How can I morally justify spending money on luxuries while others lack necessities? Many reputable charities offer ways to save or vastly improve the lives of people in extreme poverty for small donations. What type of person am I if I spend $10 on a movie ticket, for example, that could be spent on mosquito netting to protect a poor child from malaria or to vaccinate dozens of children against measles? I don't see how giving a fixed percentage of my income, such as tithing, absolves me of further moral responsibility.
posted by espertus on Feb 22, 2009 - 66 answers

It ought to be possible (though I know it's going to be inaccurate) to estimate the number of people earning above a certain level using a given country's GDP and Gini Coefficient. Can you help me work through the details? [more inside]
posted by godawful on Jan 25, 2008 - 5 answers

Is there any programming language in which "=!" is a (or even the) correct way of testing for inequality? All the languages I know test for inequality using "!=" or something completely unrelated.
posted by caek on Nov 13, 2007 - 21 answers

Are there any statistics on what portion of the US GDP is now and historically (over the past 100 or 200 years) has been spent on luxury goods? I'll refrain from defining that term and hope that any studies referenced will do the work for me. Any international comparisons would be greatly appreciated as well.
posted by shivohum on Jul 5, 2007 - 2 answers

Point me toward some interesting statistics, graphics, videos, or other materials about the causes and extent of social inequality in the world or in the US. [more inside]
posted by mariokrat on Feb 24, 2007 - 15 answers

My girlfriend and I are in college and we've been together for almost a year. I know that she loves me, and we have a good relationship, but I'm not as attracted to her as she is to me. What should I do? [more inside]
posted by ludwig_van on Jun 15, 2005 - 58 answers