There is another sense in which the poverty of the non-poor is the mirror image of the poverty of the poor. It seems as if having too much is as bad for us as having too little. Too little food makes us weak and susceptible to disease; too much food makes us overweight and susceptible to heart disease and cancer. The water in the Third World is dirty and unhealthy; the water in the West is bad for our health because it is increasingly polluted with chemicals. The poor have inadequate housing; the non-poor are often slaves to their houses. Octavio Paz observed that the rich have too few fiestas
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