Income disparity, the widening gap between rich and poor, inequality, child poverty.
How many people's eyes glaze over when the words and issues are broached in conversation? How many of us turn the newspaper page, change the channel, flick to the next website page when confronted with them? Is it because they are hardly sexy news stories? Is it because one person's death or suffering is a tragedy, that of millions only a statistic?
Is it guilt? Shame? Is it because, particularly in Western society, the dream to which many of us still aspire is to make it big, strike it rich, live in luxury, or at the very least keep up with the Joneses? Is it because if we are comfortable or well-off - whether through hard work, good decision-making, good luck, good timing, or an accident of birth - we will do anything to preserve that lifestyle? Is it because we believe poverty is a choice, a result of not working hard enough, not trying hard enough at school, not making the right choices? Do we believe life's what you make it, everyone is created equal and you get what you deserve?
Is it because many of us have no real understanding that these are not merely words, issues, concepts or political footballs, but realities faced by hundreds of thousands in this country, and millions worldwide? Are we simply bored of it all? Or is it because the issues are simply so big, so complex, and the solutions seem so insurmountable we feel confused, overwhelmed and powerless? Is it because we think it is someone else's problem to solve?
The issue was discussed at last week's annual meeting in Switzerland of the World Economic Forum, which recognised ''income inequality is likely to cause serious damage in the next decade''.
The meeting came in the wake of a hard-hitting and sobering report from British humanitarian group Oxfam. It found the 85 richest people in the world own as much as the bottom half of the world's population - 3.5 billion people. Those wealthy elite are only a small portion of the richest top 1% of the world's population which has almost half of the world's wealth - $110 trillion - 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the population.
The report found seven out of 10 people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the past 30 years. Inequality is skyrocketing in the United States, but also increasing in Australia, New Zealand and other egalitarian countries such as Sweden and Norway.
Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates says: ''Rising inequality is not an inevitable trend. It results from the policies of governments and the governance of corporations that allows over-inflated salaries and income to the few; `opportunity capture' for the children of the wealthy; and `policy capture' so that the rules are bent to favour those who are already rich.''
Governments are acknowledging the problem. United States President Barack Obama says it is a bigger threat to the US economy than the budget deficit. However, in New Zealand we are still arguing the toss. Prime Minister John Key was reported last week slamming the Opposition for ''constantly trying to make the case that inequality is widening, when in fact the official stats don't support that'', saying ''every developed economy has some people that are less fortunate and less well-off'' and that his Government had provided a variety of support even through the financial crisis.
But it is not only support that is required, but fundamental changes in thinking and policy. Oxfam is calling on governments to take urgent action to reverse the inequality trend through various recommendations, including cracking down on financial secrecy and tax dodging; progressive taxation; demanding a living wage; investing in universal education and healthcare. For those who think it is pie-in-the-sky stuff, it points to countries which have succeeded in reducing inequality while growing prosperous.
There is no doubt there will be a significant cost to fix the problem, but perhaps the most pressing question has to be: what will be the long-term price if we don't at least try to make a start? An unequal society, an us-and-them dynamic? Social unrest, increased global instability, crime, war, displacement? As global citizens, can any of us really afford to turn a blind eye?
