Another Facebook event

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=108761519170473

Apparently, because "1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 (US) a day.", Oaktree Foundation wants more people to join in. So for five days, they want people to try and eat for only AU$2.00 per day.

Now, not even taking into consideration basic economic principles, namely differences in purchasing power parity (PPP), this is another pointless event to...raise awareness, right? Perhaps Oaktree wants the money saved to be donated to them. Or maybe not.

"Why get involved?
-Lots of opportunities to meet other people (bonded by your hunger) including LAUNCH NIGHT on June 26th
-Think about all the money you will save! (and the weight you will lose?)
-Most importantly, it's a snapshot into the lives of 1.4 billion people around the world."

Oh joy. Reason number one: to be social.
Reason number two: save money.
Reason number three: Think about others.
Because that kind of thing can only be done by attempting to starve yourself, right?

Well, anyway, for a completely different reason I've been reading about the Big Mac Index (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index), just as an example of PPP, basically the difference in the ability of different currencies to buy the same product in different countries. Now, perhaps it is true that there are 1.4 billion people today living on less than US$1.25 per day. In India, with a population of 1.18 billion, that'll buy you a Big Mac. It won't in any other country. In Tokyo, that same Big Mac will take the average worker 10 minutes to earn. In Nairobi, the average worker needs to work for 158 minutes to earn one.

The point of all this? $2 in Australia is very different to 11 yuan in China, or 77 rupees in India, or 31,000 Vietnamese Dong. You can't use an arbitrary value just to determine the living standards of people in different countries.

Get a grip, Oaktree. Or are you going to go the way of a whole host of other non-governmental organisations, down the aisle of purported 'evidence', fact-twisting and biased representation?