were, but they still play an important role among the very poor. So there is a huge gap. Microcredit is a time-consuming business, where it is hard to achieve a big increase in market size without a commensurate increase in costs. Some see the solution in technology.

The article presents an editorial on the global fight against AIDS. The world is not winning the war against AIDS. By the end of this year, three million poor people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are supposed to be receiving the treatment they need. So far, though, barely one million are. At present, about forty million people are living with HIV, some five million are infected with it each year and over three million die from it. The human and economic cost is huge. India may well have more infected people than any other country. China's epidemic has the potential to dwarf all others. The lesson for rich and poor alike is that to contain AIDS morality must take second place.

The article reports on how mobile-phone firms have found a profitable way to help the poor help themselves. Mobile phones have become indispensable in the rich world. But they are even more useful in the developing world, where the availability of other forms of communication--roads, postal systems or fixed-line phones--is often limited. But despite rapid subscriber growth in much of the developing world, only a small proportion of people--around five percent in both India and sub-Saharan Africa--have their own mobile phones. Several operators from developing countries have teamed up under the auspices of the GSM Association, which promotes the use of GSM, the world's dominant mobile-phone standard. They invited the handset-makers to bid for a contract to supply up to six million handsets for less than $40 each. The contract was won by Motorola. Delivery of handsets began in April. This week the procurement process began for more handsets, to be delivered from next January. As well as letting smaller operators pool their bargaining power, this scheme aims to draw manufacturers' attention to the needs of developing countries. The GSMA is now making a 50-country study that will, it hopes, provide conclusive proof of the benefits of cutting taxes on mobile phones.

The article focuses on U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign aid program known as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). George W. Bush's flagship foreign-aid programme is under fire. Since 2002, when the president promised to set it up, the Millennium Challenge Corporation has found only four relatively small poor countries to give money to. Last week, the MCC's chief executive, Paul Applegarth, announced that he was quitting. The MCC is unloved by both left and right. A Republican-led House of Representatives sub-committee has just recommended nearly halving its budget, to $1.75 billion next year. American liberals suspect it is part of Bush's conspiracy to conservatise the world. And Europeans mock the MCC as slower, meaner and more ideological than their own aid programmes.

Focuses on the government of Bolivia. Suggestion that President Carlos Mesa's government is looking increasingly fragile; Why the country is facing a climate of violence over such issues as oil and gas; Protests over water supplies; How the public mood changed following a regional recession; Concerns of the U.S. over discontent in Bolivia; View that Bolivia's retreat from its reforms is unlikely to help its poor majority; Outlook for fresh political conflicts.

Examines the budget problems in California. How the world's six-largest economy is broke; Proposals to fix the issues from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who has proposed a $111.7 billion budget for the 2005; Solutions to out of control spending which includes a heavy cut back in non-mandated programs, some adjustments of mandated bits and borrowing; Belief that this is a more honest budget than the state usually sees; Angry reaction from the public schools who had been promised money they will not see; Cutting of benefits for state employees; Changes in Medi-Cal which could hurt the poor; Reaction from the state's Democrats; Possibilities of some compromise on the plan.

This article discusses how 2005 could be a significant year in the fight against poverty. We have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science--but do we have the will? Do we have the will to make poverty history? That is quite a question: big, crucial and--so long as "we" is defined broadly--entirely valid. And it is a question to which--according to Bono, the rock star and modern-day prophet who posed it--the coming year will go a long way towards providing an answer. In 2005, poverty reduction is scheduled to dominate the global policymaking agenda as never before. First will come some visionary reports, led by Jeffrey Sachs's study for the United Nations (in January) and Tony Blair's Commission for Africa (probably in March). In July, if Mr Blair does not unexpectedly lose a British general election in the meantime, he will host a G8 summit of rich-country leaders which will focus on tackling poverty, especially in Africa. In September, the UN will hold a special General Assembly Summit to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals agreed in 2000, which include a commitment to halve the proportion of the world's population living in poverty by 2015. For so much high-level attention to be paid to the needs of the poor is unambiguously welcome. So, too, is the spirit of optimism with which policymakers and campaigners view next year. Yet it does not take a cynic to wonder whether so much international summitry might, in the end, generate far more hot air than action. There is a genuine danger of this. So before giddy rhetoric gives way to disappointment, it is worth asking what battles, realistically, might be won in the war on poverty in 2005.

The article reports that the United Nations (UN) is focusing its attention on finance for the poor. In the next 12 months the spotlight falls on microfinance, the business of lending small amounts of money to the poor, taking deposits from them, transmitting money on their behalf and insuring them. No good data exist on how many people have access to financial institutions, the breadth and penetration of banks in poor countries, the real cost of a loan and the time it takes to get one, the ease of making a deposit and so forth. There is not even convincing information, beyond lots of anecdotes illustrated by photographs of women in rural villages, about whether microfinance makes any significant contribution to economic growth or is merely another philanthropic fad. The UN would do well to address the common complaint that banks ignore the poor out of class bias. If they do, the UN's interest may hasten change: some financial institutions are already making efforts to work with the poor, either directly or by providing wholesale services to smaller financial institutions.

The article discusses why Ecuador's indigenous party is still an important political force in the country. Though Latin America's millions of indigenous peoples have many campaigning groups, they have few political parties. And none has had the influence of Ecuador's Pachakutik, which helped overthrow Jamil Mahuad, Ecuador's president, in 2000, and elect Lucio Gutiérrez in 2002. So the party was relieved when local elections last month gave it--thanks partly to other party alliances--about the same number of mayors and provincial prefects as in its earlier heyday. Its momentum against the president is reviving. Besides helping block some of his bills in Congress, it is a member of a coalition that tried to impeach Gutiérrez for allegedly using state property and funds to support his own party. As most of its support base remains indigenous, Pachakutik will have to make inroads in larger cities and coastal areas if it is to become more than a regional party. Despite Pachakutik's political savvy, Indians continue to be among the poorest in a poor country.

This article examines the issue of gang culture in Central American countries. There was one distinguishing feature common to many of the 103 charred bodies of the victims of a fire that swept through a wing of an overcrowded prison in San Pedro Sula, in northern Honduras, on May 17th. Most of the bodies were heavily tattooed. The dead were all members of youth gangs, most imprisoned for the mere act of belonging. Youth gangs and the crime and violence they engender have become one of the most serious problems facing the five small and mainly poor countries of Central America. President Ricardo Maduro's government, like several of its neighbours, is trying to crack down on the gangs. Last August, it amended the penal code to make mere membership of a gang a criminal offence. According to government estimates, 36,000 people are said to belong to gangs in Honduras, 14,000 in Guatemala, 10,500 in El Salvador, 1,100 in Nicaragua and 2,600 in Costa Rica. The true figure is almost certainly much higher.

The author reports that, on the eve of the bicentennial celebration of Haiti's independence, the country finds itself contemplating a second wasted century. It is the poorest country in the Americas (80% of its 7.5m people are poor); it leads the region only in AIDS, malnutrition and infant mortality. Yet its current president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, sees the bicentenary as a showcase for Haiti's achievement of democracy and political tolerance after decades of dictatorships. That is not how his opponents see matters. An alliance of opposition parties, civic groups and students is calling for his resignation. Militants have warned him not to show up for the bicentenary celebration in Gonaïves, the third city and a cradle of the independence struggle, following weeks of bloody protests there by angry former Aristide loyalists. The president, a messianic populist, was once hugely popular among Haitians, and especially the poor. After Mr Aristide's second election victory in 2000, disillusion has grown.The factionalised opposition has boycotted the government ever since a dispute over alleged fraud in parliamentary elections in 2000. That prompted an aid cut-off that cost Haiti $500m. Discontent has simmered, over corruption, economic penury and government thuggishness. Mr Aristide puts some of the political turmoil down to what he calls "democracy in the making". He blames, too, the aid cut-off. Some aid is now flowing again, mainly from the Inter-American Development Bank. But continued support from the outside world may depend on the next round of parliamentary elections due in January.

This article considers what widening inequalities in incomes and wealth reveal about the United States, and considers the chances that this issue will become a factor in the 2004 presidential race. Does America really have an inequality problem? Statistically, the answer is "Yes, but". Much the same applies to the question of whether the Democrats can turn this into a winning political issue. By whatever measure you use, the richest Americans have done very well over the past few decades. Take wealth rather than income, and America's disparity is even more startling. The wage incomes of the bottom 20% of households have barely grown in real terms since the mid-1970s. As for wealth, the bottom fifth has debts that exceed its assets, making its wealth a negative number. The bottom fifth's percentage of national wealth worsened from -0.3% in 1983 to -0.6% in 1998. These depressing statistics, though, come with two caveats. First, poorer Americans are better off than they once were. Second, America is a remarkably mobile society. As this year's Economic Report of the President points out, 50-80% of the unfortunates in America's bottom quintile push themselves into a higher quintile after 10 years. Most Americans seem to understand that inequality is not just to do with tax cuts for the rich.

Comments on the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development held in September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Contention that topics discussed, such as new aid packages from rich countries, were rehashed from previous meetings; Allegation that the meeting was not supposed to raise new issues, but consider well-known problems; Promise made to reduce the number of people living with inadequate water and sanitation; Effort to reduce the number of people living in absolute poverty.

This article focuses on the increasing population of Muslims in Western countries. Most recently, amid rising concern about immigration in general, Muslims have had to contend with the charge that aspects of their religion are fundamentally at odds with the liberal, democratic values of the West. Yet millions of Muslims live in the West and Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States. Yet it would be idle to pretend that Muslims do not present problems in the West. These are of two kinds. First are the problems associated with many other immigrant groups. Like these other migrants, Muslims tend to come from poor, rural areas; most are ill educated, many are brown.

Explores the way technological advances have helped people in undeveloped nations. Increased life spans in Angola; Reduced infant mortality rate as a result of immunizations; Other ways that technological innovation in rich countries has benefited poor countries.

Comments on United States contributions to global economic development. Impact on the U.S. of an impoverished country collapsing; View that the U.S. should pledge assistance of at least 0.3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP); How the U.S. compares to other countries in providing aid to poor countries; Guidelines suggested for U.S. investment in foreign policy.

Discusses wealth. Increase in the number of wealthy people in the world as of June 2001; How the gap between the income of the poor and the rich has risen; Thoughts on the world economy in light of a possible recession; How gaps in wealth often coincide with democratic reform; Views on anger which the poor may feel toward the rich; The need to battle poverty.

Discusses pension policy in Great Britain as of spring 2001. Details of 'stakeholder pensions' and how they compare to personal pensions; Groups being targeted for the stakeholder pensions; Effect of chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown's decision to increase the means-treated Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) for poor pensioners; Outlook for compulsory stakeholder pensions.