In the most recent Brisbane Sunday-Mail there was a lift out telling of the 100 richest people in Queensland. I didn’t look at it, as I know the only way I am going to wind up with a small fortune is to start out with a big one.

I would like to see a feature telling about 100 of the poorest people. I don’t know about them, but I would like to find out.

How many are addicts? Has the casino been the cause of their poverty? Is there anything our society can do to help? I don’t know enough to ask the most pertinent questions.

What would 100 very poor people tell us about our society? They don’t have to be identified by name, but enough of their story should be told so we would know about them. Maybe it would tell us something about our government and ourselves

Some very interesting thoughts here DavidF.
I wouldn't mind betting that most of the sad souls on this list of 100 poorest people would be suffering from severe mental illnesses.

Correct the current very ineffective mental health system in this country, and see a marked improvement in the numbers of poor and homeless.

Good thread David. I saw that article in the Sunday Mail and brushed over it very quickly. I'm not impressed at all by multi-millionaires.

Dare I say it; I think we need a much more socialistic form of democracy, which can much better distribute wealth. Not to take the vast majority of wealth off of the rich and give it to the poor, but to even up the playing field a fair bit better than our current system.

Afterall, there is not much of a correlation between wealth-generation and intelligence or ingenuity or doing what is right for society, environment or one's fellow man.

"100 very poor people"
The question is what we mean with the words"very poor",
1. lowest income per year, per week, per day? then we have thousands of unemployees or retired people or students. All of them with same or about same income.
2. The people who lost their money?
3. I do not think with $65.000 per year I am the poorest one!

Probably new migrants and refugees are the poorest one, who do not work and do not have any support from social security. We will never learn for their problems as they have limit contact with most Australians. At the moment Australia is a hell for them but they hope for a better future and soon or later they will find it!
Pray for them, we do not know them and we can not find and support them. Your GOD is good one and will care them

Dear David f,

What a brilliant idea.

If the spotlight was focused on at least
100 of the poorest people in the world
it may make us not only count our blessings
and realize how fortunate we really are - but
it would also attract attention to the plight
of these people and how the current global
financial meltdown must be affecting them.

It may also make us want to help in whatever
way we can. We complain about our so called 'rights,'
and other nonsense - but perhaps seeing
how some of the poorest live and why - may make
us realize how much we actually have to be
thankful for. We're not struggling to survive,
we don't have to worry about where our next meal
is coming from - or how to put food on the table
for our family - we don't have starving children -
Seeing these 100 of the poorest people - may be
the 'wake-up,' call we could all use.

I only hope that with this global financial crisis -
that the richer nations will not forget to keep
and honour the commitments that they made to
supply aid to these poorest people - especially
of food - and other much needed supplies.
I worry about countries like Africa, Haiti,
Afghanistan and so on...

Antonios raises a good point, in the need to define 'poorest'.
While realistically a homeless person, without family or friends, who for one reason or another cannot even get social security would be the worst off, it is reasonable to assume their baseline would be zero, as it is unlikely such a person could get a loan from anyone.
The 'poorest' people would be those who have accumulated debt in better times, and for one reason or another (retrenched, sacked, one partner got sick) has fallen behind; become either unemployed, or one of the 'working poor'. Such a person would or could be working very long hours at a very crappy job, and still not being able to make ends meet, or put decent food on the table, while they watch their debts grow and become ever more unmanageable. I think the latter would be the most depressing; knowing you're doing everything you can, and still not getting it together.
I suppose that creates 2 distinct classes of poor. Those who are outside the system, and those who have genuinely tried to work within the system and have failed.
Of course, debt alone cannot define poverty, as the current crisis has highlighted the fact that some of the very richest owe more than they own.
A strange system, where owing a thousand dollars makes you poor, but owing 10 million dollars makes you rich.