Using metaphorical expressions about being saved or not being saved at all.He considers the earth as a giant spaceship in trouble.Should problems arise, that is the first part, the ones to be placed on lifeboats would be the rich, as they are worth saving.They have resources needed to carry on elsewhere.The second part is about the poor.In cases of emergency , when supplies are not enough, the ones who are poor and have nothing to offer but need suplies, they will be left to die. not placed on lifeboats but left swimming in the vast ocean.Hard as it is to believe , this is the situation for most countries, but in the last part of the essay the author describes the ways a rich country with more than enough resources for its people, as the USA, should compromise to help the have nots.
