People who get the proceeds from these super-expensive luxury dinners, should give the money to charity,maybe, like Save the Children?
The pope could do so much more for these countries simply by telling them to stop being so fruitful. Oh, and by declaring that birth control is not evil after all.
124
@John
You think Mayan communities are affected by the Pope?
How many people have been kept in poverty by the banning of DDT and resistance by the UN to GMOs?
10
@ebmem I really don't think that the banning of DDT, the use of which has caused much environmental damage, including to nesting birds, has kept people in poverty.
Likewise, there are many reasons to be concerned about the use of GMOs and the power of the industries that develop them, which only care about profits and not sustainable agriculture.
16
DDT? Really? Cancer is as brutal a death as starving.
8
Corrected: Childhood malnutrition has eased substantially. India, Bangladesh & China accounted for the bulk of childhood malnutrition. Now childhood malnutrition in all 3 areas is far less of problem there, at least for now, which could change, especially from global warming.
In Africa, the main causes have been AIDS and perennial civil wars - Congo alone witnessed some 5 million fatalities in the past 25 or so years, not that much fewer than in the holocaust, but few are cognizant of this terrible tragedy; we were outraged by the Apartheid, which in severity is insignificant. Then some 10 million preventable deaths occurred SLOWLY of AIDS since the advent of the 3-drug-cocktail in 1996. That drug cost was >$10K/patient-year, which is now procured for close to $100, saving lives by the millions; both presidents Clinton & Bush had critical roles in it.
Childhood & adult malnutrition is also from inadequate knowledge about nutrition. Malnutrition's ingredients are caloric deficiency, macronutrient deficiency like that of protein & micronutrient deficiency such as of iron, iodine & vitamins. Protein deficiency is unnecessarily magnified with bad consequences. Caloric deficiency worsens protein deficiency, especially, as tissue protein is robbed to maintain blood sugar. Sugar is the cheapest source of calories; caloric yield/acre of sugarcane is 6-8 times higher. Sugar is not poison, conserves tissue protein when consumed up to 20-25% of calories in famine areas, doesn't decay.
4
If we're talking about Guatemalan Mayans, it would be helpful to understand a bit about the US-backed Genocide in Guatemala:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQl5MCBWtoo
3
I want Nicholas Kristof to be our president.
3
What Guilt Does the U.S. Bear in Guatemala?
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/19/what-guilt-does-the-us-bear-in-guatemala
In my opinion, a LOT.
3
Yet again a really thought provoking and for me upsetting article in a long standing series which I really look forward to reading.
Just to be difficult, and quite a bit off the main topic, can I just point out that you can be obese and still be malnourished. Eating cheap, highly processed and calory loaded foods also causes malnutrition and early deaths. I would suggest that many countries, even perhaps the US but almost certainly the UK are facing a crisis of malnutrition amongst a growing population of obese and unhealthy malnourished children? Hence the growing move towards 'proper' labelling and sugar taxes at least in the UK? It's not just poor countries that have a problem with malnutrition. (Taking the definition from perhaps say the World Health Organisation of course
https://www.who.int/features/qa/malnutrition/en/ )
1
Yet again a really thought provoking and for me upsetting article in a long standing series which I really look forward to reading.
Just to be difficult, and quite a bit off the main topic, can I just point out that you can be obese and still be malnourished. Eating cheap, highly processed and calory loaded foods also causes malnutrition and early deaths. I would suggest that many countries, even perhaps the US but almost certainly the UK are facing a crisis of malnutrition amongst a growing population of obese and unhealthy malnourished children? Hence the growing move towards 'proper' labelling and sugar taxes at least in the UK? It's not just poor countries that have a problem with malnutrition. (Taking the definition from perhaps say the World Health Organisation of course
https://www.who.int/features/qa/malnutrition/en/ )
Starving children in Guatemala are the result of decades of republican political strategy in the northern triangle.
Cupcakes wrapped in gold leaf are the result of decades of 'trickle down' republican political strategy in the US.
When you were writing this, as a conservative republican, did you have any glimmer of understanding why some voters are looking seriously at democratic socialism as an alternative government model to garish unregulated capitalist greed?
The article discusses $1000 sundaes or expensive wine bottles as a problem of excessive consumption. This is not true. While a $500K bottle of wine is a huge purchase on an individual level, it does not affect the total amount of resources available to poor or other rich people. The only outcome is that one person becomes $500K poorer in cash while another person becomes $500K richer. At the same time, pet obesity is still a problem because pet's nutrition requires real resources which can go to poor people.
2
Yes UNICEF supplies nourishment to starving children and planned Parenthood in the Western Hemisphere provides welcome family planning. We can do this even if our government won’t
1
Simple answer. Don't breed if you can't feed.
6
I wonder who those alien foreign correspondents would vote for, Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders?
Trump eats lots of burgers and his malnourished brain has consequences on citizen USA public!
I'd be curious to know what his burgers consist of - or are they VIP burgers where the meat is from an organic farm.
2
And yet, in this very paper, there was an article lauding Bethany Gaskins, who became a self-made millionaire by posting videos of herself noisily eating vast quantities of seafood twice a day
1
Regarding the burger:
"The profits of this record-breaking burger will be donated to the Bowery Mission -- serving homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879."
https://www.eater.com/2012/5/25/6583071/the-official-most-expensive-burger-in-the-world-295
3
My goodness, what happened to Serendipity 3? I ate there in the 1960s and it was a normal place.
People who live in poverty and cannot support themselves should not be having children in the first place. Contraception needs to be made readily available and religion needs to be removed from the arguement. Being "pro life" should also mean making sure that people are not born with the deck stacked against them . Doing this though would deprive conservatives their joy of judgeing and shaming those who need assistance to raise their children.
4
What does overfeeding pets have to do with obscenely rich people paying for grotesquely overpriced items?
4
If these are the values of our “entitled” population, we have lost all claim to an ethical high ground. Disgusting - yet I see it every day. Money rules, facade is King (or Queen).
Just step over the “invisibles” at the margins of society, don’t make eye contact - they’re not real. This is how some of my EXfriends see the world both here and when they travel. They buy Gucci and Hermès, eat prime meats, drive cars that cost more than houses and contribute neither resources nor time to the majority of the world that has less than nothing. They are the first on hire a hug-priced attorney if THEIR child has an inescapable birth anomaly (it can’t happen to MY child; someone must pay) but they won’t contribute to the likes of an Operation Smile to salvage a poor child’s life in a poor country. They will not help American children to buy school books or college educations but they will buy stuff at ten times its worth for the label.
A very sad commentary of how our values have fallen and why we have so many that care only about THEIR money and THEIR stuff. Shame on you; shame on you all. You deserve Donald Trump.
2
Simple solution, stop having kids if you can't afford them. Limit them even if you can. No one, and I mean no one should be having more than two kids. Overpopulation is literally destroying ALL life on this planet and it needs to stop. Reproduction needs to be licensed by the state.
4
@Sparky Please shout out your message to MEN. 100% of all pregnancies are caused by sperm.
The vast majority of the world's women have little or no say in whether or not their partner will require sex or agree to wear a condom. Impoverished women and Catholics in particular, either cannot afford and/or are required not to use any sort of birth control.
No type of birth control is 100% effective, yet the pregnancy-enforcer minority of Americans is working hard to shut down every woman's access to abortion, even for girls and women made pregnant by rape or incest.
9
If President Trump wishes to cut people from Guatemala from coming to the US, he should take his money and invest in food programs in that country.
2
Ok - so where is the link to the food/micronutrient program to which we should donate? Give us a way to act!
Thanks
3
It's not the USA's fault if bad governments don't look after their own citizens - if individuals and charitable church trusts are anti abortion and birth control then put your money where your mouth is and make a donation to a charity. Don't blame or expect the USA to feed them as the USA should be feeding its own poor first. USA citizens first.
5
Let Saudi Arabia feed them as they are a Religious Theocracy!
USA government has a huge debt it needs to get down and that won't happen by supporting bad governments who should be taking care of their own citizens and feeding them. All these so called poor nations have extremes of poverty and rich people so maybe start taxing the rich in those nations instead of going begging to Western Democracies.
Plenty of charitable trusts who could give them individual donations instead of using the USA governments money. USA citizens first.
5
The Serendipity menu is a poor example. I went and looked at it, expecting to be appalled, and found some slightly overpriced food that you would pay more for at nearly any hotel and a few gag items. I know it makes a snappier headline, but it undermines what you’re trying to convey.
5
Population is only one element of the global predicament, especially because birthrates in China, Japan, and South Korea have dropped sharply.
The West needs to recognize the interconnected nature of the world today, the interdependence between East and West, Northern and Southern hemispheres. ‘Til now, citizens of the West have enjoyed access to all the creature comforts, while their African and Latin American counterparts barely subsist.
The West can no longer hog all the resources on a shrinking planet, including capacious households that operate four cars, three fridges, five TVs and use excessive electricity, natural gas, and water. This end is a perversion of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We are fast-approaching a time when governments will be forced to regulate the number of vehicles and appliances and the quantity of energy consumption permitted per household.
Accelerating modernization, resource-consumption, and pollution in the East and Southern hemisphere accentuate the need to curb birthrates and population growth in these parts of the world. But those of us in the West need to do our part and consume less.
The problem, of course, is that corporations will not embrace this ethos. And corporations drive the economy.
Greed and its consequences.
“Revelations” calls it the seven seals.
2
Condoms cost a few cents each. I think it's starting too late in the process to call out child malnutrition as a step in perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Guatemala has the highest population growth rate in Latin America, due to its high birth rate. I am stunned that fewer articles on poverty (not to mention ecological problems) fail to mention the importance of lowering the birthrate. Fewer children per couple equals more resources per child (including food, education, and healthcare), a higher quality of life, and less pressure on ecosystems.
9
For all the people saying that malnutrition would be solved if women in developing countries would "just" use birth control. In a country where people can't even afford food, how do you think they can afford birth control, or any medical care for that matter? Guatemala has high rates of teen pregnancy AND of illiteracy - it's hard to do research on effective birth control if you can't read. The Catholic church does everything it can to prevent women from having access to birth control - and the U.S. government helps, by enforcing limits on family planning information American government and non-government organizations can provide.
Cost, distance, and education are huge barriers to obtaining birth control here in the U.S. What chance does a 13 year old girl in a rural Guatemalan village have?
8
Most malnutrition is caused by armed gangs controlling real estate. Enough people are generous that this stunting would not exist otherwise. The armed gangs could be the Saudi military or Guatemalan criminal gangs, but it's usually armed gangs not failed crops or economic dysfunction. In a sense the other end of the problem, people making children where they can't feed the ones they have, is also a result of armed gangs because force is really behind the grip of the cultural traditions that push this.
3
Here are comments from a 3/8/11 PBS Newshour segment titled "In Guatemala, Family Planning Clashes with Religion, Tradition”.
"Stories about the dangers of birth control are often linked to religion, where family-planning methods such as monthly pills, tubal ligation, and IUDs have long been against church teachings.”
"We will follow God's will. We believe this is natural law. And we have heard too many stories about birth control, like injections and pills that cause cancer.”
"Here, populations are overwhelmingly Mayan and overwhelmingly religious. Women typically have eight, nine, 10 children.”
"Years ago, more children meant more hands to work the land. But generation after generation, farms are divided into smaller and smaller plots. There's less food to harvest. And with big families comes more mouths to feed. Nearly half the population of Guatemala suffers from chronic malnutrition.”
“ ...46 percent of children are stunted.”
"Malnourished children have 12 points less of I.Q. than a normal child. We will have a great majority of the population with diminished mental capacities.”
It seems to me that if the Church would present factual, up-to-date information on birth control and stop discouraging its parishioners from using it, couples would probably have fewer children, and more food for each child.
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@ann "... if the Church would present factual, up-to-date information..."
This is the same organization that took 13 years to investigate whether Galileo was right about the earth going around the sun, 350 years after they condemned him, and 23 years after we walked on the moon. Don't hold your breath.
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@ann
If children had a shot at surviving to adulthood, their parents would have fewer children. The first world "experts" are putting the cart before the horse. As countries become wealthier, they have fewer children. They don't become wealthier by having fewer children.
3
Guatemala is smaller than Ohio, and the eastern area in mostly uninhabited jungle. Helping to augment nutrition is achievable. The US should have a good aid plan for Guatemala.
2
so yes, wealthy individuals do ridiculous things like pay half a million for an old and possibly useless bottle of rare wine, but we know that and we find it easy to deplore and ridicule and even want to legislate.
what about the rest of america? as a nation we spend $9 billion on halloween; $465 billion on christmas; $23 billion on movies and home entertainment, to name just of few of the things we enjoy while worrying about paying bills and railing about income inequality, much less thinking about how to help the starving children of Yemen and Central America. seems like we all have a touch of the 1% mentality, while others starve. imagine what all that money could do if we didn't consider it disposable income.
3
Exactly, Nicholas, your reporting not only describes the shame and disgust of this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire's pyramidal Ponzi-scheme, but also suggests a title for an up-dated book by the ghost of Charles Dickens — “A Tale of Two Worlds”.
In a world which faux-Emperor Trump is trying and starting to succeed in bending history toward 'Global Empire' and away from any chance of global democracy, the dictates of a nascent Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire is, as "The Post" notes everyday in it's mast-head banner "Democracy Dies In Darkness" --- and I would add --- "Under Empire"
3
So how did you miss the initiative to fortify corn seed to reduce malnutrition in Guatemala called Semilla Nueva?
I think Kristof was a little tame here. The vast majority of us aren't buying $295 burgers or lighting our cigars with $100 bills. But huge numbers of us are wasting our disposable incomes on things we don't need, every single day. We buy $35,000 cars when we could buy perfectly good $15,000 cars. We buy $500,000 houses when we could buy perfectly good $200,000 houses (ok maybe not in New York). We go on multi-thousand-dollar foreign vacations when we could drive to a getaway on the nearest coast.
All of these practices are commonplace, in this supremely wealthy country of ours. But that doesn't mean they are ethical. And in a world where the money Americans spend on stupid stuff could be saving the lives of millions of children abroad every year, there are extremely compelling reasons to conclude what we are doing is not ethical.
These reasons have led a coalition of philosophers to launch to the "effective altruism" movement, which encourages people in wealthy countries to donate a fixed percent of their income to effective charities that work in the poorest parts of the world.
If Kristof's piece resonates with you, I recommend learning more about this movement. Because if you're American who earns more money than you need, the truth is there's almost certainly a whole lot more that you could be doing with your resources to save the lives of dying kids abroad. Truth is you're probably not behaving much differently right now than those folks eating $295 burgers.
3
The US Navy recently contracted for the construction of two new aircraft carriers for $15.2 billion. By the time they are launched, they will likely be obsolete, as China will have utilized artificial intelligence technology to find and exploit the gaps in their defense systems. And yet, for a fraction of those billions, we could solve the child malnourishment epidemic of a good many Guatemalas. But then again, that might go far to end the immigrant crisis at our southern border. That just won't do, right Mr. Trump?
2
Something's wrong with lots of pictures. Nobody who would buy a $295 hamburger cares the slightest for starving kids worldwide. What's the difference between the income and health distribution we have now and feudalism?
3
Thank you for this article. Something is indeed wrong.
1
to the insensitive commentor who wants to hand out birth control to the Guatamalens I say hand out disposable cameras to the diners at Serendipity and have then take pictures of the pigs who order the foods that could feed hundreds and post them on social media with prices noted.
1
How about if a $1 hamburger was sold for $295
(so the rich could get their jollies over the price)
and then ship 294 burgers to Guatemala ... ?
1
True enough, but deceptive. From the restaurant's website: "The profits of this record-breaking burger will be donated to the Bowery Mission -- serving homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879."
39
Frankly, money donated from a $295 food item makes a disgusting mockery of the homeless and hungry served by the Bowery Mission.
4
@Thomas McNamee Thanks for raising the concern, but my column is accurate. The restaurant told us that profits originally were donated to the Bowery Mission, but that this is no longer the case; they are not now donated to charity. It also told us that the $295 hamburger is in such demand that there's a three-month waiting list to order it. Think about that: A three-month wait list to order a hamburger for $295! Kind of underscores the point in my column, no?
21
Look no further than the articles in your paper under Food. you write for these guys, from upscale to where you get it right?
3
How ironic that this same newspaper decrying malnutrition serves up a semi-annual jeremiad against modern agriculture (Ooogabooga! GMOs! Glyphosate!) while, knowingly or not, servicing the interests of the giant Organic lobby, directly responsible for driving up prices and environmental impact (primarily in the amount of land used for the same yield).
But, sure, let's all point and holler at the one guy buying a $300 burger so he can say he did it, while ignoring the petit-bourgeoisie habits of the people making produce three times as expensive so they can have it with their Magic Adjectives.
3
Nicholas, your reporting not only describes the shame and disgust of this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire’s pyramidal Ponzi-scheme, but also suggests a title for an up-dated book by the ghost of Charles Dickens — “A Tale of Two Worlds”
4
Kind of ales the USA sound like one of those countries Trump talked about - you know the ones.
The people suffering are largely outside the tribe that could do something about it. Most rich fat cats think the “others” get what they deserve. Even poor white republicans oppose help for the others
3
What is wrong with this picture is that the greedy, hateful republicans have held power in the US for the past 5 decades from st. ronnie to the ding bat djt.
They reduce humanitarian foreign aid and replace it with war machines to continue to pay homage to their war monger friends in the military-industrial complex.
Change the picture painted here by registering to vote, voting and driving a friend to the polls to vote the hateful republicans out of office in 2019.
3
"The World’s Malnourished Kids Don’t Need a $295 Burger" is a ridiculously misleading title.
4
First off, Mr. Kristof....that's a cheap shot. Most Americans cannot possibly afford a $295 hamburger or a $1000 gold leaf cupcake and you surely know that. You are talking about the tippy top of the 0.01% here. Even among those rich folks, I'll bet most would laugh at this tomfoolery.
ALSO: I read as much as I could of that despicable menu from "Serendipity". I guess that outside of the 4-5 super costly items, you think that is NORMAL? The $295 hamburger is a marketing stunt (we all know they don't cost that much). I'd be MUCH ANGRIER about the $16 foot long hotdog -- or $11 for a dish of blueberries! -- or $19 for an ice cream sundae!!!!
It's those exploitive prices levied on urban residents that grind my teeth -- while I have to read daily how SUPERIOR y'all are to us "awful deplorables".
Guatemala is not an especially poor nation -- not compared to Africa (or Venezuela!) -- and it is rich in natural resources, including farmland. If Guatemala children are malnourished....something else is going on. Something political? inside the country? like bribery, corruption, etc.? and how can we change that? Take over the entire nation? Let all 17 million of them immigrate to the US (bringing their social problems and limited mental capacity with them)?
Just throwing money at a cultural problem HAS NEVER WORKED! we tried that many times in the 50s, 60s, 70s. Not even in our own society. And the cause was never $295 hamburgers.
6
The $6 burger at Carls jr is now $7.
2
What exactly is the point of your article? Shame
When you look at the world the amazingly tall people seem to live in Europe, like in the Netherlands. Are they doing their part in this global issue? Could you be mod pointed in your shaming.
2
It's hard to have positive feelings about organized religion when you see again and again how it is the basis of destructiveness, hatred, cruelty, superstition, and sanctimonious moralizing.
No need to be an atheist, or give up your favorite holiday meals. Just no more "evangelical" support of obscene inequality and acceptance of corruption at the top in exchange for outlawing abortion, no more "Catholic" opposition to birth control, no more Islamic jihad, no more Buddhist massacres of Rohingyas, no more Jewish denigration of Palestinians, no more Hindu mistreatment of dalits, ....
I don't think the founders of any of these religions would enjoy seeing how low their followers have fallen.
4
Nicholas, your reporting not only describes the shame and disgust of this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist EMPIRE pyramidal Ponzi-scheme, but also suggests a title for an up-dated book by the ghost of Charles Dickens — “A Tale of Two Worlds”
2
I want Nicholas Kristof to be our president.
population of G in 1970.......5.6 million
population in 2019 ......17.6 million
7
It never fails to absolutely amaze me how ignorant americans are about the incredible suffering of a large proportion of the world's children- be it Guatemala, Philippines, India, etc. etc. etc.
Truly a crime against humanity that their suffering is allowed to continue. There is no excuse for it. Nothing can excuse it. The responsible parties should be strung up.
2
The disparity between those who can’t provide for their family’s most basic needs, and those who can’t find enough frivolities to throw their money at, is enough to make anyone deappetized.
1
I think Melania Trump’s jacket perfectly sums up the administration’s attitude, “I don’t care. Do U?”
3
just give. 'til it hurts. all of you.
1
All the anti abortion and anti birth control people are all about life being sacred. But what happens after birth, that is anything but. I remember reading several years back of a U.S. company getting a tax write off for donating to African countries in need. Their contribution to the straving in Africa? Unsold golf spikes. You know ....shoes to aerate the fields with. And I bet the CEO of that company went to church that Sunday.
1
This is a silly (? stupid) column. "A" has nothing to do with "B". My dog is not overweight but we probably spend enough on his food every year to feed a kid from Guatemala. What should I do? Get rid of my dog? Send $5 to Guatemala every time I buy food for my dog. My father used to say that it's good for the economy when people have a lavish ("stupid, exorbitant") party. Must I go to MacDonald's for dinner on Saturday? And then have a veggie burger? Please.
6
thank you
What a violent contrast between the have's and the poor. No shame? We humans show such diverse behavior as if wealth could alter our conscience (that ought to know 'right from wrong') to ridiculous and grossly unjust levels of 'accommodation'. The question is, with this extravaganza in gluttony, what are we trying to prove, how inconsiderately stupid we can behave, all in plain sight?
1
Indeed. And we throw out 264 billion SS's worth of food (2016 number) or more per annum -- and people on the street asking for $$ for food in NYC!!! and the person who bought the wine at auction may legally have not paid one cent in tax on it! (WJC got rid of the 10% luxury tax law in the 1990s -- file under #howdemsareworsethan republicans -- and of course even tho GWB's Dad had either kept or re-instituted that tax, he didn't -- can't stop Wall Street.) and of course, we can't allow Planned Parenthood to set up contraception clinics abroadh -- SHEESH!
and then there's global warming -- yes all related!!!
So sad.. don't be part of the problem and why does every other resto in the USA use plastic everything. Bring your own fork, knife, spoon, plate at the very least... and a reusable container for your Starbuck's whatever. Don't always be part of the problem. PS chopsticks take up very little space -- you won't have to eat your salad with a comb.
3
While republicans seem to have no problem providing trillions in welfare to the military industrial cesspool so they can reap the rewards of bombing innocent people in far away countries to smithereens, they are doing all they can to convince their constituents that nutrition programs for poor children in the USA just cost too much; beyond that, they are voting to increase causes of childhood asthma and cancer by supporting bills to increase air, water and soil pollution. If you want to fight childhood malnutrition in the USA, vote against every republican, every time. Otherwise, just shut up and invest where you'll get the highest return for your filthy dollars.
1
Ahem ... I followed the link to the restaurant menu provided in the piece and the most expensive burger on the menu was priced at $23.95. The French, though, was abominable (“De la maison”?! ... mon Dieu!).
1
So what is the point of this article?
The truth of the matter is that 95% of NYT readers think that taxing the ultra-rich will magically solve the issues mentioned in the article. Unfortunately their belief is borderline La La Land!
The sad truth is that a majority of NYT readers have more empathy for a starving puppy than a homeless person in this country!
What I find disturbing is how the NYT consistently avoids issues that are affecting us now and will seriously affect everyone in the future. Issues that have nothing to do with Trump, Republicans, Liberals, Democrats or Politics!
NYT can't even report an accurate number of our worlds population - which happens to be estimated at 7.7 Billion... and you want to write about a $1,000 dollar gold laced cupcake? You want to write about starving kids in Guatemala?
Let me tell you a little secret... what's going on in some of the Guatemalan villages is nothing more than a harbinger of things to come for all of us!
What's the current status of the worlds commercial fisheries? (Do you even know what that means - the ramifications?)
NYT claims to welcome criticisms - well here is an on topic, polite critique... you're not doing your job because your readers are being sidetracked by issues of no import!
Want to do a good job?
Do a story on what it will be like with 8.5 Billion people!
4
This piece is revealing but misses an important point. Extreme wealth is built on extreme and widespread poverty. It depends on it. You can only amass enough to pay $1000 for a sundae by depriving most workers a living wage (indeed, your stock value and bonus depends on how much you can squeeze out of your workers), or run an economy-destroying business like a hedge fund. This is not just a US issue—it is a global phenomenon. The biggest scam the rich have pulled off is forcing borders open to flows of capital while sealing them tight to movements of labor. This way, the rich can seek out ever-more desperate people to slave for a pittance, so they can enjoy their $275 burgers.
192
@Kay Agreed. They will tell you "the market demands skilled labor and pays more for it. I'm a skilled laborer, so that's why I earn 1,000x what a part-time worker does." Ignoring all the ways in which the market itself is imperfect and arbitrary, and draws workers from an even more imperfect and arbitrary social structure. Ignoring all the ways that those at the top can impose all kinds of economic and other forms of duress that skews a nice, neat academic "demand and supply" force into something entirely different.
And I am a top earner saying this.
I'm not saying there isn't a rationale for paying someone who goes to law or medical school, or invests time and effort in pursuing a specialized career, more than someone with a less specialized path. But how much more? How can anyone say with a straight face anymore that market forces alone will produce a society worth living in?
12
@Kay No, that's an assumption of Marxism, but not liberalism which argues that economics is a positive sum game. Everyone can be better off than they would be otherwise through labor specialization and trade, locally or globally; economic growth is not zero-sum--no one has to be poor just so someone else can be rich. However, efficient use of resources can leave, say, unskilled laborers in a capital rich country at a profound and enduring disadvantage, and a healthy society requires a govt that regulates and taxes and spends to ensure that everyone enjoys the benefits of those liberal economic policies.
11
@Kay
Excellently said. Americans have to understand late stage capitalism, an avaricious winner-take-all, zero-sum game. So far, they are just plugged into the idolatry of capitalism while they earn $10/per hour. Yep, lifetime system of indoctrination works its magic.
11
Deworming and support for breastfeeding are helpful but certainly not the answer. We need to ask why the Trump Administration slashed funding for organizations that promote democracy, the rule of law, and rural development in Central America. We need to know why the Trump Administration failed to support the Organization Against Impunity in Guatemala. We need to stop claiming there is a cheap answer here that the people of Guatemala are somehow to ignorant to try. It takes effort, leadership, altruism, and American tax dollars.
122
@Dan Woodard MD well hopefully because he is worried about issues in the US and not in Guatemala which the US does not own or govern.
5
@Dan Woodard MD-Thank you. It's insane that Trump "punishes" Guatemala and other countries south of the border (and elsewhere) by eliminating aid and then complains when desperate people seek refuge in America.
19
Today I saw one of the solutions to this problem in a Catholic Relief Services video in which a mother in Lesotho, who, before going to her factory job, takes her youngest to a child care center that practices Early Childhood Development. The mother said, "One thing I noticed with my child is how she has grown. Her body is now better. She is well nourished since she arrived here. When we get home, I know she will have a new word. She will have a song. She will start reading and counting. And ever since she started coming here there is improvement after improvement." We must offer Early Childhood Development to children everywhere.
129
@Sam Daley-Harris
Yes and we could use a lot of it here in the USA.
12
Reading the article and comments, I wonder if Mr. Kristof may have underestimated his readers, and if we readers in turn are underestimating Mr. Kristof in our critiques of what appears to be a $1,000 straw sundae.
A few blasts from the past could be instructive: the Monroe Doctrine; the United Fruit Company; the 1954 coup d'état in Guatemala; U.S. government interventions in Central American nations in the late 70s and 1980s, and U.S. corporate capitalist involvement in them; and the related push towards the obscene canyons of wealth that exist today across the Americas, and beyond. These tie malnourished Guatemalan children directly to the $1,000 dessert via the Dow.
It's very hard to read about those events and remain convinced that responsibility for the tragedies of life in Guatemala today belong solely in the laps of the Guatemalan people.
Why should they, regardless? These are children. And families. These are our neighbors on the earth.
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@Jennifer
Hear, hear.
@Jennifer
Spot on! Thank you for addressing the root of the problem: ruthless imperialism.
4
@Jennifer Oops: may have overestimated his readers...
1
Reading Nicholas Kristof, you'd never guess that the U.S. has been the dominate destructive force in the region for many years, ensuring poverty is perpetuated and that ordinary people have no voice in how their countries organize themselves and their resources
Guatemala is a particularly painful example -- when the country finally had a democratically elected government which looked to moderate years of colonial penury and obscene inequality, we denounced them for communists and promptly installed a military junta.
What followed was years of violent repression, massacres and impoverishment of native peoples. Lest there's any doubt, "we" tirelessly supported the tyrants waging war against their own citizens.
But hey -- the problem is pet obesity in the U.S.
Something *is* wrong with this picture, but you won't find the answer here.
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@jrd
You're unfair to Kristof and other Americans who have been aghast at U.S. policy in the region for decades with no result whatsoever.
31
And yet we all suck up what the US has to offer. This includes progressive minded well educated immigrants who want their cut of the ill-gotten American pie.
Enjoy. It's the greatest place in the world.
6
@jrd
I agree with the previous replier that you are being unfair to Kristof, and misunderstand the strategic goal of his column. Which I think is not to give intellectual policy prescriptions, but instead to be an emotional wake-up call. He's not implying that pet obesity is the cause of malnutrition. To be struck by that horrifying disjunction is hopefully to then ask Why and How?
21
Many years ago, at the supper table, my Dad would remind us kids to only take what we could eat, and don't leave anything on your plate when finished. And then it was, did you now right now there are millions in the world starving. That was in the 50's.
Mom and Dad were struck by the poverty of Native Americans when traveling out west during their retirement. So every year they made a strong donation to a reservation school for native children. Never stopped. Today our family follows the tradition of giving annually to charity or other non-profit of our choice. My wife and I choose Doctors Without Borders and the Environmental Defense Fund.
Thank you Nick, it's individuals like you that reminds us of those in need. The sadness of it though is our Government is too busy yelling at one another about petty stuff, while the children suffer.
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@cherrylog754
On top of all that, our current government denies birth control to countries that desperately need it just to satisfy their warped ideology of so-called “Christian” evangelicals. They want children to be born, but they refuse to feed them once they are here--and this is true at home and abroad.
21
Never mind Serendipity's extreme pricing on a very few items. That's just publicity for them and entertainment for their diners. We do not need to travel across the globe to see the iniquity of hunger and inadequate nutrition. Consider what our USDA does, following the direction of Republicans in Congress.
SNAP for an individual for a month in most of the USA is LESS than $125. A complete NYC steakhouse dinner for 1 costs more than what we give to an individual for 90 meals.
One fancy dinner for 1 person at Per Se or 11 Madison costs more than the $300 or so SNAP payment we give to 4 person households in most of the USA to pay for 360 meals.
Four person households used to receive about $1.25 per person per meal for SNAP -- more than 50% more than they get now. Republicans in Congress have reduced that TWICE in the past 15 years to 85 cents or so . They say that is still too high. They say we should only provide about 50 cents per person per meal.
God forbid that Republicans in Congress treat the "undeserving Poor" with anything like the generosity they have shown to the "undeserving Rich" by reducing federal income taxes.
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@BigGuy
Thanks for the hint towards "Finian's Rainbow" and the song "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich", which needs to be popularized again.
7
@BigGuy
Nick has taken on the task, as a renowned journalist, of presenting our world to us without filtering out the huge swath of humanity that suffers grievously from poverty. Read the other pieces in today's NYT and note that they are written of, by, and for the well fed and well educated. Nick's an outlier.
Yes, the guy appeals to our empathetic core, those of us that have one, and tends to strum the heartstrings with (honest) portraits of stunted children, and, yes, he stokes the guilt levers with hyperbolic comparisons to the highly comfortable lives I and most of his readers live.
We have the luxury to chuckle at the clumsiness of the analogies, sneer at the thought of trying to put a dent in this horrible global tragedy, or just dismiss the whole scenario with self identification as a Republican who despises handouts for anyone anywhere.
We have the luxury to react and respond in any way we like. Which I rather think is Nick's deeper point.
31
@BigGuy-And Trump/Republicans want to cut SNAP benefits!
Trump Wants To Limit Aid For Low-Income Americans. A Look At His Proposals
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/11/730639328/trump-wants-to-limit-aid-for-low-income-americans-a-look-at-his-proposals
4
We are all aware of economic disparity. Not having food to eat because of political situations is one extreme but what about the people in the world that labor all their lives for a meager income and are barely able to feed themselves. Shouldnt we compare the uber rich to them as well? And why stop there? What about all the people with crushing jobs supporting parents or children who yearn for something more? Are they not as unfortunate as the starving kids in Yemen? There is no solution to these problems. The rich will always be rich, live lives of leisure and eat $1000 sundaes or hamburgers. And then everyone will die - death is the great leveler.
Our moral qualms create a facade for our amoral economic system, a facade more effective in preserving the system than mere naked indifference and blindness. Qualms and indifference offer us a choice of how to handle our economic environment, which prides itself on offering choices that do not threaten it. This is the freedom of free enterprise, and those who nonviolently fight the system are tolerated as mad but kept from real power.
David Lindsay: Thank you Nicholas Kristoff.
I would like to see more foreign aid that connects food, education and family planning.
Sustainablity studies suggest we need negative population growth for our own survival.
David Blogs at InvconvenientNews.Net
Get the message in your column, but since you brought it up, The Ranch in Malibu (thanks for the link) looks like a bootcamp for the overstressed serving up vegan meals from a giant on-site organic garden, hikes, yoga, meditation, privacy, no alcohol, caffeine, devices.... and considering it's all-inclusive, you could have found a better example of waste and excess I expected to find.
Something is right about that picture.
How much does bariatric surgery go for? Average cost: $23,000.
Something is wrong about that picture.
2
Why is Kristoff getting mad at rich people, and there are beefs, without bringing up the catholics who teach poor people to have as many babies as they can? And threatens poor people with eternal damnation in hell if they don't.
6
Our values in a nutshell which is bad enough. Worse, we're moving ourselves backward toward our communally isolated metaphorical cages of self-indulgence, the broader community be damned. Nothing else can explain the elected ascendance of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban, Matteo Salvini and, most likely, Boris Johnson.
2
Thank you, Nicholas and Mia. A huge amount can be accomplished by absolutely (not relatively) inexpensive micronutrient supplements as we have previously published.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780817
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17205991
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2328340
1
Coming from a lifelong lower middle class male, the only issue in the world that truly matters is income inequality.
The issues in Guatemala are repeated all over the globe, in every type of nation, developed all the way through undeveloped.These are issues that many people, like myself, care about, yet we are unable to spend time money or resources working towards rectifying such horrible situations due to the crushing income inequality that we face each day. We work skilled, laborious jobs that DO NOT "make ends meet" for us.
Others have the day off, to eat $1000 gold cupcakes, take care of obese pets, bid on vintage wine at auctions.
They are our our insurers our bankers our lawyers, the owners of monopolistic tech companies...oftentimes......our own employers...
1
Hi Nick, I was wondering what organizations people might donate to, to help fight malnutrition? Thank you!
Oh irony! Not a week goes by without the NYT pages being filled with articles about expensive dinners, inane luxury goods, celebrities peddling lines of unnecessary clothes, condo's, extravangaza's at the Met, you name it. Mr. Kristof, you could have studded your very justified indictment of this social injustice with actual excerpts from Times articles that are wholly uncritical of financial waste...
5
We read columnists from conservative to liberal in the New York Times Opinion section, but there are only a couple who are humanitarians. Nicholas Kristof is consistently one of those.
3
Something is wrong with this picture and it is not that a restaurant would offer a $295 hamburger, rather a person would order it. The same is true for any of the other examples cited.
Pigs is pigs, and even wrapped in gold leaf, they still wallow in mud.
Right on, Nick. My Foundation, the Bill Cook Foundation, www.billcookfoundation.org, works in Guatemala and Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan and Myanmar and many other countries to help children go to school. Recently we selectted 14 boys who were living on the streets in a slum of Kampala, Uganda. They are small, have sores on their bodies, have no privacy at all (we are currently building toilets in the slum with showers to follow). But we believe in these 14 boys, and they are now in boarding school. Oh, that we did need to do that sort of rescue, and oh that we could do it there and so many other places for the millions of others like these boys.
2
what is your point? I can not ever group to say that spending $295 on a hamburger is a good idea. But keep in mind, you can fly for Boston to LA for $295 on Jetblue, or you can spend $110K on a Gulfstream. Which one do you think Bill and Melinda Gates fly? How about Obama, Bush, Clinton (both of them). Al Gore. How about homes; Elizabeth Warren lives in a 4000 square foot home, worth more than $2M about 2 blocks from Harvard. Just her and her husband. lots of room. Lots of waste.
The point is that people are going to pay for what they want and no matter how liberal - or not. None of them are going to take less to feed starving kids on another part of the world, let alone down the street.
You want to blame Trump, but not a SINGLE on of these people are leading by example, not one.
4
Feed My Starving Children produces food that is designed to feed malnourished children and sends this food to Guatemala and throughout the world. Check it out - FMSC.org
Very sad that this is STILL an issue. Read this report done back in 2011.
I would hope, that along with nutrition education they are also being educated on family planning and population control.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/latin_america-jan-june11-nutrition_02-16
This is reminiscent of the children in the collapsed soviet union we got to see languishing without the care/feeding human children need to thrive.
The thing that is the most 1st world "advantages" is the obesity of cats and dogs here in the USA. OMG!
Good grief. I took a look at the Serendipity menu. The part about the expensive hamburger is obviously a joke. The whole menu is rife with frivolity. Get a sense of humor. Jeesh.
3
Because few things are worse than a starving child, almost everything else is bad.
“As long as a single child starves, you shouldn’t __________”
A) drink coffee
B) buy newspapers
C) own more than one shirt
D) all of the above
3
Look at Krogers policies regarding waste. It is something all grocery chains should emulate. Just because food is ugly- not spoiled mind you, simply ugly - is no reason to toss. It's like day old bread or perhaps a banana thats a little too ripe or any number of things. They aren't all garbage, they can be the basis for a healthy meal.
https://www.thekrogerco.com/sustainability/zero-hunger-zero-waste/
In Yemen and elsewhere, we don't feed such kids, but we spend a lot more to bomb them and kill them. It isn't lack of resources, because we spend so much more to kill them.
73
The problem is not lack of food. The problem is too many people.
The world has actually done an amazing job of lifting people out of extreme poverty. But if you can’t afford to feed your kids, stop having so many of them!
An ever expanding population no longer works. More food and medical attention is not nearly as effective as fewer people.
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@Michael Haddon
"Stop having so many" kids? This makes sense on the surface but to do that people have to have ready, affordable access to birth control methods. There are also situations where things are going reasonably well but then turn downward by the time a baby comes along. Plus, there are millions of people without information about nutrition requirements.
People around the world see having children as one of the great joys of life (myself included). So should the poor be locked out of this very basic, fundamental experience?
There is enough food to take care of the existing population of the world (3 or 4 times more is another question). As Kristof pointed out, often the problem is nutrients, vitamins. These are inexpensive and widely available, the only question is how to get them to the populations in need.
The Carter Foundation has virtually wiped out one type of parasitic worm in Africa. They have shown that what once was thought impossible can be accomplished.
After we make arrangements to take care of the existing population, then we can have an informed discussion about limiting over population of the planet.
3
@Michael Haddon: The value of the planet per capita is diluted by population growth.
These malnourished children deserve much better and we should provide more foreign aid directed toward this cause, but their own societies are also failing them. Furthermore, I think adults need to be more responsible and NOT bring children into the world when only suffering awaits them. The world population is over 7 billion. We don't need such extreme cynical iteration. A bit of shrinkage would be a good thing. One can only live one life, not 7 billion lives.
8
Mr. Kristof's heart is in the right place but his point about extravagantly expensive stuff is absurd. Undoubtedly his standard of living would knock the socks off the world's poor if they could see it.
14
@Rodgerlodger
Yes, Mr. Kristof's own lifestyle has many of the perks of wealth, from the wealthy suburb in which he lives to the Ivy colleges his children attend. Writing about injustice doesn't change the fact that he has chosen this privileged lifestyle for himself, just as millions of other wealth Americans have.
4
@AACNY But Kristof isn't saying that everyone should live like a monk. He's saying they shouldn't spend $214 on a grilled cheese sandwich. It's convenient to reduce this to a black-and-white, "give all your worldly possessions away or be quiet" debate, but in reality good policy is always about where to draw the line appropriately.
4
@AACNY: We had parents to whom we were luxuries, AACNY. We were given every advantage, and never had to beg, except for charitable fundraising.
“As Mia noted in a separate article, one nutrition initiative could save up to 800,000 lives a year and requires no electricity, refrigeration or high technology. It’s simply support for breast-feeding.”
In July 2018, the Trump administration threatened Ecuador with trade sanctions and withdrawal of military aid if it introduced a non-binding resolution promoting breastfeeding and criticizing the inappropriate marketing of foods for infants and young children, to the detriment of breast-feeding. Ecuador withdrew as sponsor and Russia then agreed to sponsor the resolution and it was adopted.
Of all the truly despicable and cruel actions this administration has tried to foist on underdeveloped countries and their vulnerable infants, this one comes top of my list. Every American should feel deeply ashamed that America under Trump is carrying out such policies, I certainly am.
274
@Susan: Breast feeding mothers need good nutrition.
1
@Susan: breastfeeding is how mammals raise their young.
It was not invented by Americans.
Surely Guatemalan peasant women have been breastfeeding their infants for….EVER! for centuries! Millennia!
Why is it incumbent on AMERICANS to tell Guatemalans how to feed their offspring????
Breast milk requires no intervention of any kind from anybody.
@Susan this is not accurate.
The article (and many of the comments) imply that the problem of food supply in the global south is mainly distributive. But the implied remedy - direct food aid - is often destructive to local economies, as it undercuts prices for local goods, effectively substituting local agricultural production with foreign imports and increasing long-term dependency. Furthermore, as the author has noted elsewhere, subsistence agriculture has been devastated by climate change (driven by energy consumption in the global north) and enclosure by the likes agribusinesses and "free-trade" regimes.
The culprit is imperialism: foreign capital encloses local farmlands while deforesting and eroding the landscape, dispossessing locals of any means of subsistence. They do so in concert with military and financial efforts by countries in the imperial 'center' (the global north), who maintain colonial relations by supporting violent counter-revolutions, overthrowing democratic projects, and imposing dictatorships and "free-trade" regimes whenever movements in the 'periphery' (the global south) have attempted to assert their autonomy from the global market.
Nobody seems to be mentioning that the Catholic Church has made birth control very difficult to get in places like Guatemala. I’ve been there and I know there are TONS of orphanages and children that parents can’t care for. My heart goes out to these kids, but the most humane way to help the children of Guatemala is to provide reproductive choices and healthcare to women of childbearing age. I’m a public school teacher with a masters degree and I’d have trouble being able to feed ten kids, too.
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@Mel
It’s not just the Catholic church, but the evangelicals that have strangled any effort to provide birth control to poor countries by tying it to abortion.
46
@Mel Completely agree, but until that time it would be nice if these folks received the help they need. A little of what's ties up in the US military budget would go a long way.
34
@Mel
Mel, you hit the nail on the head.
So many commenters on the migrant crisis at the southern border castigate the USA, claiming, in part, that US policies led to the population crisis in the Northern Triangle. Our policies are not the cause.
It's Catholicism. The population of the Northern Triangle has almost tripled since 1970.
You hit the nail. Unfortunately, that nail is a massive spike. The root cause of global warming is not CO2 emissions. That's a symptom. The base cause is overpopulation. I fear we hit the tipping point in this existential crisis half a century ago,
You need a bigger hammer.
38
'' Something's wrong with this picture...'' - Aye, something seriously is, when only (26) people have the same amount of wealth as (3.500,000,000) people. That is 3.5 billion people!
That it truly obscene on so many levels.
We have to get away from the model of people/corporations getting tax breaks (or paying zero taxes) and amassing so much wealth. They then turn around and form some sort of foundation (more tax breaks that we are subsidizing) and then they donate a fraction to some charity.
We then fall all over ourselves to give them publicity of how wonderful they are, and that being such masters of the universe, that their stewardship of such wealth makes them infallible.
What SHOULD have happened is that taxation should reach 100% (aye you heard me) beyond a certain level per year. Let's say it goes progressively upwards to that point, that people can still get rich, but they are going to contribute back much more to the society and infrastructure that allowed them to get rich in the first place.
If governments around the world worked of the people, by the people and for the people. then there would be no need for charity of any kind. There would be a floor (a guaranteed minimum income for all) whereas people would not go hungry and children would be not be malnourished and waste away.
We are hurtling towards such a scenario as climate change will have more and more of an effect. We need to address these problems now, and not incrementally.
Now.
283
Do you think for one moment that the money would reach the hungry children? Higher taxes will merely result in a more bloated bureaucracy and a richer political class. This paper had a very interesting review of the fine wines that the Eurocrats were enjoying in Brussels. The story is the same everywhere. That is why the political class is held in contempt around the world and demagogues have such an easy time getting support.
21
@FunkyIrishman Corporations make easy targets, but it should be remember that, in a real sense, there is no such thing as a corporation's tax break, because the enrichment of corporations ultimately is enrichment of people, typically of people who least need the money. Corporate form is just a device that can be put to a wide variety of purposes; presently, it is used to aggravate wealth inequality. Whether high taxes on corporations is the best way to change that is an open question.
14
@Denis Mets
"Higher taxes will merely result in a more bloated bureaucracy and a richer political class."
This may salve Republicans' consciences, but the fact is that there are many effective anti-hunger programs.
For example, McGovern proposed to Bill Clinton , who implemented a program to provide school lunches. This simple program allowed mothers to send their children to school to be fed instead of letting them be recruited to be child soldiers in order to be fed.
This effective program was stopped by the Bush administration. As McGovern said at the time, the only thing crueler than not giving a child lunch is to give that child lunch and then take it away from him.
Here is a bipartisan description by McGovern and Dole---and by the way it also helps our farmers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2001/05/01/one-lunch-at-a-time/34793e76-d88d-4c58-b16c-1802dbb55b3b/?utm_term=.7bb94fc22f2e
55
Somehow, some way, we must focus on our children. We must focus on improving our environment, rather than rolling regulations back to the 1950s. The cost of helping our children would be very small compared to the real cost of what we are doing now.
"Inequality" is a poor argument, in my opinion. It has taken a reality of life, inequality, and with it created an artificial construct that feeds a particular ideology. It's artificial and self-serving. And, quite frankly, not all that useful.
Carping about one or two expensive items does little to address hunger but a lot to fee one's animus toward a particular group.
4
I completely disagree with the premise of this column. There are 7.6 billion people on this planet. Forget about equality and just do some basic arithmetic. We can't all live on this planet with first world lifestyles.
Humanity has to make some difficult decisions in order to transition to a sustainable future. If we don't make some difficult choices soon, nature will make those choices for us in very unpleasant ways. We can't inhabit this planet for too many more decades with the population we have. Fighting against poverty doesn't help. It only adds fuel to the fire.
Forget about how much a burger costs in Manhattan. If you want to fight poverty in Guatemala, hand out birth control.
132
@Matthew O
With a minimum of income comes education. With education comes the desire for smaller families.
38
@Martin Brooks
Why is it the responsibility of the US government rather than you?
5
How about getting urgent medical & food-aid to Guatemalan Mayan children AND give out free birth control?
Stunted children will be less able to participate in the intelligent solutions our Billions all need to manage.
You sound as if you want Mayan kids to starve off and/or eugenicize themselves out of existence.
The USA owes Guatemala!
Guatemala Suffered for U.S. Foreign Policy:
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/19/what-guilt-does-the-us-bear-in-guatemala/guatemala-suffered-for-us-foreign-policy
10
Mr. Kristof:
Once again, you stun me with your ability to draw the public's attention to a crisis that is entirely preventable. Thank you for showing us what needs to be done, and how much waste goes on in just our country, the U.S.A. for example. I can't imagine buying a $295 hamburger or a $1,000 cupcake and God help those who would indulge in such extravagance when there are children starving in the world that need our help!
May this article make Americans and others as well, to step up and show the compassion and empathy that we are capable of in this world of neglect and abuse.
And I, for one, are tired of hearing how much celebrities spend on their clothes, their shoes and their jewelry. I wish the media would just stop showing these pictures of the super-rich who would rather buy a $2,500 handbag than help a starving child. They should be ashamed, as should we, for indulging in even reading or watching this type of coverage by the paparazzi.
7
Always a bizarre exercise to try to link two things which are completely disconnected. If people want to eat $1000 cupcakes, they should do it, no matter how absurd that is. That act has no impact on kids suffering from stunting in Guatemala. The article could note that child malnutrition are numbers are going down every year, in basically every country worldwide. It remains one of the darkest aspects of societies worldwide but trying to put it in perspective with extravagant dining is absurd.
6
@Hugo
Not to mention that charging $1000 for a cupcake or $295 for a hamburger is a very efficient way of redistributing money from the self-indulgent wealthy downward throughout the population.....
1
@Augustus P. Lowell Efficient? Really? Even trickle-down advocates wouldn't claim the process is efficient. Not to mention that trickle down doesn't work.
1
@Hugo - "Always a bizarre exercise to try to link two things which are completely disconnected"..... The two are connected. Periods in history when the ultra rich have put more effort into flaunting their wealth are also those periods when large portions of the population have not had enough of the basic necessities, i.e. food, decent shelter, education, jobs that pay a living wage.
1
Very sad situation. You’re the conscience of America
Many are commenting on the large family sizes in Guatemala, but women there give birth to 2.9 kids on average. Yes, that’s too many kids if you can’t support them. But that leads me to think that having one fewer kid wouldn’t make much difference in eliminating this extreme poverty
The solution needs to extend beyond more birth control
1
We need to change our ways - I’ve been on cruises - people pile on the food - then end up throwing much away - doesn’t just happen there - see it almost everywhere here in the states - what a waste - what a shame - live like pigs with food( forgive me - pigs are not wasteful) - heaven forbid the waste they create in other hidden aspects of their life’s - trashing the planet we live on - probably not recycling either.
2
What’s wrong is our abject failure of empathy, fomented and nurtured by the likes of our faux president who, having never had any hardship, can neither recognize it in others nor lift a finger to ease it.
He fails to understand breaking the cycle of poverty through nutritional support would be both cheap and the most effective way to reduce the emigration of the people he most fears from hardscrabble places surrounding his Fortress America.
Sad!
3
The selfish greed of the rich knows no bounds. When a republican claims that tax cuts for the rich will trickle down to the poor they are lying. And bought corporate Democrats are no help either. What needs to happen an all out assault on the wealthy until such time they ACTUALLY start trickling down their wealth for the first time in world history.
It’s a touching article but there is something off about it. It reminds me of those Soviet propaganda posters that hung in primary schools: a fat capitalist on the left side, a bunch of starving proletarian kids on the right. The impact was visceral. Only later did I learn that the USSR had deliberately starved millions of its own people before I was born. So what is the point here? Revolution? Redistribution? Charity? Neither will work. Population control might. Education might. Improved economy might. But the situation is far more complex than the caricature of fat cats and starving children.
6
@Mor. Good points. What fixes lives in poverty is true economic freedom. It has worked for the poor in the past and, as you note, steadily helped them over the years. This is something the NYT can't stand. As George Orwell noted so well, the left isn't so much interested in relieving the poor of their poverty as it is of relieving the rich of their riches. Your comparison with Soviet propaganda was spot on.
What the world doesn't need is people that can afford to buy a $295. burger without thinking twice. Without them, no $295. burger would exist. It's the true crime against humanity and the world at large.
3
There is a real knee-jerk reaction in this country to anyone suggesting that there is a moral imperative -- not a government-issued dictate, mind you, but even a moral imperative -- to take others' needs into account (or the environment, or whatever) when making spending decisions.
It's repeated in countless comments threads on this site. "It's none of your business how someone spends their money!" You're right, it's not my decision to make, but why are you so terrified of even thinking about whether how you're spending is the best use of resources? Why so afraid of adding a right and wrong component into the equation?
The answer is probably that people know they're being irresponsible and selfish, and they don't want to do otherwise. Too many Americans are just spoiled, overgrown children who lean on the pillar of libertarianism to ignore the desperation around them.
9
The USAID Food for Peace program is designed to help reduce maternal and child malnutrition. But its support in Guatemala was summarily cut in 2017.
4
I know I am about to be a Debbie Downer here, but not buying or even not offering a $295 burger isn't going to help one starving kid. Neither will more taxes on the rich. Not to mention, useless comparisons like these. C'mon man.
5
@Maloyo56 Not to quibble, but if you tax the rich and use that money to buy school lunches for poor kids... seems like a pretty straightforward solution to me.
The solution to the problem: free trade, open borders and decarbonization of our civilization.
2
I agree 1000%. But: what percentage of NYT ad revenues come from luxury products? And what percentage of NYT readers indulge in such luxury products?
4
Please remember that, especially for most relatively affluent NYT readers, there is always someone richer or poorer than you are.
Even as you call for taking more money from the rich, there are poorer people calling for taking more money from you.
As Margaret Thatcher so aptly put it, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.
5
@Mon Ray And the problem with capitalism is that you eventually run out of humanity.
We not only tolerate this kind of gross inequality, "we" have fought to preserve it. Instead of gold-leaf cupcakes, why don't you include a little history? Like the 30 year war in the highlands against indigenous Guatemalans conducted by the Guatemalan military, supported by, trained by, directed by, paid for by -- you guessed it. Our tax dollars at work. There were widespread massacres and torture of civilians, widespread destruction of communities, schools, places of worship, businesses. It's all been documented time and again. Ignoring out that history, especially discussing the situation of those pelople, in that region, is far more morally monstrous than a taking a bite of a $295 burger.
6
Perhaps someone should address the fact that people who could easily feed two or three children and even send them to school have eight or nine because of tribal customs or for religious reasons or even because of their ideas of virility. Of course they can't feed that mass of children who end up malnourished and stunted. It would be a good idea to find some kind of birth control that is acceptable to these cultures.
4
The State of California will spend a few million to make sure that farmers comply with new regulations regarding the size of chicken coups. A new stealth bomber costs $2 billion. We just cut off aid to Guatemala that provided roughly $100 million. Minor adjustments to our budget could feed the poor in Central America, but we choose to ignore those problems and blame them for their poverty. Climate change has turned farmland to dust there...but we continue to pump CO2 into the atmosphere and call this fake news. No, buying $1000 sundaes doesn't cause the poverty in another country, but you'd have to be a cold, heartless psychopath to spend that on a sundae when there is so much good that money could do. Honestly, it disgusts me.
And that's why the rich don't get invited to the party in heaven.
2
The burger, grilled cheese and glittering gold sundae are publicity stunts. I'm sure had Mr. Kristof called, rather than called out, Serendipity to ask how many of each item had been sold, it would be so few that his analogy would seem ridiculous.
On the other hand, a full page ad in the NYT costs six figures to run one day! Couldn't the advertisers in the times forgo a few ad buys to help feed the world?
4
According to USAID, the US spends about $257 million per year to Guatemala. Does this money end up in the pockets of corrupt Guatemalan officials who drive around in their luxury cars watching their people starve to death? The main problem with these catastrophic third world food distribution problems is that it is sometimes impossible to make sure that monetary aid gets converted into food and actual food that is sent that ends up the mouths and stomachs of the people who are in desperate need of this food. In some African countries, the tons of food sent by the United States ends up in the hands of local feuding warlords who sell off the food to buy guns and ammunition. The poorest people cannot afford to pay for this food so they continue to starve as they watch the food that was sent for them, sold off to the highest bidder.
The 36 year Guatemalan Civil War, that took place between 1960 and 1996, government-sponsored genocidal massacres of the indigenous Mayan population, CIA backed paramilitary hit squads roaming the country, & a long line of dictators have turned Guatemala into an impoverished country ruled by an elite class of corrupt people who have no interest in helping starving children. Guatemala's recent "reform candidates" are just as corrupt as the government officials they replaced.
To make sure that starving children are fed in Guatemala, change the government and send in protected convoys to prepare the food and feed it to the people who are starving.
3
With the planet bursting at the seams with nearly 8 billion humans - doubled since just the 1960s - perhaps some birth control is in order, especially in the high birth rate latino, African and SE Asian 3rd world. Failure of humans to spay and neuter creates a nation overpopulated with puppies and kittens who starve and die in miserable conditions. The abject refusal of humans to control their own breeding has the same result.
6
On the other side of the World, in the Philippines, International Care Ministries (www.caremin.com) operates a highly effective program that directly address malnutrition, education and life skills among the ultra-poor. Perhaps a similar approach would work in Guatemala.
1
This may be nitpicking since I appreciate the article but I can’t find the hamburger in the menu you linked to.
@Chuck Elsesser
Look on lower right hand corner of menu---I assume it is some sort of tongue-in-cheek offering.
True, something is off, and the NYT is in on the game. How often are the ads in the paper for items that only the super rich can afford. Does the Times decide not to review the restaurants frequented only the super rich. And then there are the cultural events it covers. Without a word of irony we are treated to discussions of plays that only the richest can afford. I could go on and on. Yes, something is off.
7
In a perfect world... we could blame Trump!!!! We do not live in a perfect world!!! This article reminds me of of a tv commercial from the 80"s with Sally Strutter. Thank god Mr Kristof did not come to San Francisco to engage with the homeless. If he did perhaps I could meet him because everyday I engage with a homeless family (with children) trying to help. That's what I do. I act locally here with action.
2
C'mon Nic, this column is about malnutrition not about inequality. I dig your writing but this is off base. Serendipity sells a chicken pot pie for $20, in Manhattan that's a deal.
I could ask you, why you didn't go into self-employment to be a billionaire and do what Bill Gates has done. But that would be specious, like your argument.
4
I suspect we toss enough food to easily put an end to malnutrition in Guatemala.
2
Children whose brains are stunted will not grow up to rebel against the system. As Trump said, "I love the poorly educated."
3
Most of us are probably aware of the tragedy of inequality, and while I am happy the NYT includes content about nutritional / financial inequality, I'm not sure why the author doesn't at least mention the hypocrisy of him employer That is, I am struck by the irony of the author working for a news organization that, while a great source of journalism, also champions elitism more than just about any other news source. What regular readers see, in addition to good news, are a regular stream of articles for the privileged, including those about circumnavigating Paris (for those tired of regular Paris visits), sailing up the Alaska coast for months on end, and homes costing $1.45 million. I guess it's ok for the NYT to present all sides of humanity, even those that disturb those with the content pandering to ultra-rich. I am all for feeding the poor and charity, and am happy the NYT rattles our cage. I would hope their writers would at least occasionally acknowledge how snobby their boss can be.
3
What am I to believe? Is our holy capitalist system responsible for lifting billions out of poverty or the clickbait subtitle? Cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance go hand in hand. Will someone please direct me to the nearest memory hole? Kristof’s bleeding heart notwithstanding, more Americans’ essences were captured on the back of the First Lady’s $37 jacket as she went to the border, to what, check on the latest style child cages? Call me a pessimist and you would be right. I leave prophecy to those with more intelligence. Where have they been hiding?
3
a 295 dollar hamburger is obscene. i dont care how wealthy you are, if you are patronizing that kind of restaurant then you will certainly deserve what may be coming to you if the revolution you are engendering ever occurs.
Pretty sure gold isn’t an essential micronutrient. Also pretty sure conspicuous overconsumption is alive and well and that it is an incurable disease, one our ostentatious president suffers from.
2
Yeah, a $1000 sundae is stupid. Or, more accurately, someone who *buys* a $1000 sundae is. But the malnutrition isn't because of the sundae. There's no factory that takes enough rice to feed a village and squanders it so a billionaire can do the culinary equivalent of lighting a cigar with a $100 bill.
I'm all for programs like the ones Kristof mentions. But one of the reason existing ones don't reach their potential isn't the dope with the $300 burger. It's corruption and theft nearer to the receiving end of those programs.
This seems like an excuse to bash the people whose taxes fund our current efforts (and whose sundae alone sent $40 to Albany and $45 to City Hall). Blame them for empty extravagance, sure - but malnutrition isn't their fault.
4
The answer to what's wrong with your picture, Mr. Kristof, is: be an American.
No one here has to pay $295 for a hamburger; the market in my neighborhood sells hamburger meat for less than $3 a pound. And no one - no one - in America is starving. So much food is available that we throw away about 40% of it uneaten.
You preach that all people on Earth are my brothers and sisters. The people who killed 2400 Americans who were at peace in Pearl Harbor weren't my brothers. Those who marched people into gas chambers at Dachau and Auschwitz and wanted to come here and do the same to us weren't my brothers. Those who starved millions to death in Russia, and China, and Venezuela, and want to do the same to people here aren't my brothers.
You're in the wrong church and the wrong pew.
1
We do not have to compare Guatemala and the US. The contrasts exist within every country, in particular, the developing country. Yes, there are poor undernourished children, at the same time there is a large number of obese children—the pride of their parents. These kids may not be stunted but will have a number of diseases. While the poor will die, the rich obese will fill the pockets of doctors. The increasing middle classes in developing countries think it is prestigious to eat the American junk food. I wish the media would not just talk but would hammer in the need for proper nutrition and exercise. While health care for all is good, proper nutrition for all is even more important.
1
Check out this chart showing the relative rates of family planning in various countries:
https://www.unfpa.org/family-planning
Specifically, check the difference between Guatemala and, say, China, which reduced it's prevalence of malnourished children from 24%in 199 2 to 9% in 2016.
Do you think this might have some bearing on the prevalence of malnourished children in Guatemala and other places?
2
Guatemala has a government and civil society, and, one assumes, schools and universities, and professionals such as medical doctors and lawyers. I wonder how much does a burger cost at a fancy restaurant in Guatemala and to what extent the diners there care about their fellow Guatemalans. What is the local medical profession has to say or do about these cases? It is strange to treat Guatemala and its people like a helpless group that can only be helped by 'us'. Yes, I know there was a coup in 1954 by the evil US - what happened there since? And if the US influence is relentlessly negative, maybe the best we can do is stay away and let Guatemalans sort out their problems without our corrosive interference. They might even elect a new democratic government and start public health education programs if we just stop meddling!
5
It is a marvelous ability when one can ignore billions of people subjugated and enslaved by tyrants and socialism for elites to castigate excess in the most equality driven society on earth.
Mr. Kristof, We who are trying to place blame where it belongs and awaken US Citizen salute you.
I have volunteered with Rise Against Hunger - they do terrific work globally, but you have to be in a large, well organized setting to put together the food bags so it's not easy to participate weekly. I would like to volunteer weekly to fight malnutrition worldwide, and would love my 9 year old child to help. Right now we volunteer for City Harvest monthly, but that's local (NYC - which is still very important, but we want to do much more). What do you recommend?
2
Adopting a plant-based diet in affluent nations would also contribute to a less dire impact on the environment: less soil erosion, less climate change, less deforestation, less desertification, and more food for more people. A less dire impact on the environment would mean greater food sustainability within nations and more calories for more people.
But you have addressed perhaps the greatest failure of humanity - the excesses of the haves and the extreme poverty of the have-nots. There is no middle way, no conscientiousness of connection. The narcissism of the few and the malnutrition of the many create such an imbalance on the planet. No system can withstand so much imbalance. It's teetering unto collapse.
But fortunately, you exist. You remind us all about the spectre haunting the world, a spectre of greed, narcissism and lack of empathy. As long as the mantra is having it all, gold cupcakes will trump famine relief.
3
With regard to these food prices: The emperor has no clothes.
1
I’m surprised that so many comments seem to miss the overarching point of this article: why on earth should any one be able to afford a $1000 cupcake when other people are starving - or unclothed, or homeless, or without access to education etc. etc. etc.? Even if some of the wealth of the uber-rich “trickles” back to the rest of society as some comments mention, why should some small segment of our society be in control of the amount that trickles? The fact is, that any seriously rich person has to have made money from money and done it at the expense of someone else or something else (I.e. the planet). No amount of money “trickling back” will make up for it. Anyone who thought “Hunger Games” was fiction is seriously mistaken.
8
The Guatemalans migrating here are, by and large, a small people. A number of the adults are illiterate. Now I’m wondering if some of them are victims of malnutrition and permanently stunted? If so, here in the U.S. I worry what kind of jobs they will be able to get to support their families?
3
@emcee Because, at the end of the day, it's still all about you.
Nick, the world produces enough to feed all 7.7 Billion humans, for example:
The problem, apparently, is one of distribution - in Yemen, people starve while in the US, we WASTE half of the food we produce and 2/3 of adults are obese and/or overweight.
We could solve the food distribution/waste problems (if we wanted to do so), however, what's the End Game? 1 Billion people in 1800, 7.7 Billion today, 11 - 13 Billion by 2100? We are clearly an out-of-control species and each societal "advance" - food production, disease control, health care… - just leads to even more people straining our limited global resources.
The "developing" world of Africa, Asia and the ME over-populates. The "developed" world, led by the US, over-consumes. Can there be any other result than dystopian disaster for our species?
9
That 25% of children are malnourished and stunted is shocking and heartbreaking. However, along with support for the children that are already born, it is absolutely critical that birth control is made widely available in areas where malnutrition is prevalent (everywhere, actually). All of the problems facing the world - economic inequality, climate change, food insecurity - can be traced back to overpopulation. It's a far better use of resources to improve life for a significantly smaller number of people.
18
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof, for another excellent consciousness-raising article about the global tragedy of malnutrition. Aside from the scandalous waste of $295 hamburgers and other bling items favored by the 1%, it's also worth drawing attention to Trump’s proposal to raise the defense budget to over $750b. This includes $34 billion for 470 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the single most expensive military program in U.S. history (even the late senator John McCain called the F-35 a “poster child for acquisition malpractice”). The cost, according to Aaron Gregg (Washington Post, 6-11-19), is “leading some to worry it will starve the Pentagon of resources it needs for other missions.” Some that might find themselves crimped for funds include the cost of maintaining 400+ military bases in over 150 countries around the world. In an era when less than 1 percent of global foreign assistance goes to addressing undernutrition (a statistic Kristof cites), devoting the savings from cancelling just a couple of $80m F-35 fighter jets—which incidentally cost $35k an hour to fly—could have a huge positive impact on global malnutrition. Do the math...
17
A $295 hamburger is not about food; it is about food fashion and status.
It's just a way for a restaurant to get press attention and for a few to gain personal attention with their profligacy.
4
It’s convenient to blame the rich, who frequent the restaurants mentioned by Mr. Kristoff, but the problem runs much deeper, and the solutions would not be popular for a NY Times columnist. In 2019, 40% of Americans are considered obese, and another 20% are “merely” overweight. If the issue is a lack of calories for the world’s poor, perhaps we should start by looking in the mirror and considering how many calories we Americans consume. It is hard to reconcile food insecurity and at the same time avoid body shaming.
5
@Pete These issues aren't mutually exclusive. Yes, the average American is overweight and over-consumes, but being rich and spending $295 for a hamburger is still inexcusable -- those are dollars that could have just as well been donated for productive (read, charitable) purposes. The common counterargument to this point is that "the wealthy can spend their money as they choose", and that "the wealthy already donate far larger sums than the ordinary individual to charitable purposes", but this line of thinking misses the point -- a $295 hamburger, no matter how you slice it (no pun intended), is gluttonous and wasteful.
11
@Pete
Being overweight is not always due to over-indulgence. Soda pop is cheaper than milk. Potatoes chips are cheaper than fresh broccoli. If you are trying to stretch a budget, cheap foods with less nutrition win.
Also, many people in western societies live in "food deserts" - areas of cities that have corner stores instead of supermarkets, with poor to non-existant public transportation and what does exist is beyond many incomes.
We don't have to look to third-world countries to find under-nourished people.
8
@Pete - "…perhaps we should start by looking in the mirror and considering how many calories we Americans consume."
Agreed, and perhaps we should expand that self-examination to include our over-consumption (and waste) of all resources.
We represent 4.5% of global population, yet we consume 25% or more of global resources. Our 327 Million Americans have the Consumption Equivalency of 1.64 Billion average global citizens. In consumption terms, we're the largest population on the planet.
It's convenient for Americans to point blaming fingers at Africa, India and China for making too many babies. However, we refuse to consider that we consume far more than our share.
4
There was a desperate period growing up in the 1950s when my abandoned Mom struggled so that my brother and I could get enough to eat. In addition to whatever cognitive shortcomings we suffered and emotional damage we incurred, it was achingly hard to be hungry She was able to ultimately get us fed and raised. We were hugely lucky compared to all the children who will suffer and be damaged beyond repair. Thanks for this well written piece.
12
What some people seem to forget, or simply do not know, is that $295 would feed a family for a week, even in America. In the countries that Nicholas Kristof mentions, $295 is more than a months earnings. Some of the more expensive, "trophy" dishes represent a year's income in poor countries.
If the diners at the exclusive venues donated the cost of one gold-plated cupcake they could prevent malnutrition in a village child for a year.
To reference the delusion of another comment: only two things trickle down from the wealthy; one is brown and sticky, the other is yellow and wet.
12
There is no question that getting clean, healthy food in people's mouths should be more of a priority than it is now. No question that food insecurity is a global issue that will cripple our potential.
But I'm not sure I understand the correlation between the Serendipity 3 Haute Dog and sensible food assistance. Should Serendipity donate a percentage to the World Food Program? Sure, that would be a good thing to do.
This is essentially a political problem, not a bona fide .01% problem. We have the food knowledge to feed the planet, we don't have the political will to be bothered. And that is what is wrong with this picture, in my humble opinion.
5
One organization that addresses this (and many other) problems is Doctors Without Borders: a worthy group.
14
When studying fish, scientists look at "size at age" and invariably see declines when populations are high relative to carrying capacity. The take home message for me is that there are too many people in the world. I don't know how to get around this, although clearly the extravagant use of resources by many first world countries needs to be reined in. As does human population growth.
And I'm pretty sure you can get a burger for $17.95 off the menu at Serendipity 3...I question whether they've ever sold one for $295.
9
What the wealthy spend on luxuries does trickle down to a degree. The fancy burger, yields a bigger tip for a server, yields a job for a bunch of chefs, yields rents for a building, yields money for a marketing firm. When they spend on "stuff" at least it releases money to the market. I used to walk a very wealthy man's dog. I used to work for a petsitting service; one of my clients was a man who paid $40 a day for a 45 minute walk for his dog. I saw $22 of that, the rest went to the service. So at $22 a day, after tax, he pretty much paid me enough to buy groceries every week (this was during the recession when my hours were cut at my regular job).
Luxury spending trickles down. The $295 burger probably yields a $60 tip for a server. So while yes, they are paying excessively for food items, services and goods, those costs behind those things help a lot of people buy groceries.
If the rich stopped spending excessively, a lot of people would be out of work. Do you want to be a server at a $295 a burger restaurant or work at McDonald's? One pays better than the other....
Is it sad that kids are starving? Absolutely. But even without the wealthy scaling back on spending, there are complexities to feeding children, especially in nations that aren't run like ours. Is my $200 send to Somalia going to feed a kid or buy ammo?
5
@MC I question your tipping of $60. My experience has been that the wealthy rarely tip well.
6
@MC The problem is less the $249 burger than all the ways that the rich don't spend their money. Maybe some part of the $249 trickles down. But what about the $2M in the bank? Or the million-dollar wine collection sitting in their basement? A fraction of that money placed into the hands of needy people would have an exponentially larger impact on the economy. Because it would be spent.
@MC There, you've demonstrated fealty to the rich and powerful and defended the discredited theory of trickle-down economics. Maybe a rich person will allow you to accompany them to the afterlife like a mummified cat in an Egyptian tomb.
My daughter started teaching nutrition to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders as part of her Girl Scout Silver Award project in middle school. She continued in high school with her nutritional classes, volunteering at a local Bronx after school program for underprivileged kids.
Her curriculum was simple: What is the food (ex., fat, carbohydrate, etc.), why is it necessary for the body and what happens if you have too much of it. There was always a game involved to keep it fun. By the end of each class, there were kids warning their diabetic mothers about having too much sugar in their diets. They understood (loosely) the link between high fat and heart problems.
A very simple success story based on the works of one young American. Ignorance of nutrition is a very big problem in our country. Young people should be taught. They will spread the word just as they did about smoking.
4
@AACNY: Ketchup is a vegetable according to Republican school nutritionists.
What is wrong with this picture is that we are encouraged from an early age to excel, to win, to be the best, to come out on top. If we are rich we want to stay rich. If we are poor we want to get rich. Success is getting to have stuff. The best stuff. This paper advertises Cartier right next to an article on starvation or conflict with no problem. Just business as usual. You give stars to restaurants that charge fortunes for culinary esoterica. We are influenced at every turn by Kardashians, auto makers, banks, liquor firms, fashion and music, even the very schools we attend. Our entire ethic is about getting mine. All the consumption, all the stuff, that's the reward for a job well done. It's not a wrong picture. It is our life story.
15
I have read (no doubt, in the NYTimes) that better nutrition may not be the simple answer. In many cases, the gut biome is so poorly developed, the children cannot take up the nutrition in the high-nutrient foods prepared for them. So, more and better food is a start, but not the end.
2
Maybe if we had a government that treated Central America as a potential source of friendship instead of some kind of terrorism. the great dealmaker could work out agreements where we would exchange food or money for food for commitments to try to keep people from migrating. Yes, it'd take a longterm commitment and an ability on our part to ensure the food and money are going to the right places. It'd take some thought and planning and longterm coordination. Maybe it's paternalistic. It seems preferable to the anti-relationships we have now.
10
When we provide free food to developing countries in need it has the unintended consequence of undermining local farmers. Local farmers cannot compete with free and soon find themselves unable to continue farming. A much more sustainable approach is to help modernize local agriculture so it can produce enough food for the local populations. Even with that help unchecked population growth will eventually overwhelm the carrying capacity of the local agricultural land.
7
@Carl
Better than giving them food would be to help them create the political and economic infrastructure to be able to farm and feed themselves well. That means first and foremost calling out the terribly corrupt governance in those nations.
Simply sending food and money would turn Central America into children whom mommy and daddy (the US) pays a corrupt baby-sitter to look after them. It would be further debilitating, not helpful.
2
@dksmo - See NAFTA, which favored Big Business (as international trade agreements usually do). Yuge US agribusinesses were freed to export cheap GMO corn to Mexico, putting Mexican small farmers out of business, thus forcing many of them to come "illegally" to the US in order to make enough to feed their families.
1
Every day I open my print copy of the NYT and am confronted with the evidence that the rich are simply not pulling their weight. On page 3, EVERY SINGLE DAY, there are advertisements for incredibly expensive baubles that have purpose whatsoever. Who in the world needs a $30,000 handbag?! How about that cute little frog pin crusted with jewels you can put on the lapel of your $10,000 coat?!
I have absolutely no problem with some level of inequality, but this is beyond ridiculous.
30
@Cooofnj
Worry not: Those sporting expensive baubles will vote Left every time.
1
@boroka
Maybe where you live but not in my part of NJ. We are only a "blue" state because of glaring inequalities. Trust me, in NJ the rich who can afford these baubles are NOT voting left.
We have dairy farmers in New York state and elsewhere who are going broke, losing their farms because they can't sell their milk for a sustainable price.
Don't get me started on warehouses full of cheese.
So why can't we subsidize the farmers who could keep their farms, and ship their dried milk and cheese to those that need it most?
Just damned nearsighted, navel-gazing first worlders, is why.
19
@Dano312 - We subsidize Corporate Agribusiness, not family farmers.
There is malnutrition because there are too many people. Feed them, and they will reproduce - and there will be still more starving people. if these children in the photos were centipedes, or kittens, or snakes, would anyone be worried? No, the argument would be that Nature is dong what Nature does - keeping a balance between resources and creatures living in that environment. We are biological creature and therefore subject to the same natural pressures as any other species. We are not above them, not matter how our egos suggest we are. While having obesity in the USA, both pets and human is a grotesque perversion of the balance Nature tries to achieve, and the abhorrent extravagance of the ultra rich is distasteful, the real problem is overpopulation. Climate change is the other obvious global catastrophe stemming from human overpopulation. So let me posit that feeding the malnourished is not the right thing to do - not unless reproduction is halted or markedly slowed. Otherwise, all we are doing is making the problems worse for our species and all others.
10
@KG Having lived for 30 years in South Africa, my experience is that indigenous populations have different cultural values to those of western societies. Fertility and having many children is a sign of wealth and also of status. The poor economic circumstances also mean that sons and daughters look after their parents in old age. We may not agree with those values but suggesting that they only deserve help if they have values similar to ours is a form of patronage.
6
@KG Actually there are answers. Pro-life, instead of forced birth. If a woman is not able, for a wide variety of reasons, to give birth, why force her. If you do want to force birth, then at least provide: maternity and paternity care, paid health care for all (NO exceptions), contraception for all (with sex ed and contraception ed), and paid child care. These actions, together with girls' education, are shown to both reduce abortions and population growth.
4
@KG Amen! No one ever talks about overpopulation anymore and I can't figure out why. Eventually the earth will have had enough and it will prevail by whatever means it can to rid itself of too many humans.
2
Why is a gold leaf cupcake any more appalling than, say, bacon? Answer: It isn't. The vast majority of people do not need to eat meat, yet they do so because they can't give up their little pleasures. Bacon may not seem as silly or egregious as the cupcake, but in actuality it's pretty close. Many malnourished children (especially in central and South America) live in the vicinity of land being destroyed so that animals can graze and their meat can be sold to the rest of us. Meanwhile these children have nothing. We don't have to look at ridiculous extravagances of metallic cupcakes to see injustices... they are all around us.
10
The implication is that wasting money on silly extravagances is part of the worldwide malnourishment. Wrong.
The problem of child malnourishment is indeed a failure of government. The local governments have poor agricultural and economic policies. These countries have adequate natural resources to feed their own populations.
In addition to poor agricultural and economic policies, these countries and their governments have terrible family planning and population control policies. Too many children being brought into the world by parents who cannot feed them.
The real solution will be for these poorer countries in Africa and South America to elect leadership and enact policies that will work for them. It can be done, both India and China can point to successful programs.
5
@David Ricardo India has done NOTHING to address population explosion. It is the Chinese new need for meat that is driving malnutrition around the world. Take an acre of land and grow corn (or other edible crops) and you can feed 100 for a year. Feed the corn to chickens and you feed 10 for a year; feed it to cattle and you feed one person for a year. The problems are centered in the West. Maybe requiring the wealthy to pay a child tax of $100K per kid would be a good start, required for any who have more than $10 million in wealth.
2
@Daniela meat should be heavily taxed and prohibitively expensive as well.
1
I wish that the names of some charities that focus on feeding children had been mentioned here.
9
Nutrition isn't everything. Our president has apparently been well (if not excessively) nourished since birth. Yet he suffered debilitating bone spurs precluding military service. And now he's commander-in-chief, able to persevere despite long speeches and longer rounds of golf. While cutting aid to Guatemala and other Central American countries from which victims of hunger and violence are fleeing.
6
Where are our "pro-life" friends when and where we need them?
12
@Syliva
They are in Central America helping the desperately poor. That's where.
Here is a list of 17 separate Christian ministries that serve poor Central Americans.
https://missionfinder.org/location/central-america/
This list of course doesn't even scratch the surface of the number of pro-life Christian organizations which have been committed to poor Central Americans (doesn't even include the dozens of Catholic groups), many having been there for decades, through civil wars and other strife.
Hope that answers your question.
3
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o'er wrought heart and bids it break. - Shakespeare, MacBeth
I am reading the New York Times, sipping my Peet's coffee, sitting in my comfy chair and then I read Kristof's article. Triggered! Shame, anger and guilt. Hiding these core feelings takes and enormous amount of energy and leaves me feeling shut down.
1
Several people here say that the uber-rich should be entitled to their luxuries (how else would the Times survive without advertising them?) but that American taxpayers should pay to rescue these kids. Kristof echoes this sentiment by remaining silent on how much we do already pay through foreign aid, taxpayer funded nutritional and agricultural research, and support for UN programs. It is dishonest and ethically churlish to fail to make the amount we already pay a part of the discussion. But of course acknowledging our good will and generosity flies in the face of the fantasy narrative of many here, that we are singularly responsible for the suffering of these people. It is not true, and to desire that it be so is deeply disturbing. It also helps no one.
2
@Tina Trent Actually the US spends very little aid on nutrition and a huge amount on weapons, particularly for Israel and now Saudi (and that might just lead us down the path to a pretty disastrous war). Also, if more people knew history they would know of the nexus between US policies and actions and problems throughout the Americas--it is easy to seem like the winner of the game when you write the rules (a common saying in Latin America about the US).
It's going to stay like this until some form of global socialism is instituted.
Like that will ever happen. We can't even get the right-wingers in the US to stop using 'socialist' as a curse word.
Avarice is an existential threat-level civilization killer. It's just as bad as climate change, or even a meteor strike. It's just slower, and totally acceptable to many people.
Welcome to earth.
4
Thank you for this piece. There is something cosmically wrong with extremes of wealth and poverty co-existing. And we, the wealthy, will pay in other ways.
5
Nick, don't confuse the issue with pet obesity, or human obesity for that matter. It doesn't take much to overfeed a pet, and sitting around all day doesn't help. Alot of inexpensive food, for pets and humans, is high-calorie. Junk food is cheap. Many people living in poverty (at least in America) are obese, and it's not due to overspending on food.
Your other examples are irrefutable. Obesity is not.
5
So you want me to be responsible for raising everyone else's children?
Live Aid failed. It did nothing. The only thing Band Aid did was provide a band aid solution and help launch awareness of bad 80's musical groups.
Sorry, but I don't really care.
The burger sounds great.
8
@Nick "Sorry, but I don't really care."
Your wealth and their poverty are linked. Think about that.
2
@Neil I'm surrounded by the third world living in the first world. I've been thinking about it my whole life. Nothing changes. Nothing ever will. Too much corruption and everyone in it for themselves. May as well eat the burger.
1
@Nick - "They" over-populate, while "We" over-consume. Meanwhile, we're all on the same finite, little orb floating through space and we're sucking up it's resources faster than they can be replenished. If humans can't learn to control both our population and our consumption, we're all toast in the not-so-long run - or our beloved kids and grandkids will be.
Americans are 4.5% of global population and consume 25%+ of global resources. On average, we each consume 5 times our "share". In terms of Consumption Equivalents, our 327 Million Americans (times 5) have the same impact as do 1.6 Billion average global resource consumers. If all 7.7 Billion global citizens consumed at the rate we do, the world would have a Consumption Equivalent of 38.5 Billion peeps! Yikes!!
It's short-sighted to blame "Them"!
Congratulations Nick—you picked a good one in Mia Armstrong. I enjoyed reading her articles, which were socially relevant and written with aplomb, exhibiting a maturity and suppleness well beyond her years.
The issues your article raises have been with us throughout human history. In “The House of Mirth” (1905), Edith Wharton focuses on the New York scene and the fate of Lily Bart to dramatize the incomprehensible disparity between ostentatiously wealthy Knickerbockers and the working poor.
The plight of Guatemalan Mayans showcases the convergence of interrelated sociopolitical dynamics, including colonialism, America’s sabotage of socialist regimes, Criollo chauvinism and political corruption.
Capitalist racism. But without the concomitant uplift of indigenous folks, just as in North America.
Given America’s surplus, it would not seem particularly difficult to address childhood malnutrition in Guatemala. But there is a lack of will in a hemisphere disengaged from the plight of small brown illiterate people but invested in the resources their nation can provide the West. Principled Guatemalan leadership must ensure that goods and services are distributed equitably.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, a former comic actor, followed Trump’s lead in relocating Guatemala’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Italics and boldface do not work. The wealthy always believe they earned it and are more deserving than Guatamelan Mayans.
You cannot extract blood from stones.
5
@Andrew Shin: so if the Guatemalan embassy in Israel had stayed in Tel Aviv....all would be well with the third world in Central America?
Why even bring this up?
I have no idea who Mr. Morales is, and probably not 1 American in 10 million would know who the Guatemalan President was even it was someone NOT in comedy or acting. Is Mr. Morales a bad or corrupt President, or you just don't like comedians?
@Concerned Citizen
Morales does what Trump wants.
If Trump says jump, Morales jumps, if for nothing else than to ensure America’s annual aid to Guatemala.
Guatemala is the only nation to follow the US and relocate its embassy to Tel Aviv.
The point is to emphasize how much power Trump wields and how quickly he can fix things in Guatemala. But Trump, above all, has no interest in helping small brown people.
I am pro-Israel by the way.
I think you can connect the dots from here on in.
I really appreciate Mr. Kristof's very astute and rational analysis of very important issues, but nutrition "inequality"? Using that terms is silly. It's reality. There is no such thing as "equality" when talking about the entire planet.
Not saying it's right just that the term is meaningless.
8
@AACNY; let me clear that up.
Mr. Kristof is very obliquely trying to argue we must have open borders and welcome in all 17 million Guatemalans, because Guatemala is poor compared to the US and all 17 million Guatemalans deserve the nice lifestyles of affluent white collar professional New Yorkers.
Of course, when the Guatemalans come...so will everyone else in Central America and that's 45 million people. Another 120 million in Mexico! and 2 BILLION in Africa alone! all very poor.
If even a fraction make it to the US...our own society will collapse. We can't even care for all US citizens! we have homeless on the streets! we have 40 million without health care!
But the Mr. Kristof's of the Left want open borders.
This is how they promote open borders.
2
@Concerned Citizen Here we go again... virtually no one advocates for open borders (I'm sure there is somebody, somewhere... but it's not a mainstream "Left" policy. It's just not.).
Real policy-making is about line-drawing. There is a lot of room for a line to be drawn between open borders and maybe spending a little more on making sure that babies aren't starving and dealing with the consequences for the rest of their lives. I'm sure it eases your conscience to say "Well, I can't do everything, so I'll do nothing." But, to quoth the old parable, you throw the fish in front of you back into the sea and don't worry too hard about whether there are other fish out there you can't help.
Given that’s it’s so cheap for the governments to offer child feeding programs, why aren’t they doing it? Simple. Most Central American governments are run by elites who don’t care about poor people. The exception is Nicaragua. There the government is supported by the poor and that makes a world of difference. Same for Cuba.
10
@Capt Planet: and we all know that Cuba is a paradise of affluence and equality and economic success.
1
@Capt Planet
I hope that Trump won't hear about Nicaragua and Cuba as countries making a difference. He would write these people off the Earth as bad examples of capitalism.
what about mother's milk? aren't these children being breastfed? doesn't that give them some micronutrients during the first 1000 days of life? are women having too many babies in to breastfeed them all?
2
Questions in response to questions -- if mothers are malnourished, can they produce enough milk to breastfeed, and if they can, does it have the necessary nutrients? I don't know, these really are questions.
2
@Anti-Marx
You forget the Nestle scandal in Africa where mothers were urged to feed their children formula NOT breastfeed -- and dirty/disease carrying water was used to prepare formula resulting in death and corporate profits!!
I don't know the status of the mother's health, nor do I know whether the children were born with impaired intellectual capacity. As a victim of WWI food scarcity my father did get rickets, but mentally was not impaired.
The trend towards vegan in the USA for young people's health I doubt is healthy. (Complete protein and calcium -- not sure what can be effectively supplied via supplements.
@Anti-Marx
If the mother is malnourished her milk does nothing for the baby.
Something else is "wrong with this picture." And I'm going to take a lot of heat for saying it. Photograph shoppers at any Walmart in the U.S. The pictures will undoubtedly show that the percentage of morbidly obese shoppers -- including their kids -- has to be higher than the percentage of stunted, malnourished children anywhere in the world. Overloading with junk here; starving for lack of good food there. Where are the studies that show us what's happening. And why?
3
@Rea Tarr obesity is also malnourishment - it stems from families buying the cheapest food, which is also the most processed.
10
@Multimodalmama
That's only a partial explanation, of course.
The "Walmart obesity" issue, if I may call it that, is also partly due to the fact that most Americans barely use their bodies any more. They drive or ride everywhere and especially in the online age, many children and adults spend huge amounts of time immobile in front of screens.
3
@Multimodalmama
It's not poverty. It's ignorance. Poverty is a blanket excuse that becomes meaningless when it's employed as an excuse for every group all over the world.
There are plenty of healthy options in those stores. The problem is nutritional ignorance.
2
Well, The Romans dined on nightingales' tongues and we've got $295 burgers.
2
@SB Yes, and Trump piddles while the climate burns.
1
The horror of starving children is beyond imagining, but it's not the one-off excess of luxuries that's the problem. It's the wealth of us in the first world. Gold plated ice creams are irrelevant. That might total to a few thousand dollars. It's our everyday luxuries that total to trillions.
5
@Tansu Otunbayeva Absolutely. Let's start with thousand dollar smartphones you can watch movies on and replace every two years, with their couple-of-hundred dollar monthly bills. Hundreds-dollar sneakers, hundreds-dollar cable bills, oversized cars nearing $100K ... all of these are things that cost next to nothing when I was growing up.
3
Excellent column, but Kristoff ended it poorly. Obesity in pet dogs and cats is not a problem of affluence or over-indulgence, in the same way that obesity among poor Americans is not related to affluence. These dogs and cats often do not get the exercise they need; like us, they are often too sedentary and have ready access to less than desirable food.
9
For every extravagant night out, I’d like to see restaurants to encourage their diners to donate an equivalent amount to food and nutrition programs. Sure, it assuages our guilt, but it also keeps us mindful of those who can’t afford a $10 meal, let alone hundreds of dollars.
1
@KDC I see your "solution" as yet another symptom of the problem. Basic needs should not be the province of charity. Huge charity drives did not end the privations resulting from the Gilded Age - social welfare programs, unions, and support for families did.
11
@KDC: I believe a few posters have pointed out that the $295 burger is in fact, a regular burger and a $275 contribution to a local charity.
it's not a Buick-sized burger. it's a DONATION.
3
Thank you, Mr. Nick, for your ongoing commitment, resolve and devotion to highlighting inequity, injustices, moral contradictions. For being such a strong voice and advocate for the under-served. These illuminations, as shocking and discouraging as they often are...make the world a better place. Light, exposure, outrage. Action, hopefully.
9
@scratchy: I don't how Nick avoids cynicality. The poor see children as economic assets because they can open doors and beg.
1
The disparity in wealth in this world is obscene. And the conspicuous consumption of a nation where most people have never actually been hungry in the true sense of the word is something we all need to think about. However what Mr. Kristol has not mentioned is perhaps the biggest problem of all. That is that the governments of these countries are corrupt and unstable and in some cases engulfed in civil war. Many Americans and people from other wealthy nations give to deserving charities consistently, however, the food does not reach the intended populations.
We can eat much less and waste much less but it will not put one morsel of food in the mouth of a hungry child until governments start caring about their own people more than their own enrichment. And we must stop supporting these corrupt governments until they start acting humanely and start providing for the well being of their populations.
There is enough food to go around in this world for everyone. What there is not enough of is compassion and common decency.
22
@Paul: Children are income producers to people who put them to begging.
@Paul VERY well spoken, sir!! There is no need for me to comment: you've summed things up very well. If thoughtful, properly-directed compassion were as common as greed and lust for power and influence, the world would be an almost infinitely better place!!!
No one needs a $295 burger, but perhaps the technology will develop to the point at which they become $0.25 burgers.
Research and development of synthetic "animal" protein is not a bad thing, and if it can be paid for by people rich and fool enough to pay $295 for a burger, why not?
4
@Jonathan Katz: The ultimate economy of energy for the maximum number of people living until they're bored to death is life as bottled brains experiencing virtual reality, as depicted in the movie "The Matrix".
Movies are wonderful examples of possibilities and realities. Mainland China will likely become A Clockwork Orange under Chairman Xi.
2
Not all of these are good examples. Pet obesity, yes. The $295 hamburger, not so much, as it is mostly rent payments: someone with money giving it to someone else without actually using resources. The Ranch might be in between, if there is a lot of labor going into pampering that could be going into raising food.
The best example of a waste of resources is of course ethanol: raising food to turn into fuel to drive the fuel someplace else to burn.
6
@solon the reason we have ethanol as fuel is because this planet has been ignoring the immutable fact that we cannot continue to extract fuel from the ground to power our vehicles. And yet the move to batter vehicles, or hydrogen vehicles - or any other new technology we have not invented yet does not exist because we have not yet invented it.
"Peak Oil" has been a fear since the 1950's. We - mankind - could have had battery vehicles with a worldwide solar grid and power distribution network long ago.
But the money from the underground fuels was more lucrative, so that model stayed dominant.
Our demise is all economic - someone out there knows that the only way we will abandon the 2 billion cars and trucks that run on liquid fuel is when the price of that fuel goes to $100 a gallon. By then the world's economy will long before have already collapsed.
S0 for now, just to stretch resources, (and claim it's about the environment, but the extra processing from the crops burns other fossil fuel all the way around) we turn corn into fuel. We have admitted as a species that we have no way to save ourselves.
@solon
I disagree. Pet obesity is a terrible example, because it is often caused by poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle (which plagues poor Americans, too), whereas the $295 burger is unconscionable under any circumstances.
1
But as another article today pointed out we have never reached peak oil. The reserves thanks to fracking just continue to grow.
1
What has not been mentioned in this article it that the still richest country of the world throws the most food into the trash bin as many others combined.
Serving sizes in most restaurants are obscene, being severed on platters instead of lunch or dinner plates. Every singly piece of porcelain is covered in chips of french fries.
And when it comes to buying a so-called sandwich at some fast-food joint they are priced by the foot.
As someone who grew up in post-war Europe where some healthy food was still hard to get by many unless they had a garden growing it themselves, it makes me sick to my stomach knowing that millions of tons of food are wasted in the US.
The rule at my family's dining table was:"Don't put more on your plate than you can eat".
Before moving to these shores almost three decades ago I had never heard of a doggie bag in an English speaking nation. And no, I don't want one and eat leftovers the following days.
6
@Sarah: if you think that only Americans overeat and EUROPEANS are pure and moral....you have another think coming.
They eat a lot like we do, with rising obesity rates -- fast food all the place. I am sure they waste plenty as well. (Even if you recycle....the food is still wasted as NUTRITION.)
"Doggie bag" is just slang for a takeout container. Surely Europeans sometimes take home uneaten food? but have another name for the container? It does NOT mean "the dog will eat it". Also, if you take food home....is that not the OPPOSITE of waste?
Ditto for "foot long sandwiches". They are called many things in various regions: foot longs, hoagies, submarine sandwiches, etc.
It does not, for example, mean the sandwich is precisely as long as s submarine.
"Foot longs" are rarely actually a foot long.
Also, many people share them with others, and are not eating the whole thing themselves.
Post-war Europe was 75 years ago, Sarah. Europeans are not poor nor starving today and not for ….75 years.
The $295 burger should include a $100 donation to a feed-the-hungry program. If you can afford the burger, you can afford the charity.
7
@Ken L From the press release announcing the burger: "The profits of this record-breaking burger will be donated to the Bowery Mission -- serving homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879."
6
@Joel That sounds great. But gold is expensive to buy, so I wonder how much the profits really are.
It's a little whiplashy, using grotesque wealth to do fundraising for the needy. But alas, that's how fundraisers work, I guess.
@Ken L
It should include $100 to global population control initiatives.
It is heartrending to see that poor starving little boy who's pitiful existence is a painful reminder of the disparity between people who spend those vulgar amounts of money on frivolous sweet treats when a fraction of one treat would feed that child for months. How they survive with hunger pains gnawing at their very being is hard for us to really understand and we are powerless to help other than donations to charities. On another tack, I found it quite amusing to think how people paying those outrageous amounts for a sweet nibble they can gloat about, are being taken for a ride as genuine 24 ct gold leaf is very cheap to buy in booklets of 25 sheets which I used to buy for my craft work. It's inexcusable consumerism where the plight of the starving is conveniently ignored, a sad reflection on those that turn a bind eye to the suffering of others less fortunate.
5
The examples offered are easy targets of obscene consumption. However, if you bring it down to a more mundane level, the picture is still no less obscene in impact.
Consider the various products reviewed in the latest Consumer Reports, a well respected, responsible, corporate citizen:
Freezers are reviewed ranging in price from $1200 down to $600 offering similar performance, barbecue grills of similar quality and capacity range from $290 to $2150 while mid-sized SUVs range from $40,000 to $$87,000+.
And then there is women's shoes ....
2
Adam Smith noted that the "wealth of nations" is built on land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. This is a good start. You also need civil rights, the rule of law, access to a legal system to enforce private contracts, and good, open government that is accountable to citizens through democratic elections.
We in the U.S. could ban $300 hamburgers, and gather those dollars and send them to Guatemala, and nothing would change. Except the corrupt government cronies of these impoverished nations would have a bit more change in their pocket. Which they would use to buy a $300 hamburger.
Instead of shaming us, here in the U.S., for working to develop a nation where anyone and everyone has the opportunity to generate wealth, why don't we review what it is that has allowed restaurants to be in a position to offer a $300 hamburger, and allow someone to buy it, if they want to and have the $300 to spend?
What is our secret? It is hard to argue against: the "wealth of nations" is built on land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship, plus civil rights, the rule of law, access to a legal system to enforce private contracts, and good, open government that is accountable to citizens through democratic elections.
9
@PJ Many countries share the same "secret" -- it's called a ruling class that is willing to exploit, oppress, and, if necessary, kill, the have-nots. BTW -- we have starving people in this country as well. Try sending sometime on an Indian reservation, any major city, or in the Appalachian mountains.
You can help. Donate to the World Food Program (wfp.org), run by the United Nations.
Well, another awful set of facts about our heartbreaking world. But we can make a difference.
My grandmother taught us to give till it hurts. I'm not there yet, due to fear of homelessness and starvation, but I did give to wfp.org, whom I've never heard of until this column appeared.
Thanks, Mr. Kristof. You are contributing to the betterment of human life with this information. We appreciate it. Keep up the good work. What you do matters.
12
It would be great if Nicholas Kristof could also recommend a link to what he thought was the best place to contribute in order to help. Obviously we need policy changes at a national and international level, but when we read an article like this there is a strong impulse to immediately send some funds, and it would be great if this was facilitated. Maybe in his next column?
10
@NM This paragraph from the original column includes links to two places to donate, Wold Food Program and Evidence Action. "School feeding programs promote education as well as nutrition, and cost just 25 cents per child per meal. Deworming costs about 50 cents per child per year to improve both nutrition and health, yet pets in the U.S. are more likely to be dewormed than children in many other places."
1
@NM, donate here:
WFP.org
World Food Program
While I'm sympathetic to undernourished children, I think that efforts to feed them need to be done in concert with efforts to convince people not to have children that they cannot afford to support.
Birth control is cheaper than feeding any child.
...and Pope Francis could change the dynamic more than anyone else if he reversed the church's position on birth control.
46
@KT
It seems like the best way to reduce the number of children people have is to make them wealthy. Birth rates are declining all over the wealthy world while they increase among the poor. Why is that? I'll speculate it's because wealthy people have a lot of ways other than having children to find self-fulfillment. The poor have only their children. You can try to take that away from them, too, if you want. But really the solution is to give them more wealth rather than take away the only thing they've got, their children.
9
@617to41
Actually you are both right--of course the poor want to have children just like the rich do. However it has been found that when offered women do want to have and use birth control--no woman wants to keep having pregnancy after pregnancy. And if their children live and are healthy they are less likely to have more.
10
@617to416: The poor see children as economic assets. The rich see children as a luxury.
2
Thank you for this. We need more articles like this to show the reality of the world we live in. I've said before that I don't think most people can fathom how rich the truly rich really are, and yet the president gave them an enormous tax break. They don't need any more money. They need to read articles like this and share their obscene wealth with the truly poor. Surely that would feel better than eating a $2,000 lunch every day or drinking a, what, $5,000 glass of wine, $70,000 glass of wine if you bought a bottle for half a million dollars.
I have a vision of a person buying that bottle of wine and then accidentally dropping it on their marble floor before it is opened. Whoops! There goes half a million dollars and perhaps a stained floor. How many children's lives could be improved instead?
11
@Pat Hoppe: I am in favor of higher, PROGRESSIVE taxation on the wealthy and very wealthy in the USA.
However…even if they were taxed at the highest possible rate (Swedish level rates)….it would not feed one single child in Guatemala.
1
The world produces enough feed. Malnutrition, hunger and famine are now caused by poor governance, not scarcity. Expensive food in Manhattan or Dubai has zero connection to the problems in Guatemala. This is a poor argument that shows little understanding of economics.
8
@newyorker No connection? Poor argument? The connection is how little money it takes to solve the malnutrition problem as opposed to how much some are willing to pay for extravagance. The argument is for something to be done when the problem is so easily remedied.
20
@newyorker
I disagree of your assertion that the overindulgence of the rich is not related to the problems of poor or the rest of the world for that matter. I believe that the columnist clearly understands the economic implications of the disparities between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. If you were of substantial means would you attend a dinner with a menu of endangered species?
4
@newyorker--Don't forget that the disparity between rich and poor has been the cause of many revolutions and brought down mighty empires. Eventually the poor and hungry tire of being poor and hungry.
3
America's health care system offers a perfect solution: Those who can afford the best food will get it, some people will get cafeteria food through their employers, and the rest will pay exorbitant amounts for sub-standard food, and have the option not to eat, if they so desire. Feeding everyone will destroy their motivation to get out there and earn enough money to buy food. Work hard and save, and eventually you, too, can have a $214 grilled cheese sandwich and/or a $400,000 kidney replacement.
10
What’s wrong with this picture is that we live in a culture that values wealth not humanity. Most people gauge their success through the money they have, not by the humanity they live. It’s not taught in the schools and it is as far away from our politics as anyone could imagine. The money is in control not caring or a consciousness that drives human progress.
29
Nick - congrats again for plain talk. You have been a tireless chronicler of the well-deserving under-served, often the neglected or even abused women and children, in every corner of the world. But it has been, and continues to be, an us-vs-them world, where race, color, nationality, language, and wealth itself separate us. Our pets, just as ourselves, are obese, because we prefer to feed them rather than the masses starving around the world. But history eventually turns the tables, perhaps this time by climate change. The oceans that separated America from the world's troubles in the past may in time sink our great coastal cities. Meanwhile, our politicians hasten to burn more fossil fuels. The famous Pale Blue Dot image of earth shows clearly that we are all on a tiny skiff made of paper in a vast ocean, and that unless we work to protect it, there will be no place to run.
12
Yes but has anything changed because of his writing? Not a thing as far as I can tell otherwise he wouldn’t have material for his columns. As Jesus said “the poor we will always have among us”.
I too understand hunger. It is the unmentioned crisis of the working class in the United States. Malnourishment is also an issue here, as obesity can be caused by poor food choices as well. Diets loaded with carbs, sugar and artificial additives. But they are cheap sources and that's what families struggling with money are seeking. Inexpensive foods to feed an entire family.
I applaud your work in third world countries whrre people are truly desperate. We also need to address the issue here.
41
@Judy B.
Indeed, the unmentioned crisis of the working class in the United States living on processed food because it is cheap. They can't afford fresh non-processed food nor have the time to cook at home while working two jobs to make ends meet.
They look quite different than the hungry children and adults in third world countries, suffering mostly from obesity accompanies by diabetes.
Yet they consume so-called 'low'-fat foods which are full of not only sugar and salt, but have no nutritional value at all, to making them feel 'full' for some time.
4
@Sarah
This is simply not true. Low income people do eat healthfully. I see them all the time. They figure out how to maximize their nutrition per dollar.
They are disciplined and informed, two qualities often in short supply.
3
I can’t find the $295 hamburger or $214 grilled cheese sandwich on the menu anywhere. I don’t disagree with the premise of your moving piece, but I was left puzzled by the seeming unsupported reference to absurd displays of consumption.
13
@Peter While most items do not cost nearly so much, in the bottom of right of the menu there is a box entitled "Guinness World Records". The first on the list is the Golden Opulence Sundae with a price of $1000. So these items are on the menu! However, it is pretty clear to me that this list is meant as a joke. So for a different reason I'm not so happy with the polemic employed in Mr. Kristof's column (though I too agree with the premise).
3
@Peter Its in the lower right hand side of the menu in the Guinness World Record Section. Sounds more like a publicity stunt than an actual menu item, but to have the Guinness label it had to exist and if available somebody has probably ordered it.
1
@Peter
The "Le Burger Extravagant" is on Serendipity 3's menu (over in a box on the right) for $295.00. I just checked.
3
In today's Times, there is an op-ed piece about a parallel problem in the United States. It says that insulin has become so unaffordable that Type 1 diabetics are rationing it and buying from strangers online. Patent laws and existing regulations allow the top three manufacturers to continuously increase prices without consequences.
I have volunteered for over 10 years at a food pantry in a middle class community in Maryland. Many of our clients are senior citizens who are diabetic. Once they pay their rent and buy their medicine, they have no money left for food, so they come to the pantry.
It is obscene that $1,000 cupcakes and $295 hamburgers even exist. Tax the rich more -- a lot more -- because obviously they have money to burn.
36
@scrim1 I have two former patients, both of them living on very small incomes, who are having trouble affording the $500/month they must pay for their insulin -- necessary for their survival. I find this obscene. Even more obscene is that fact that the two men who created insulin, and won Nobel Prizes in Science for their discovery, DECLINED to patent this marvelous, life-giving medication, so that it would be available to ALL people with diabetes. With that, a pharmaceutical industry descended, vulture-like, upon this great discovery, patented it for themselves, with the result that people throughout the United States are dying because they can't afford insulin. This, to me, is the definition of Evil.
15
The implication of this article is that we (Americans) are somehow obliged to end malnutrition, stunting, disease, poverty, etc. for billions of people throughout the world.
How are we to do this? Raise Americans’ taxes and give the money to poor people around the world? Open our borders even further and let all the poor people come to the US?
Nonsense.
The American government spends billions of taxpayer dollars in foreign aid every year, and individual Americans donate many millions to alleviate poverty abroad.
Let’s see about alleviating poverty, poor schools, poor health, etc. in the US before trying to solve these problems for the billions of poor around the world.
Of course we should continue to help other nations; but there are practical limits to our generosity.
12
@Mon Ray
One place might be to tell our government to stop attaching all kinds of restrictions on the "billions in aid".
Another might be to get all the so-called 'pro-lifers' to divert their energy and dollars to actually support life after birth. The money that legislators in state after state are wasting on litigation could save real lives here or abroad.
But I guess they would rather feel morally superior while petting their fat cats than do some real good.
15
@Mon Ray
I personally don't set limits on my generosity. It's probably because I haven't figured out how I'd do it. Whatever. Until I'm shown the ropes, I'll continue to consider every human on earth as my buddies, and try my damnedest to help everyone who needs help. (Except maybe you.)
14
@Mon Ray There is enough for all. What is nonsense is thinking there isn’t. How we budget and distribute our resources is a reflection of our values. Clearly, we don’t value the basic needs of our fellow humans, especially if they don’t look like us.
We live in a bizarre world in which half of us are dying because we eat too much while the other half is dying because it eats too little. And in the US, go to any restaurant in any city and discover how much good, usable food we toss out every day. To all those who profess a faith whether its a standard god-based or some form of humanism or any other, what are you doing to feed a hungry child on this day? If the answer is nothing, then do not fall into despair. Today is a new day. Pick up the phone and write a check to one of the many organizations that are on the front lines of this travesty. You can make a difference. Just do it.
15
Susan,
I share your views, and it is also noteworthy to mention that a shameful amount of produce is discarded before it even reaches the store in North America. Misshapen peppers, tomatoes,cucumber and other fruit and vegetables are thrown out because of esthetic values. Whatever happened to “waste not, want not”?
5
@Pierre Thériault I was shocked when, standing before the Manager's office at a local Harris Teeter, I saw a woman returning over $100 of groceries (reason unknown). Everything looked in perfect condition. I said to the Manager, "Well, at least the Homeless Shelter has some good food coming their way!" She replied, gloomily, "No, it's not. We have to throw ALL returned items in the garbage." I was horrified.
1
@Katherine I suspect it's a safety requirement. There is no way of knowing how the returned groceries were handled or what condition they are in. There are programs in NYC (e.g., City Harvest) that receive surplus food from restaurants and other food service facilities and make it available through food pantries and the like to people who need it , but they have strict limits on what they will accept (e.g., when I was last involved in this process they wouldn't take food in opened packaging, food that had been cooked or food that had been out on a buffet); they want to be sure that any food they distribute is safe to eat. I don't know whether there is a specific regulatory regime that applies to this, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were.
I fell that those that can pay $295 hamburger or $214 for a grilled cheese sandwich and a $1,000 sundae do not pay enough in taxes.
51
@Peter Geoghan
I grok the gist of this column, Pete, and it touched even me enough to donate to wfp.org.
But these fat cats spending that money are helping somewhat: That money goes to the restaurant and its employees who spend it on more mundane things, which is good.
(I've often wondered if all money spent legally, and maybe even illegally, helps grease the world's wheels somehow, some way, some place. When you buy a lawnmower, a washer-dryer combo, or Big Mac combo, that money doesn't evaporate. Its new owner will spend it on much the same things.)
@Peter Geoghan
What I want to know is: why don't they round the grilled cheese up to $215? The Sundae is $1,000, not $999. Where's the logic? Did somebody really say "Oh no, $215 would be too much. Let's make it $214." ??
1
This is a sad story and will only get sadder for so many reasons. Climate change is a big one and tariffs are another. I don't know how dairy and egg farmers justify even being in the business when I calculate how much one might make for a gallon of milk or a dozen eggs. I am in Ohio for the summer and eggs are 38 cents a dozen here, milk is $1.29 a gallon. Peanuts compared to Florida pricing. Then you see that their farms are flooded and they've lost so many head of cows or chickens? The bread basket is having it's own food crisis.
7
@JRM They survive because the Federal government subsidies farms extensively. It's welfare for farmers.
@JRM: there is a glut right now of eggs and I guess milk (milk is NOT $1.29 a gallon where I live in Ohio! not even close!).
Eggs were $2.50 a dozen just last year this time.
This is a TEMPORARY bargain and remember that eggs do not keep that well, and you can't easily just freeze them.
When this current glut runs out, egg prices will triple or worse.
As I said, it is temporary.
Wherever you are from -- don't you have short turn gluts and lower prices when food is harvested?
I have mixed feelings about this. One the one hand being so wasteful is well, wasteful and the mindset can seem selfish and uncaring when there are so many problems in the world. On the other hand well to do people who live well (although what Kristof sites is way over the top) may be more likely to have empathy for the less fortunate. If you deny yourself you are more likely to believe that others should be able to do with even less. Also, the money you spend on life's little extravagances doesn't disappear, it just moves the money around, some into the pockets of workers. I guess the philosophical question is where is the balance between treating yourself well and helping to tackle the world's problems. I think what the article shows is that people need to be educated on the world's problems and what they can do so that we can each make better decisions on how, and how much we can help.
1
@Mark Schenkman
The kind of person who would consider eating a gold leaf cupcake a swell thing to do would not have the brain or the heart to care one whit about any problem on earth -- other than the next idiotic indulgence.
One could imagine a UN mandate that has all nations pay to a fund that gives food stamps, in effect, to the world's most poor.
I cannot even imagine that, for I have grown too cynical.
I am convinced that what you describe isn't a failure of capitalism, it is how it is designed to work, grinding the very poor into the dirt so those at the top of the pyramid can, Uncle Scrooge like, run their fingers through their investment portfolios.
If the world had food stamps, as the US does, some of the malnourishment would be alleviated, but that would mean cutting military spending by 10%, and that won't happen.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
12
Historically, the super wealthy have always been an obscenely greedy bunch, and it seems that nothing much has changed. Eisenhower had the right idea...tax them at 91%. There is enough wealth in the world to alleviate much of this pain, but clearly, not enough largesse and generosity.
33
@Karekin is it wealthy people's fault? Why should they have to pay a higher percentage than you?
FYI I am not wealthy.
@Karekin: first off….nobody ever paid that 91% tax. NOBODY!
Look it up!
It was a sop to liberals even at the time.
There were 10,000 loopholes and deductions in the 1950s, and the "rich" took every one of them. (Rich people have tax lawyers and CPAs and accounting firms on speed dial!)
Anyhow, it was only the MARGINAL tax for income over $400K -- about $4 million in today's dollars. (INCOME, not assets or wealth)
It would have only affected a couple of dozen people ever -- but as I said, they used loopholes and deductions to get out of paying even minimal taxes.
That kind of grandstanding -- fake high rates, but huge loopholes -- is HOW WE GOT INTO THIS MESS!!!!
It is a very good piece of writing. The juxtaposition of poverty and excess is so true. There is a lot of international development work focused on nutrition, but the entire system needs support especially agricultural improvements. In Burundi where stunting is 60% for children under 5 basic caloric deficits exist in addition to nutritional deficits. Farmers make up 90% of the population and intensity of land use is high. These are tough problems to solve that require large scale commitment from the international community.
9
If climate change doesn't worry Americans perhaps starvation might. As the climate exhibits more wild temp swings farmers in marginal areas cannot grow a crop. Who cares? When the starving world population doubles in the next decade and comes knocking at our door more desperately perhaps that might. When we have to spend more and more on defense and disaster relief and less and less on infrastructure, science, education etc maybe the wake up call will finally sink in. Money talks but compassion doesn't these days.
12
@charlie Unfortunately, action on climate change can't wait a decade. Electing Trump, a climate change denier, was a big mistake. His cult members don't think that climate change will touch them, but they are dead wrong. We can depend on mass upheavals as the citizens of the world, both poor and rich, are flooded out of their homes and cannot find adequate nutrition because of crop failure. Think it can't happen in the US? One only need to look at the flood-delayed planting in the midwest to see what is in store.
14
What this article doesn't do is tell us how we can help in a meaningful way. How can we do our part to make sure any donation that is made goes directly to helping solve this problem?As an update could you post ethical and vetted responsible organizations that help feed the world's malnourished population?I am sure many people would want to help but do not know how to do so or do not trust that their donations are actually being used as intended. Give us concrete steps to help solve the problem.
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@Robyn Levy
Excellent points! I would give much more than I do if:
1. I knew the organization I was giving it to could be trusted with the money and
2. The organization was actually providing food to poor people not to middle men.
11
@Robyn Levy, I agree with this so much, all these article do is point out what we already know, they hardly ever give solutions.
3
@Robyn Levy I work at a local soup kitchen in Rhode Island and if you (or anyone reading this) is interested in making a difference in your own community, I would suggest you start there. At my organization, we work hard to ensure that 800-1000 nutritious meals per day are served to our guests and that we combine donations and other funding to keep our costs as low as possible (our direct food costs run about $1 per meal). If you're more interested in world hunger--as per the article--I believe that care.org is well established and known to be an excellent advocate and provider of various food programs internationally.
5
I looked at the menu from Serendepity 3 and the $295 hamburger and $1000 sundae are listed in a separate box with the title Guinness World Records. I think Mr. Kristoff is being unfair implying that these items are actually part of the restaurant’s offerings.
12
@Rich I did the same; most of the menu items there are reasonably priced (for NYC). A better example would be Per Se where people routinely pay $1,000+ for dinner for two without wine. Per Se is also a good example because food is locally sourced food. You'd think locally sourced food would cost less, because of lower transportation and storage costs, but it actually costs more. That mystery fact is at the core of what's wrong: there is plenty of food to feed the world; distribution, not production, is the problem.
Hondorus exports $1.2B of coffee and spice, $608M of fruits and nuts, $429M of animal and vegetable fats, $319M of fish, and $124M of vegetables. Answer why they're growing non-food crops like spices and exporting food when the locals are starving and I think you'll be a lot closer to an answer than simply describing a problem.
15
@Rich - just that these items exist, that there are people who can and do afford them, supports Mr. Kristoff’s very clear claim that the extreme inequality in the world needs to be addressed. Children are starving to to such an extent that they have stunted growth and diminished intelligence quotients. That is the point of Mr. Kristoff’s piece.
Instead of researching exorbitant restaurant menus, perhaps Googling world hunger and finding ways to contribute or to help would be a better use of time.
At the very least, do not dismiss that which was conveyed by Mr. Kristoff before you understand the vital message it conveys.
10
@Michael The menu items at Per Se aren't expensive because of the cost of food from suppliers. A large cadre of trained kitchen staff are required to prepare the offerings which are undoubtedly labor-intensive. Add Manhattan rent and you end up with exorbitant menu costs. That type of restaurant is very uncommon. Look at the profits being made in the fast food industry, such as McDonalds. Given their global reach, it would behoove them to do more with their profits than just benefitting shareholders.
4
A stunning contrast! But what's the practical connection? A person who indulges in grotesquely expensive food and drink may also be one who is doing as much as he or she can to combat malnutrition. As you point out, it wouldn’t even cost much to supply the missing micronutrients.
4
@PL I think the problem posed by the article is that global wealth inequality has increased to such a proportion that someone can spend such exorbitant amounts on one meal while a fraction of that could provide many children with the basic nutrients to survive. The article doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how malnourishment exacerbates this global inequality - if 50% of the children of a country have mental developmental deficits, the country is at an extreme disadvantage in the years to come.
We can't rely solely on the benevolence of a few rich people to donate to charities that support programs that could alleviate this - we have to find a way to make the global economy more equitable for all. I don't mean to say that these problems will ever truly be "solved", nor am I deluded enough to think I have the answer to it, but it's a harsh reality that just can't be ignored.
9
A few years ago Oxfam calculated that about 85 people own as much wealth as half the world's population, and that global inequality is increasing, as it has in the US and UK too.
11
A beautifully, starkly written wake-up call and a reminder to look at our priorities.
15
And in November the auction priced paid for a 19 carat pink diamond was $50 million dollars.
Kristof has highlighted one of the worlds most important, tragic but also and most easily solved problems -- the malnutrition of children. But the problem isn't a $295 hamburger a half million dollar bottle of wine, or the money Bill Gates spends on glasses. It is OK to indulge ourselves from time to time even on (note: like Gates, I also own Lindberg frames and frames by Mykita. I also eat breakfast at a local cafeteria four days a week and have never bought jeans at Walmart).
The problem is willful ignorance, it is looking away -- it is choosing to put in elective office who individuals who are unwilling to demand that we engage in the world; who refuse to demand that we see the starving child, the community without access to clean drinking water, the existence of modern day slavery or face up to the realities of climate change.
Bill Gates (and I) could buy inexpensive, durable frames and with the money saved, buy a few thousand meals for malnourished children. With their net worth, Bill and Melinda (who together should be awarded a Nobel) could feed 100 million children for 3 1/2 years, but that shifts the burden from where it belongs -- with society at the level of government.
I think we should say: Eat the burger, but only if you also vote for a government that demands we also commit the needed resources to help the most vulnerable no matter where they live.
32
@Douglas Weil,
What kind of glasses you and Bill Gates wear is irrelevant. What actions you take to keep the economic system rigged in favor of the wealthy and connected is quite relevant.
8
@Dan And the same is true for the $295 hamburger.
There are a lot of advertisements on ITV (British television) asking for a few pounds a month to support various charities for animals - dogs, horses, donkeys, donkeys as beasts of burden, etc. They are the exact same appeal as the ads for charities that support children who are hungry, who have diseases of the eye, who need surgery to repair their mouths.
When I see the ads for the animal charities my first thought is "How can I give money to the Dog Trust when I know that there are malnourished children who need food." But then I think that it is one thing to leave the welfare of donkeys to the caprice of people watching the ads and something entirely different to do the same for starving children. The welfare of a starving child should not depend on who is watching a Murder She Wrote rerun on ITV. That is an issue that should be the responsibly of governments.
I don't care if someone eats a $295 hamburger. And I don't care if Bill Gates (or I) spend a lot of money on glasses. Spending that money did not stop Bill and Melinda from putting billions of dollars to work attacking public health problems including malnutrition, HIV, TB, extreme poverty or education. And it does not stop me from registering to vote or from demanding that the person who gets my vote has a priority mobilizing the resources of the government to make sure that everyone has an adequate diet, telling me what it costs and sending me a bill.
3
@Douglas Weil
What made you want to tell us about your spiffy glasses and your noble refusal to buy jeans at Walmart? Why inform us that you could buy a few thousand meals for malnourished children and then let us know that it's really up to society to do it? How do we get from your similarity to Bill Gates to the starving people of the world?
The Catholic church has done much to encourage the population explosion in Central and South America because of its position on birth control. Also Mr. Kristof has not mentioned that the Mayans of the Yucatan in Mexico, related to the Mayan of Guatemala, are very short in stature, with the average male height being 5'1" and female 4'8" and this is not due to stunting. This is well documented in Mayan culture and architecture and this is not addressed in this article. While the child that is profiled may well be stunted and many others as well, just because people are short does not mean they are stunted.
“The bulk of the damage is done in the first 1,000 days...", yet there is no discussion of breastfeeding, which would be the primary source of food for an infant in the first couple of years. Bringing up an expensive hamburger in Manhattan has nothing to do with this, there are plenty of hungry people in all countries, but Mr. Kristof should also examine the availability of schooling, the quality of education and whether or not the culture encourages education. A fourteen year old says she 'dropped out' in grade one, what does that mean...school was there, but she didn't feel like going? I find these articles very superficial, calling for sympathy, but I have lived in Mexico, Central America and South America, supplying food or money is always a good thing, but hard questions need to be asked about availability of family planning and the church's role.
34
@thewriterstuff I think you missed the link to the article, written by the ASU student, that focuses on how breastfeeding is an important piece in fighting undernourishment.
7
Kristoff absolutely did bring up breastfeeding, and the contrast of third world malnutrition with absurdly expensive foods is indeed relevant. It says something about our values as a species. I find your criticism superficial.
1
@HRD A link isn't a sentence, it needs to be addressed as part of the article, this isn't the Huffington Post.
1
Go to Madison Avenue, Nick, or Fifth Avenue. You will find $5,000 pocketbooks and shoes, and $15,000 watches. Go to a yacht broker, or to Tiffany's. Drive around in back country Greenwich, CT, or Westport. Any of the people who buy these "luxury items" could take care of the entire country's malnutrition issue in one check. Then there's all the other 1% of the 1% who have so much money, they and all their family members couldn't spend it all in one lifetime if the did nothing but spend it in every waking hour. A million dollars to these people is throw-away cash. Hedge fund managers and CEOs of multi-national corporations make more money than most people can imagine. Do any of them care about these poor stunted kids or children suffering in any country, including our own? "Hmmmm, I have a choice between the Jimmy Choo heels and feeding some kids in some place icky. I guess I'll get the heels.""I only spent $1,500 on this jacket. Does it make me look fat?"
It's just a new version of "let them eat cake" except that these kids don't have cake. And, yes, they would be glad to have some of our fancy pet food to eat.
Thank you for your brave humanitarian columns, Nick. I hope that some of the people that read them open their hears and give up some of their trust fund money.
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@Jeanie LoVetri
No amount of money could "take care of the entire country's malnutrition issue in one check." If that was the case, Gates et al would have written the check. Money doesnt solve institutional breakdown, Catholic hegemony, or an apartheid state.
The point of "let them eat cake" was that French peasants didn't have cake either.
1
@H No, it wasn't. "Cake" didn't mean literal cake; it meant the leftover stuff that stuck to the ovens when real bread was being baked. The word meant something different, hasn't been translated well.
It would be interesting to trace where those 295 dollars go and also to put the expenditure into some kind of meaningful context. What we have now is: $295 for a hamburger? Wow! And to be perfectly honest, I have more trouble with the hamburger part than the $295 part.
4
So much for "trickle-down" economics. Trickle, indeed. Perhaps these kids could work in the kitchens of the restaurants that serve $295 burgers.
6
Mr. Kristof is in the habit of contrasting great suffering and great wealth. He consistently suggests, without evidence, that wealth is the cause of poverty. In Guatemala, malnutrition is extremely high among the native population. And many of the poor have large families. Guatemala is not far removed from a civil war that caused great suffering among the poor. And education is extremely backward.
The causes of malnutrition are many and complicated. Expensive hamburgers are not high on the list.
18
@michjas. You might remember exactly who instigated the ruinous 36-year long civil war in Guatemala. That would be us, the United States. Funding nutrition programs seems like the very least we could do to make amends.
42
@michjas Mr. Kristof has also reported on the effects of climate change in Guatemala. In his column, "Food Doesn't Grow Here Anymore", he discusses the effects drought on crops and children dying of malnutrition. And how this leads to migration.
Trump calls these people "invaders" and worse, yet he cuts aid to the region.
23
@M H
Not to diminish the horror of children dying, in Guatemala, specifically, it's hard to distinguish the effects of drought on crops from the effects of persistent slash and burn farming.
4
33% of the food produced worldwide is never consumed; it is wasted. More than enough to "feed the world". A bit over 40% in the US. Where does it all go? Landfills, where it emits methane.
23
@bobg And 75% of global crops go to feed livestock, a practice that perpetuates climate change and poor human nutrition.
@bobg: food is local.
Even if you have gobs and gobs of it in the US….most of it cannot be transported at any reasonable cost (CARBON!!!) to the third world.
It is a rare place that cannot feed itself with sustainable farming.
Guatemala has a robust agricultural economy and that's why fruit companies went there in the FIRST PLACE.
There is no massive crop failure nor famine in Guatemala nor in the rest of Central America.
if anything keeps those nations poor…it is THEIR OWN wealthy elite, who hog all the resources.
In other words, it is a political problem that ONLY THEY CAN SOLVE THEMSELVES;.
We cannot solve it for them -- heck, we can't even solve our own health care crises or homeless problems!
Guatemala is not some tiny place -- it has 17 MILLION people -- or roughly the size of Florida.
1
Thank you for raising awareness about the importance, not only of stunting and chronic undernutrition, but also of micronutrient deficiency. The factors which contribute to stunting are complex, including poverty, food insecurity, unhealthy environments which predispose children to infectious diseases, as well as a lack of women's education and empowerment. These can only be addressed through comprehensive multi-sectoral programs which target these underlying and basic causes. While these same factors lead to a lack of diversity in the diet and suboptimal intake of vitamins and minerals, large-scale food fortification has been transformative in preventing micronutrient deficiencies and its functional consequences. Iodized salt and folic acid fortiifed wheat are responsible for some of the most successful public health advances throughout the world, in both developing and industrialized countries !!
9
For a somewhat different perspective:
For quite awhile I have thought it likely (no studies I know of) that the reason many migrants come here, especially those crossing on foot through our southern border, do so because they can come here and get a day's worth of protein and calories almost anywhere (McDonald's cheeseburgers for example) for less than an hour's minimum wage and a free, clean bathroom almost anywhere. That is much, much better than what they are leaving behind.
17
@Steve Fankuchen: that would make sense, except there is a lot of video footage of "caravaners" (who pay up to $5000 EACH to be guided here by coyotes and most of the way on buses!) and they are NOT malnourished starvlings like the toddler here -- most are overweight or even obese. All are dressed in nice, American-style clothing. The boys have expensive sneakers. The girls have stylish outfits. And every single one of them has the latest iPhone!!!!
Also: do you seriously think there is no food in Guatemala? we'd have read reports of famine and starvation LONG before this if so! Mexico is very prosperous and has all the fast food anyone could want -- not just tacos and churros, but YES, all the US franchises like McDonalds!
Do you think Guatemala bathrooms are dirty or charge for usage? REALLY?
Something is indeed wrong with this picture, including the racism of Guatemala's ruling class. As noted, Mayan villages see a stunning 70% childhood malnutrition. It's hard to imagine what measures the US could take to unwind that engine of permanent poverty.
7
I imagine many of the patron's of Serendipity 3 donate more money to charity in a year than I make. And I imagine they think of themselves as generous.
But what makes someone generous isn't how much they give, but how much they keep. They prioritized their own excess over these children, as we all do, though perhaps not to the same grotesque extent.
12
“As we all do” is very astute. We rightly blame the mega rich for their selfishness, and rightly demand a government that will tax them and use the proceeds at least in part to alleviate suffering, but we must admit that all Americans in a global context, comparatively speaking, are rich, and buy, consume, and waste much more than we really need, in food and other goods.
4
@Maxine its not their right to spend their wealth anyway they see fit??
@Ben: when the Richie Riches donate to "charity" -- it's to Harvard or Yale (so their kids get in as "legacies" -- it's to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so they get a plaque or a room named for them (think: Sackler Family dlrug gangsters).
They go to $50,000 a plate fundraising events, so they can be wined & dined.
In my book...that's NOT charity. It's "fake charity". It is all about self aggrandizement, not helping anyone.
True charity is always anonymous.
1
The United States alone could feed the world were it not for the politics of power, deceit and theft of aid and food products sent to impoverished countries around the world.
8
Kristof offers plenty of observations, but no solutions.
8
@Stratman
He leaves it to the intelligent and educated among us to figure out solutions.
@Rea Tarr So he lacks the intelligence and education to make meaningful suggestions of his own. Got it.
The US is dying from excess. Yet still we complain of not having enough to handle immigration.
18
Disgusting. I think it's everyone's responsibility. What can we do? How can we help?
9
What is the point of this column? That the uber-rich live in a world so far removed from the reality most people experience as to be immoral, disgusting, and utterly depraved? Was this a point that needed making? No. Everybody knows the world has evil in it. Better use could have been made of these column inches. Contrasting a $1,000 sundae and a malnourished child is grotesque, but it's too grotesque to be effective. Big whiff.
12
@Jack
the point of this column is that some mayan children are starving to the point of stunted growth and stunted brains.
the hamburger is just to drive the point home.
judging from the number of people who have found the hamburger irrelevant, i would say that mr. kristof has made his point very well.
And yet the bigger problem always seems to be women investment bankers not making as much money as men investment bankers. No wonder people are fed up with the Democrats.
7
@Greg Greg (from Georgia, I see), the problem about the disparity in compensation between male and female investment bankers has to do with the oppression of women. This is also the force behind the population explosion. The campaign against birth control will be enforced gently, by the male hierarchy of the Catholic Church, or it will be enforced harshly, by a husband's or a boyfriend's fists. The one that controls reproduction controls the woman.
1
No, malnourished kids need eggs, beef, chicken, pork, chickpeas, and other foods that have iron in them, to keep them from being anemic. This country has the ability to provide all of them to those children around the world right now, in the form of powdered eggs, dried meats, and canned goods.
10
@MaryKayKlassen
Providing American food charity prevents local economies from developing and impoverishes local suppliers. We should give them GMO seeds so they can adapt to changing climate. We should stop luring working age men to America to cut our lawns, leaving their home countries hollowed out.
4
@MaryKayKlassen The last thing this planet needs is to produce more animal products, perpetuating the climate change that is causing crop failure in Guatemala and other places. Humans can get plenty of iron from lentils, beans, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and other healthy foods that grow from a healthy earth.
1
@HRD Ancient peoples mostly ate small animals, fish, if they lived near water, around the world, and dug up roots, or fruits from native trees, etc. The Native Americans, as I grew up near the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, subsisted on using the Buffalo meat, fresh, and dried for food, skins for warmth, and bones for clothing and ornamentation, etc.
“...they will be baffled that we allow almost one child in four to be stunted, even as we indulge in gold leaf cupcakes, $1,000 sundaes and half-million-dollar bottles of wine.” Our representative from planet earth will effortlessly reply, “we on the planet earth do not value lives equally. those born, by random draw, into good fortune are valued higher than those who are not. We collectively value randomness over effort, honor, and integrity.” Or he will say, “Return in years to come, we here on planet earth have yet to optimize our ability to work and decide, collectively.”
2
Thank you being the voice of our conscience mr kristof
11
Very wrong. A hard rain is gonna fall.
5
And what of Raul’s parents? Did they bother to think about how they would feed him before deciding that the world just had to have more of their DNA in it.
Many of us in the western world choose to use birth control and not have children because we have neither the surplus time nor money to care for even one child much less many children which seems to be the norm in the countries where malnourishment is most rampant.
In a world of 8 billion plus people, having a child is a bold choice. It’s an even bolder choice, to have children and say it’s someone else’s responsibility to care for them. Our rapidly warming planet needs less people not more.
At a certain point, the focus shouldn’t be on feeding everyone but encouraging the use of broth control in these developing countries because at a certain point we won’t be able to feed everyone anyway and by then our planet will be a hellhole.
35
@JP. I'm no expert, but from what I've read there are many cultural hurdles in Guatemala to birth control use. And don't forget that it requires BOTH parents to agree on birth control use for it to be effective. A particularly enlightening discussion may be found here:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-guatemala-family-planning-clashes-with-religion-tradition
One father, when asked about refusing birth control interventions, said "We will follow God's will. We believe this is natural law. And we have heard too many stories about birth control, like injections and pills that cause cancer."
Handing out birth control like candy is not going to change such attitudes. I agree that they need to be changed, for the health of families and the planet, but it's going to be a long slog.
9
@Dwarf Planet You're kind of making my point for me. Every Raul and Ingrid we shell out the money for, just ends up creating six more children suffering the same terrible lives. And to my original post we need to encourage the use of birth control not merely make it accessible.
It's ironic though that these folks almost certainly don't think the rest of need to "follow God's will" when it comes to say deporting them to the country where "God" put them or leaving them in the economic condition that "God" chose for them...
1
@JP
In defense of Raul's parents, I doubt they have the education or access to use birth control effectively. And they also have an immoral church telling them it is evil to limit their family size. Got to have more good Catholics, right?
After college in the 1960s, I worked for a couple of months doing market development work in India for the Soybean Council of America. Those days you could buy daily requirement of concentrated soy protein powder for pennies. Today, it may cost 5-6 cents a day for the healthy growth of the child. A way must be found to do something about this problem through an agency that does not spend more than 5-6 percent of its budget on administrative expenditure.
7
In 1991 I traveled to San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas. There was an indigenous woman in the village of Chenalho named Maria who befriended me. Her 12 year old daughter had left the home to work for a nearby family. Maria told me that the girl had left the home "because she wanted meat." Her younger brother, Juan, remained with his mother. A skinny little guy, I thought he was about 5 years old. Maria corrected me to say that he was 9. I later came to think of Juan as a "failure to thrive" child. One day he picked a lemon off a tree, took a small bite of it and then threw it on the ground. I think he had forgotten about food because it had been so scarce. Maria's husband had left her for another woman so that she was on her own and was ostracized. I quickly realized that Maria, a Tzotzil speaker, was a bit off in the head. Abandoned by the husband, she was a marginal pariah. She and Juan were living in a shed that had been a kitchen behind the home of a candlemaker. They slept on the dirt floor. Juan was in school but the local school was marginal. During the Zapatista rebellion the army came to create a barricade at the entrance to the village, Juan was very attracted to the existence of the soldiers. He would hang out with them and they gave him an army jacket. I saw Juan as the child in Alberto Moravia's novel "The Conformist" which is about the development of a fascist character. I went back to visit them for several years. Nothing had changed.
9
@Suzanne Wheat Thank you for your interesting and worrying story.
.......First, many here mention materialistic and greedy Americans....actually, with major exceptions (see above) we give the most to charity:
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/12/08/americans-give-charity-country/108430012/
......Second, quoting another poster here:
"Chat Cannelle
According to USAid.gov, the U.S. gave $80 million, $140 million, and $130 million in 2018, 2017, and 2016, respectively, for foreign assistance to the government of Guatemala to "address ... pervasive poverty and chronic malnutrition, and extreme vulnerability to the impacts of global climate change, as well as the impacts of these challenges on increased migration." In addition, Americans gave a total of $23 billion to international charities in 2017. Whose responsibility is it to ensure that the Guatemalan government uses the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to ensure that their own children do not starve and get adequate schooling? How much more millions of dollars do we need to donate for it to be enough?"
and finally see a response to the above comment:
"Tamza@Chat Cannelle This USAid goes to the already 'wealthy' consultants who do studies about malnutrition etc. [Speaking from experience in South Asia] - education grants of $25M were largely used to fund boondoggles for local 'connected' bureaucrats to travel to other countries to see 'how their system works'. Perhaps 5% might get to the actual cause."
12
“...they will be baffled that we ... half-million-dollar bottles of wine.” Our representative from planet earth will effortlessly reply, “we on the planet earth do not value lives equally. those born, by random draw, into good fortune are valued higher than those who are not. We collectively value randomness over effort, honor, and integrity.” Or he will say, “Return in years to come, we here on planet earth have yet to optimize our ability to work and decide, collectively.”
3
as long as those drinking
the 5,000 bottle of wine
and eating the 300 dollar
cupcakes contribute to
political campaigns of the
right and left,nothing will
change. children will die.
9
The situation of the poor people of Guatemala, Honduras. Salvador is terrible. However, US cannot open the door to all these people. The governments of each country have to solve their own problems.
5
@Trassens well said. Everything in the world cannot be our issue. We have our own problems.
1
@Trassens The problem with these countries is that about 15 families control the whole freaking economy for their own benefit. Everyone else has to live in a barrio and is prey to gangs. The rich families fly around in armoured helos so they aren't bothered. They are the ones eating $1,000 cupcakes in Dubai. And that's why you have thousands of desperate people trying to get into the USA.
While America’s progressives twist in the wind about global warming, kids in third world countries suffer from a lack of potable water, electricity, food, medicine, and sanitary sewer systems. Let’s tackle the small problems such as feeding & caring for people first.
3
@Once From Rome Climate change is a huge factor in "feeding & caring for people." As mentioned in the article, climate change has led to increased crop failures. This is a huge issue in Guatamale. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/drought-climate-change-force-guatemalans-migrate-to-us/
4
It only shows how vein capitalists are!
Unfortunately, a lot of Americans mistake the value of social programs as communism. Socialism is NOT Communism.
6
@George M.
Capitalism generates wealth that can be used to help lift others out of poverty.
Socialism is a transition to Communism in which private ownership of the means of production is still permitted, but the government controls businesses and picks which cronies get the bennies.
You have been duped into believing that socialism is a system that provides for the poor and equalizes wealth and income.
What you do not get is that the reason we pay so much for healthcare is because the government has granted largesse to big medicine. When low and middle income students are given financial support to attend college, the colleges raise prices. None of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie plans for free college make any suggestions that Bernie's wife should not have been paid a high six figure salary as President or that Warren should not have been paid $385,000 to teach 90 hours per year, leaving her free to spend her time consulting for insurance companies.
There is nothing capitalist about giving billions to Warren Buffett and pennies to the poor. That is the definition of socialism.
7
@ebmem Would you care to point out the countries that historically transitioned from a partially socialist government (in other words, Social Democracy, since this is what we are talking about here) to a communist government? That idea is stated endlessly by the far right, with no actual historical examples to support it.
2
@George M. socialism leans communist. Leave my money alone. I need it.
Silly focus for an article that otherwise shines light on a terrible problem. How about getting rid of ethanol subsidies, which the GOP and Trump use to buy farm votes. The price of corn, used to feed livestock, is artificially raised by forcing oil companies to add a pointless corn derivative that is far from the renewable energy source bankers claim
2
@Doug if it brings down gas prices I am down with ethanol.
@Doug. Ethanol money flows into both parties.
1
I think Mr Kristof is advocating for Bernie Sanders...
2
Is malnutrition just about access to food/ When I lived in Bushwick (Brooklyn), I overheard a mother tell her child to finish his orange soda, because he needs the vitamin C. She thought orange soda contains vitamin C, because it's orange.
Oberlin students are protesting, because their dining hall won't deep fry the General Tao's chicken. The Dining Hall steams it. The students want it deep fried.
I'm willing to believe that the oligarchs are the enemy of the people, but I also believe that most people are their own worst enemy.
5
You have hit on an interesting point. Earlier today I was having a discussion with our son about ostentatious shows of wealth. I understand that many people aspire to the finer things in life. I have no problem whatsoever with people spending their money (it is after all THEIR MONEY) on a comfortable, prosperous lifestyle. But I explained to our son that most “old money” would look with distain on people buying multi-million dollar automobiles, which, once you get above about $125k have little to offer. The people who buy gold wrapped cupcakes are fools who think wasting money on something so absurd enhances their image. I am much more impressed with the likes of Gates and Buffet who have committed the vast bulk of their personal wealth to worthwhile causes.
27
@Thomas Smith
In my book, once you get above 25K, an automobile has little to offer. Wheels, an engine, a seat. What more do you really need to get from place to place?
6
@Syliva but I am glad I live in america where I can buy any car I want for whatever reason I want it.
@Thomas Smith
Old fashioned Protestant frugalness was thrown out with the bathwater unfortunately when white Wasps became the enemy.
Pointing out the price of an extravagant hamburger or cupcake is such a simplistic way to try to foment class-warfare. The problem isn't the price of a hamburger BUT THE WAY income is taxed and receipts distributed throughout the world. If people paid their fair share of taxes, it's irrelevant what they choose to spend their disposable income on. I'm not a rich man but if I were to one day save up and spend $295 for a burger, that wouldn't mean that I was being indifferent to the world's hungry, so don't play that game with me, Mr. Kristof. The REAL problem is that the richest among us are not being taxed at a proper rate. Corporations like Amazon are not paying their fair share of taxes. THESE are the problems, not the extravagance that one might choose to indulge in now and then, however foolish that might seem to someone else. I get really annoyed with The Times publishes opinions that think they can insult our intelligence as Times' readers to distinguish between world hunger and the unfair distribution of wealth and the silly extravagance of a $295 burger that has nothing to do with solving global hunger. Utter nonsense, ladies and gentlemen.
15
@ManhattanWilliam
Billionaires like Buffett, Gates, Soros, have not paid any taxes on 90% of their accumulated wealth. And they advocate for raising taxes on the rich earning $200,000 per year.
Thank you Mr. Kristof for writing another article on an issue that matters.
5
Lost in this assessment is people having children they cannot afford to feed. That too is part of the problem.
28
@Tom Kocis
If I lived in a Third World country with a high infant mortality rate, I would no doubt have wanted lots of babies, hoping that a few would survive me, and be able to take care of me in my old age. Please stop blaming people in poor countries for the decisions of their unfortunate circumstances.
5
@Tom Kocis
Not part of the problem. That IS the problem.
@Mrs. Peter Abken that's a reason to have babies? Very selfish of them. Birthing many children into a horrible situation so that maybe one of them will take care of me when I am old????? Is that a joke.
Why does any of this happen? Why does any of it exist?
Because we're still far, far away from any sort of "one world, we're all human" mentality, and we are still
1. Tribal
2. Greedy
3. Moralistic (and in the US in particular, Calvinist/Social Darwinist) and think the poor are poor entirely due to their own efforts (or lack of same).
The idea that a lot of this is due to outright exploitation is still foreign to many who are better off (because then they might have to think about their own complicity), as is the idea that we'd all be better off if everyone had at least a decent minimum living standard (in terms of worldwide sociopolitical stability), whether or not everyone "deserved" it.
8
You are right that something's wrong, and it's getting worse. I was in midtown Manhattan a month ago and saw an unprecedented number of panhandlers (I worked in the city for more than thirty years, so I'm no stranger there)--alongside young people who seem to be becoming increasingly wealthy and carefree. And, of course, it's a sin to be carefree when your neighbors are in misery. We are in big trouble.
8
@Michael Kandel so these people with money should NOT be wealthy and carefree? They earned their money and they are not allowed to use it. Should they hand it all to the panhandler?
After years and years of “philanthropy”, one quarter of children around the world are malnourished? That’s effective philanthropy?
We are using a 19th century model of wealth and assistance to the poor that simply doesn’t work in the 21st. The Rockefellers and others and governments of the late 1800s did not have the global framework we have now to provide assistance. Why do we now rely so heavily on the “philanthropic” rich to manage assistance to the poor? Who elected them? Where is the oversight of their actions, and who has control over the overall plan for how to address the relevant issues? Do the rich have a conflict of interest in managing these issues, since they are the only segment of society these days with enough spare cash to make a difference?
Tax the daylights out of the ultra-rich. But this isn’t the sole solution, nor the major part of the larger solution. People in poor countries need the same kind of real opportunity for substantial work that those in rich countries have. The balance of favoritism regarding ease of making wealth needs to shift away from the top and toward the bottom. When Guatemalan and Honduran families have decent opportunity they will reject the gangs, feed their children, and have no need to migrate.
A global economy must be attended by a global compassion and structuring of opportunity for all, not an antiquated system of wealth that supports the inherent hypocrisy of extreme wealth.
6
I looked at Serendipity's menu with the link and saw $17 burgers, with fries, which is not much different than what other expensive restaurants charge. If tourists want to spend that money, why not? I couldn't find the items the column mentioned, but I bet some tourists go there just to see that on the menu and no one would actually order that unless they are royalty.
Whether people want to pay high prices or not, the Trump government still wouldn't care about poor people in other countries as they don't care about the poor at home. Not sure what the point was of this article. Reminds me of my grandmother telling me to eat bread crusts because people were starving in Europe, who would starve whether or not I ate those crusts.
2
@Jerry S
The high-price items are listed in a box on the bottom right of the second page. Took me awhile to find them.
1
This is tragic, but I don't blame the rich. Donating money does not solve the underlying problem, which is that the people in poor countries have no means of earning money.
The blame for this kind of poverty really falls on immigration restrictionists. We don't know if aid helps these kids, but letting their parents come to work in the US would definitely solve their malnutrition problem, even if their parents could just get a minimum wage job. Perhaps they could come pick some of the crops that are rotting in our fields and take them back to Guatemala. By working in our modern country, they would learn valuable skills, technologies, and business practices that they could then take back to Guatemala (the most successful poverty reduction occurred in China, which received almost no foreign aid but gained this kind of expertise through foreign trade). And allowing them to work here wouldn't cost anyone a dime; in fact, we would save money from not having to spend as much on enforcement.
2
@Aoy
Yeah, except if we did that for all the world, about a billion people would move here the next day. And then there wouldn’t be any low-skill jobs for anyone. Also, our society would completely collapse.
9
@Greg
Luckily there is a real world case study that proves you wrong: when Western Europe opened its borders to Eastern Europe, the flow of workers was very much manageable even though many Eastern European countries were as poor as Latin America when they joined the European Union. Most Polish stayed in Poland, but enough moved to greatly increase the money and expertise going back to Poland, which is now almost a first-world country thanks in large part to the freedom of movement policies in the EU. Central America is our Poland, and it’s a shame we don’t treat it as such.
Europe has had some difficulty with Muslim migration, but that is cultural/religious and not economic in nature.
@Aoy:
so, adults, teens and even kids picking our crops is you solution to this???
and in the "off season" I guess they get to go "home"?
The contrasts are jarring: thousand dollar cupcakes vs. a few cents to prevent a child's mind and body from being permanently distorted by malnutrition. And yet how many of us will be upset enough to act? You're right - this topic is too boring to get a lot of coverage.
It's all tied together - immigration, global warming, extreme income inequality, food insecurity, etc. It's about greed and an overwhelming lack of compassion. We want to curl up in our walled compounds with all of our exploited wealth and let the rest of the world suffer. We don't want to see the photos or read the reports - that makes us uncomfortable, and we loathe discomfort.
I get a dozen e-mails a day from political candidates or issue organizations, every one of them asking for money that of course will be used to get rid of all the evil in the world by helping elect candidate so-and-so. A billion dollars will be spent in support of each presidential candidate so one of them can win.
So this week, instead of sending $5 or $25 to candidate so-and-so, I think I'll find an organization that will be most likely to spend that money on food and vitamins and medicine to help alleviate some of the suffering. One fourth of the world's children is far too many. I'm going to work at being part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
21
What’s wrong with this picture is that too many adults lack empathy - not their problem. Indifference to children is a collective moral failure. Reading Kristof regularly, I am familiar with these tragedies, try to do as much as I can, yet each time I read a heartbreaker, the world seems wrong and off balance.
12
@kat perkins. The world is extremely off balance.
6
Of course not. I don't even need a $20 burger. But to deny a promising technology like cell-grown meats because of high cost when first introduced, well, I hope the author doesn't think people should use electricity, phones, computers, planes, medicines, or most other devices and discoveries that started out expensive but through mass markets and mass production.
Some fancy folks like paying too much. Not me. But complaining about the high cost of a burger, a wine , a Monet, or a yacht will not bring on the attitude changes that solve wealth inequality here or worldwide. If we made the USA wealth equal, that would not help the poor in Guatemala. Go deeper Mr. Kristof.
5
@Speakin4Myself Easy enough to make it 'more equal' - tax wealth [at 2.5% at year-end] and income [marginally at 80% over $5M/ year]. Remember these 'expensive' items are shifting money - it has little to do with the cost.
Perhaps we have some fundraising around expensive items [just like buying carbon credit for flights]; every $100 spent pulls out $10 of nutrition 'credit' for nutrition for the kids.
3
@Speakin4Myself it might help if the wealthiest paid the same share of taxes that you and I do so more could be done to reduce poverty...to intervene. Child malnutrition is close to home..not just in developing countries. I just took on a community volunteer position In my well off neighbourhood. To my shock, I discovered we have other child poverty and malnutrion! Our community association raised money to put in school gardens, bought fruit trees that 30 neighbours got for free...and all have promised to donate whatever fruit they don’t use to the school feeding program or the local food bank. I think Nick was saying more people need to stop pursuing luxury goods and look around them...a duty to know, a duty to act.
9
@Speakin4Myself wealth CANNOT be equal. Engineers and ditch diggers are not equal.
It's sobering to consider how the undeniably burgeoning world of artificial intelligence will impact the "price curve" of human intelligence. Appeals like the one in this article to "lost IQ points" are going to fall on increasingly deaf economic ears. Where will that leave us? I think we'll find ourselves face to face with our compassion...or lack thereof.
5
I wonder about tourists in Guatemala who go to Tikal and students who study Spanish there. I volunteered for two weeks in Casa Guatemala, where babies with no papers don’t get to leave the orphanage until they are eighteen. I don’t know how much more heartbreak I can stand but thank you for this truth Mr. Kristoff.
10
"If some distant planet sends foreign correspondents to Earth, they will be baffled that we allow almost one child in four to be stunted, even as we indulge in gold leaf cupcakes, $1,000 sundaes and half-million-dollar bottles of wine."
Maybe they are already here. And they have been running an experiment to see if humans are worth saving. The first part of this experiment revolves around determining if we have the capacity to take care of one another, to make sacrifices to help our fellow human beings who are suffering. It seems like many of us are currently failing this test.
Maybe we are not worth saving, as a species? It is up to us to prove our worth. The experiment never ends.
11
According to USAid.gov, the U.S. gave $80 million, $140 million, and $130 million in 2018, 2017, and 2016, respectively, for foreign assistance to the government of Guatemala to "address ... pervasive poverty and chronic malnutrition, and extreme vulnerability to the impacts of global climate change, as well as the impacts of these challenges on increased migration." In addition, Americans gave a total of $23 billion to international charities in 2017. Whose responsibility is it to ensure that the Guatemalan government uses the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to ensure that their own children do not starve and get adequate schooling? How much more millions of dollars do we need to donate for it to be enough?
19
@Chat Cannelle This USAid goes to the already 'wealthy' consultants who do studies about malnutrition etc. [Speaking from experience in South Asia] - education grants of $25M were largely used to fund boondoggles for local 'connected' bureaucrats to travel to other countries to see 'how their system works'. Perhaps 5% might get to the actual cause.
9
If people have this much money and enjoy spending it on "frivolous" things - let them. It is their money. We all have our own frivolous things to spend on; granted, usually it doesn't cost that much.
I only hope that a greater portion of the money they have is spent on philanthropy to ease some of the inequality that exists in the world.
5
@K
There will soon come a day of reckoning. A society so riddled with inequality, affluent people so oblivious to the suffering of the poor, mass consumption in the face of environmental destruction. No empire, no species survives forever. Enjoy your cupcakes now if you must.
7
@K
They spend plenty on philanthropy. And pay the bulk of all taxes collected, but that's another debate.
Scapegoating the rich is a progressive indulgence that accomplishes little, in my opinion, beyond a momentary indulgence of one's animus.
2
When I was a kid, our parents told us to clean our plates because there were kids starving in China. So is everything old new again?
@Becky China has largely eradicated poverty. Done better than the USA.
Here’s a good weight loss / maintenance tactic for us overly- plump Americans: Achieve a BMI 20-25; calculate how much money you’ve saved yourself from eating that much less, and donate that savings to a charity that supports undernourished children. Win-win! And your personal health-care costs will likely also go down - count that as a third win!!
16
@GBR or put in the bank for retirement. HUGE issue in the US is that people are not saving enough for retirement.
Nicholas, thank you again for being our consciences. I get more out of your essays than going to Mass on Sundays. I have seen a lot in my years of nursing, but never, never at this level. Research has shown us time and time again how the first three years of life our crucial. In fact, my daughter upon learning of this undeniable fact in college went on to get her master's in early childhood development. She now dedicates her career working with little ones. But that is here, in the States. Within this poignant piece, we read about spoiled, gluttonous, indeed immoral, practices in wealthy countries when it relates to food. Just think: If every American gave but pennies a day to these starving stunted children in Guatemala, these kids would have a chance to grow to be normal, healthy adults, who can live, love, and laugh.
13
Good article, though I find it hard at times to believe everything that is written. Yes, there must be examples of stunted kids, but that exists in the U.S. We can not help others until we get our act together here.
4
@Bill This is pure nonsense. Food is readily available to the poor in the US. Regardless, Kristof highlights a true human crisis, one that is eminently solvable, and your reaction is hang-wringing and inaction?
6
The mistake, I think, is making philanthropy/compassion a moral matter or a test of an individual or a society's moral fiber. Nobody likes to feel like they're being tested. If you can make philanthropy/compassion as a sign of prestige, you'll have more luck getting money for things.
I'm a moderate. I feel like what differentiates me from a liberal is my unwillingness to moralize every aspect of living.
10
@Anti-Marx I think another related mistake, and IMO a more serious one, is mistaking sentimentality and compassion for action and solutions to problems. Sure, the former motivates the latter but how many people read this article (or others like it) and say "how sad" and move on with their lives? How many practice living a truly nongreedy life?
As to your point, I believe that is the Gates Foundation's strategy - making being generous a sign of prestige. The other strategy is also attempting solutions. I don't agree with their views/solutions most of the time but they are addressing both your point and mine.
I've not met any liberals who moralise every aspect of living. I'm in a deeply conservative area in a deep blue state (Niagara County aka Collins County). So the few liberals I meet here aren't like that and in Seattle and the Bay Area (where I lived for 14 and 4 years respectively prior), there was some of it but not a lot. People who moralise rarely walk the water so it's really a form of control. These people aren't the majority IMO. Most people seem to be quite pragmatic but they have their own issues to worry about (which gets into selfishness and self centredness which is deeply embedded in American culture).
3
@Anti-Marx you are describing an elitist if you have to make “prestige” the means of getting money; compassion and empathy are words that come to my mind when reading an article like this. I’m not sure why educating the reader about the realities of many children’s lives is “moralizing.”
3
@Anti-Marx Nice. folks shy away from moral questions. that is why they watch immoral television shows. where folks do things to others that they and everyone else would really like to do, but are to "moral" to do so.. haha.
So how do we help? What programs are available that are supporting nutrition in the developing world (or the developed world, for that matter) so that we can contribute? Who, if anyone, is at the forefront of trying to raise funds and awareness? Can we enlist social media to make this issue more prominent?
16
@Andrea The NGOs are a big racket - primary purpose is for the perpetuation of the benefits of the management. With VERY FEW exceptions.
3
@Tamza That's why it is incumbent on each person to vett the organizations to which money is given; I find that Charity Navigator is a helpful tool to distinguish the grifters from the gifters. How much goes to overhead and fund-raising expenses? What is the CEO or other program officers paid? How much actually goes to program expenses? Does the organization have a track record that speaks for itself? Simply asserting that "NGOs are a big racket" isn't particularly helpful, since there are some very good organizations out there that one can be proud to lend support to, and others that are, well, suspect.
2
And when I was growing up my mother, and probably millions of other mothers, would tell me to finish what was on my plate because children were starving in------(the countries changed from time to time).
And if I finished the food they would have been better off?
Yes, overweight US dogs and cats, expensive wine and cupcakes might be upsetting as signs of the times and a decadent society, but that does not really impact on children starving in Guatemala.
The problem is Guatemala and child health inequality here and in other countries.
Address and solve those issues. It is doubtful that those who would pay $295 for a hamburger in Manhattan would channel that to save the children.
Indeed something is "wrong with the picture" but Mr. Kristof really has two non-connected pictures here.
11
The Serendipity 3 prices Mr. Kristof cites are found in the corner of its menu under "Guinness World Records" -- I don't know if they are just a joke or what the restaurant would do if someone tried to order one of those items (or if anyone has ever done so). It's clear from the presentation in the menu that they are not part of the "real" menu, where the hamburgers, including fries, range from $17.95 to $23.95.
Hyperbole, not reporting, Mr. Kristof.
39
@Joel There IS INDEED gold [and silver] eaten in the middle east and south asia. but only only special occasions and only for bragging rights - certainly not in the daily diet.
3
@Joel You pay $17.95 to $23.95 for a hamburger? Seriously??? That would buy a lot of nutritional supplements for a third-world child.
1
@Joel
Sometimes the allure of moralizing gets the best of them.
1
Wonderful to see mention of Maya Health Alliance in Guatemala. I've served on their board for years. They're doing fantastic work. Learn more about their work here! www.mayahealth.org
16
I feel that one of the biggest problems is, that people in countries such as the USA, do not see themselves as part of a group of humans, but rather as unique and special individuals, who can only be said to benefit if someone else is « less than ».
What is puzzling is, that one’s own survival is actually threatened by insisting on the primacy of oneself.
When will we see that in fact our own flourishing depends upon the flourishing of those around us?
45
@Terro O’Brien
Yes, but we can put that off: Let the others take care of all that. I'm worried about me and mine. Survival is writ in our constitution, our blood and bones.
Even after donating today to wfp.org, I feel anxious about it: What am I doing! I'm trying to live on $1,800/month in Social Security, and I've recently had thousands of dollars of dental work done, which I put on the credit card. I'm robbing poor Peter to pay even poorer Paul.
1
@Terro O’Brien Exactly.
1
Nicholas,
Excellent article. Inequality and poverty are a disgrace to mankind.
With that said, what is the responsibility of the Guatemalan leadership, their wealthy elite and upper middle class professionals? They are wealthier than most Americans and are likely to have dined at Serendipity 3 more times than your average reader.
While the West can and should do more, I am appalled at the lack of accountability given to the leaders and the wealthy and upper middle classes of these countries.
37
@Practical Thoughts
You don't have to travel to ask this question. Look around our own country; be appalled by those same groups.
16
It is a grave injustice that healthy development is out of reach for so many young children, but I think it is exactly wrong, and part of the problem, to say the tragedy is that we "need" these young minds and young people.
I believe we live in an age where human beings are becoming sorted into disposable vs. useful. This distinction is used to rationalize economic and political decisions around the globe.
But this kind of thought process, seemingly so respectful, actually dwindles our concept of human rights to the dim corner of such rights being "useful."
It is not the lost use-value that I mourn in stories like this -- as if the dream would be, if only we could get proper nutrition to this child or that, the payoff is that they graduate from Stanford and become an engineer at Apple.
Rather it is the lose of human value. And I am more than my "usefulness," and my mind is valuable not because I could someday help design a knew gadget.
Human rights are intrinsic, not instrumental. Mr. Kristoff more often than not does not write as if he thinks this way.
9
A superb article. But the misallocation of resources also infects international development programs as well. Some (though assuredly not all) of the waste flows from endemic corruption in aid-receiving countries, corruption that corrodes education, health care, basic social services, etc. For decades, development agencies have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into efforts to reform parliaments, judiciaries and other government institutions, to little avail. Just look at the state of democracy and the ongoing prevalence of corruption across the globe.
There's evidence indicating that a far bigger bang for the buck would flow from providing aid to nongovernmental groups, media efforts, investigative journalism and the like that would monitor and battle corruption, thus helping to ensure that government budgets and foreign aid actually get to the poor. But the vested interests and institutional inertia that dominate much foreign aid programming restricts such help to relative scraps of assistance.
I'm not arguing to reduce direct aid programs by any means. But their effectiveness will remain constrained unless the voices and forces for accountability are strengthened and adequately funded.
15
Perhaps supporting Mrs. Obama's garden would have helped?
I've grown several food plants and herbs in all kinds of pots in from my kitchen vegetable waste. Root vegetables can be grown in sacks or even old sweaters that have had the arms cut off and the neckline glued or sewn shut.
The reason adults and children go hungry and malnourished is because of the governments of their countries. You are too kind hearted Mr. Kristof. I say, if a citizen of any country is malnourished it is a significant sign that there is corruption from the top down.
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@Susannah Allanic There are also the random genetic issues. If the medical community would do the work, we'd find out how much VDR mutations , for example, drive cancer under age 50 - and we'd optimize supplements for the affected, as we do now for those with Maple Syrup Urine disease. There is work to do. To not is to declare mutants nonhuman.
Maple Syrup Urine disease?
Now I've heard everything! (I looked it up: Maple Syrup Urine disease: an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder affecting branched-chain amino acids. Urine can smell sweet, like maple syrup. If untreated, it kills.)
Other than presenting a stark and dramatic contrast, what do these luxury items have to do with malnutrition? The absurd price paid for the 1945 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti didn't disappear from the global economy, it just moved from the buyer to the seller. Also, we don't know anything about the charitable spending of the people who pay the inflated prices Mr. Kristoff describes.
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Charitable spending in cases like these are just a way for the absurdly and disgustingly rich to allay their consciences.
The quote regarding overweight and obese pets in the U.S. brings up an important point. Very few environmentalists and economists take into account the tremendous amount of resources spent on pets that could be going to care for children, the elderly, and the poor.
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@Lee, are you suggesting that if you could force people to euthanize their beloved family-member pets that somehow you would have money to feed the end,essay growing number of impoverished children of the world? Or would you just have a lot of grieving and angry people with a tiny bit more money?
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@Lee:
please don't blame/shame pet owners or pets for poor people elsewhere.
We taxpayers have paid $102 million dollars for Trump's golf trips....he took his adult kids to the UK on our dime, and ....so on and so on.
See: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-golf-102-million-taxpayers_n_5ce46727e4b09b23e65a01bb
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Pets do more for us than we could ever do for them.
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Serendipity has a $18 hamburger that comes with fries and coleslaw. I'm sure Serendipity doesn't sell many $295 hamburgers and even at $18 struggles to provide their employees with a living wage in NY. I think Mr. Kristof could have picked a better example to illustrate his point.
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@James.
Kinda missing the point, perhaps?
I'll tell you what's wrong with it. "Perfidious Albion" and the rest of the rich world which seems to ignore that, however preposterous it appears, both are part of humanity, which is in truth a regrettable fact. That vineyard produces the greatest of the great, the storage conditions which produced the sale are among the best that there are, but that amount of money is "stretching it" (the truth) to say the least. Conspicuous consumption is the truth of the leisure class existence; not that the former owner did not work for what he maintained, albeit it, too, was inherited wealth. So, along with the aforementioned, the various devious mechanisms by which wealth is perpetuated is what is wrong with the picture. That is also known as influence in government.
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Focusing on extreme luxury items seems like a convenient way of letting ourselves off the hook. I don't "need" my $20 bottle of wine any more than the person who bought the $558K bottle. Am I really that much better?
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@Chris
In my zip code, a glass of wine costs 15 dollars. So, if I want to go out for a glass of wine, that's what I pay. 20 dollars seems cheap for a bottle of wine.
I guess there's a difference between giving your excess and altering your life to spend less and give. By "altering", I mean not socializing or moving to a cheaper city.
I'm a materialistic person. I'm greedy. My goal net worth is 18 million after taxes. I've figured out that I can have the homes, cars, and perpetual income I require with 18 mil. If I make anything in excess of 18 mil, I'll give it to charity.
Where and when I grew up, people had three homes (one in Brookline or Newton, one on Nantucket on the Vineyard, one in VT or NH for skiing). I want the NY/Colorado version of that. Once I can afford that and a portfolio generating a passive income. my work/earning will all be for charity.
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@Anti-Marx
My point is that some people want well-off people to make sacrifices for others. Not just give money and be philanthropic, but make sacrifices for their fellow man. I'm happy to be philanthropic someday, but I'd never make a sacrifice for someone else (not my wife of child). That's just not in my nature. generosity is in my nature, but only when I am generous with excess (giving away clothes I no longer want or putting my cans in the trash so someone else can recycle them).
My impression is that people like Michael Bloomberg know that the rich want to be generous, but are unwilling to make sacrifices or feel punished by taxes (punished). That's the world of East Hampton charity parties. You drink 500 dollar champagne and also donate money.
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@Chris
Yes, by a factor of 27,900 (do the math). Look at it the other way: that person is 27,900 times worse than you are and thinks they deserve every penny of it ("it", deliberately ambiguous).
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Which charity or charities are most effectively and efficiently working to combat the malnutrition detailed in Mr. Kristof's shocking article? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? Catholic Relief Services? Awareness of such tremendous need, unnecessary suffering, and tragic waste of human potential compels us to action. "As long as you did it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for Me."
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@Don Stevens I'd recommend Vitamin Angels, a charity founded specifically to help address this problem. They have a 98.23/100 score on Charity Navigator. See:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10717
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@Don Stevens
Thank you, Don Stevens! One organization worth supporting for its educational outreach and decades of lobbying Congress to pass legislation to defeat hunger and change lives is Bread for the World, a Christian non-profit that was founded by two brothers with a strong background in faith and politics, theology and economics, Paul Simon and Arthur Simon. See bread.org
Susan Abken
As they say in real estate, there are three words, "location, location and location." I live in Panama City, not all that far from Guatemala in miles, but lightyears away in things like micronutrients. Panama has the highest per capita GDP (PPP) of any country in Latin America. Panama City is celebrating the 500th anniversary of its birth this year. There is a section of the city, Panama Viejo (the old Panama), where the original city was founded in 1519. There are ruins in the spot which are preserved and a museum. When one walks through the ruins one notices that the farther one gets from the church and the bishop's house, the smaller and smaller the houses get in concentric circles. The problem you are discussing is a more serious problem than climate change or nuclear weapons. It may be completely intractable and has been going on since the dawn of the human race. Keep up the good work, please!
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@James Ricciardi
Climate change is more serious if you're concerned about the continuation of civilization and of the hope of uplifting the undeserving poor. Global heating and its causes, if allowed to progress as they now are, is likely to eliminate any chance of raising the health level of the human race.
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@Thomas Zaslavsky there were poor people in countries way before global warming was a known word.
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So women and infants don’t get what they need anywhere really. So very sad.
Any discussion of how this can be better? It seems like supporting maternal health nutrition and breastfeeding would help this most of all.
The folks who can afford a thousand dollar cupcake have money for this work too if they want to care about it. The rest of us have to care too.
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@Madge
Some people, unfortunately, think it's more important to stop abortions and birth control and to produce more babies. Some of them are Americans, but by no means all. And they have a lot of power.
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The people eating the $1,000 goodies are not the ones to blame. It’s all of us that have allowed the situation to get this far.
I strongly object to the rich having control over their supposed “foundations” and “charities”, many of which don’t really do much good. Some do, but why do these rich “philanthropists” have the decision making authority over something as fundamental as world child nutrition? Do they adopt an undue political authority when they do so?
Many rich people probably see the poor as an inconvenience. From a strictly selfish perspective, feeding the poor means taking excessive wealth away from the luxuriating rich. Also, the poor are a problem that will take care of itself in the next great famine, so why bother doing anything about it? Hopefully few are this cynical, but at the same time, just how philanthropic are the “philanthropists” anyway?
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Look at it from point of view of one of those people who buys $300 burger (not me).. Some of that money will probably go the Guatemalan waiter who may end up sending some of that money back home, so, at the end of the day, the $300 burger guy may be helping more than most.
Also, not to be overly cynical, but I think the costs mentioned in the article are misleading. It may cost very little to buy food for any given child, but even to build enough infrastructure to deliver this food to this kid on a regular basis is much more expensive, whereas the cost of uplifting their parents out of poverty is unimaginable.
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@cb Actually, the costs are not so great. For perhaps $15 billion, we could get every child worldwide in school and end illiteracy. For a few billion a year, we turned the tide on AIDS. In contrast we were spending $100 billion each year at the peak on the Afghan war, and we spent $3 trillion on the Iraq war. The suns are doable. What’s lacking is political will.
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@cb
Do you really think a barely educated Guatemalan refugee is going to be serving $300 hamburgers in upscale restaurants in Manhattan?
I suspect English fluency is a requirement for that type of work. The Guatemalan refugees I know have a limited grasp of English much less fluency.
I wholeheartedly agree. The slate should be completely wiped clean and life on earth start over from scratch again. Repeat that process enough times and maybe humanity will eventually stumble into global parity.
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@John Doe
Nope. Once thumbs and a certain level of intelligence come together, there's only one end to evolution. I'd still favor the slate-wiping now, though, just to skip over the next 200 years of downward spiral.
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@John Doe
And 1,000 chimpanzees in front of 1,000 typewriters will eventually write Shakespeare. No, it is what it is, we gotta fix it. Tax the rich, restructure the economy to favor the bottom, not the top.
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@JG Why tax the rich differently? Why not the same percentage? Isn't that more fair? You are punishing people for success.
What's wrong is not in a picture- it's in the mirror.
None of the people who buy these thousand dollar foods believe that they are in anyway responsible for what the rest of the world does not have.
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"In another world, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the restaurant Serendipity 3 offers a $295 hamburger. Alternatively, it sells a $214 grilled cheese sandwich and a $1,000 sundae."
Do the people buying these dystopian foods complain that their taxes are excessive?
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@Martin
Yes, the same people spending obscene amounts on blingy food do complain that their taxes are too high. And that Democrats are wasteful. And that environmental regulations are prohibitively expensive. And...
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@Martin
If you read the pages of the Times enough, you see they have probably more reporters on the food beat than they do covering Washington because food is the only "culture" left to people who have no interest in art, history, literature, or ideas. Enjoying food requires no thought, no preparation, no prior knowledge: in other words, everything their 1600 SAT score has prepared them for. They believe that by ingesting some arcane - and expensive -concoction, qualifies them as urbane adults; the fact that they also feel a need to take a picture of their marvelous meal never intrudes on their self-awareness.
Thomas Edsall had an article here today on the perils of our supposed "meritocracy". Well, these people are the cream of the crop, and if you don't believe me, just ask them.
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@NM Even though the US is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, there are practical limits on how much it can do to alleviate hunger and poverty in the rest of the world.
Indeed, there is plenty of poverty and hunger in the US—surely that takes priority over other countries’ needs.
Of course we need to help other countries, but let’s not lose sight of our own pressing needs at home.
Thanks for sharing this Nick! We all need to be more conscious about how we help those around us. On a personal level, my in laws live in Yemen and there is a lot of malnutrition going on, and it scares me. We help how we can, but wish we could do more. Thanks for sharing about Guatemalan families. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you always thinking of the poor and powerless and highlighting their issues.
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@Frannie Oh, I hope your in-laws in Yemen are OK. I was staggered by the starvation of children I saw there in December. I fear those children—and all Yemen—will be held back for decades to come because of the cognitive impact of malnutrition. And it’s particularly troubling that the US is complicit in Yemen’s starvation.
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@Nicholas Kristof Nicholas, your moving and disheartening piece reveals that the US is not only complicit in Yemen’s starvation but also in Guatemala’s plight. Look what Trump is doing to these people as well as those in neighboring Central American countries. To “punish” these human beings for “daring” to escape violence and death in one form or another, he is threatening to cut off all aid. Who are we? What have we become to allow such ruthlessness, such cruelty? We have to do more in spite of the wicked policies spewing from the Oval Office. And we can.
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