31–40 of 238 posts
This video from Anaheim (California) is reminiscent of travelling around Dehli (from 39' in - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF7hWzqdPDk ). The level/amount of poverty in this video is shocking.
Globalization is super nice when you're secure in your job, "hey everything is getting cheaper!" but when your job is the one in the crosshairs what you're feeling is a pressure that is pushing the living standard of the third world and yours together. That's why I find it so annoying that this board is usually against abundant H1B's but for factory outsourcing. It's completely hypocritical.
And before I get jumped on, no I'm not against all trade. What I'm for however is noting that people don't live in the long-term, economically we are firmly short-term creatures. Good policy won't give everything up for the long-term, it will also protect people in the short-term, we don't need an end to trade, we need a curtailing of some trade.
In all honesty, though, I'd love to hear some stories from any social workers here as to their beliefs are regarding the extreme lows of poverty and maybe fix it.
I think we've all heard that we should change drug policy, expand government service for mental health and treatment, but does anyone have any other we don't normally hear about?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> being poor is not a good/bad thing This is a silly line of reasoning. As more people grow wealthy, we find more ways to systematically mistreat those who have not. It's not just that the poor started poor and stayed that way, it's that the rest of us find ways to make things even harder for them as our comparative wealth grows. Being poor is most definitely a bad thing.
The fact remains that everyone starts with nothing. The parent questions why some are able to flourish, while others continue with nothing indefinitely.
This is clearly wrong.
So what do Switzerland, Germany and Iceland better than the rest of the developed nations?
I don’t understand how this is possible. We have a lot of programs to help people - food assistance, housing and health care assistance, disability... Are these benefits being counted when we say they live on $4/day?
Poverty is not a problem. It is the default state. Instead of asking what causes poverty, we need to ask what causes wealth. We also need to realize that being poor is not a good/bad thing. Again, it's the default state.
The default state is that of a subsistence farmer being regularly preyed on by bandits. Without society, without the apparatus and knowledge bequeathed to us by those who came before us, that would be the fate of everybody, including Bill Gates. We get our wealth by standing on the shoulders of giants. The poor deserve the fruits of the labors of those giants just as much as the rest of us do.
Who's stopping them?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> being poor is not a good/bad thing This is a silly line of reasoning. As more people grow wealthy, we find more ways to systematically mistreat those who have not. It's not just that the poor started poor and stayed that way, it's that the rest of us find ways to make things even harder for them as our comparative wealth grows. Being poor is most definitely a bad thing.
The fact remains that everyone starts with nothing. The parent questions why some are able to flourish, while others continue with nothing indefinitely.
Not even close to true... Simply look at socioeconomic status across generations.
Poverty is not a problem. It is the default state. Instead of asking what causes poverty, we need to ask what causes wealth. We also need to realize that being poor is not a good/bad thing. Again, it's the default state.
> being poor is not a good/bad thing This is a silly line of reasoning. As more people grow wealthy, we find more ways to systematically mistreat those who have not. It's not just that the poor started poor and stayed that way, it's that the rest of us find ways to make things even harder for them as our comparative wealth grows. Being poor is most definitely a bad thing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> being poor is not a good/bad thing This is a silly line of reasoning. As more people grow wealthy, we find more ways to systematically mistreat those who have not. It's not just that the poor started poor and stayed that way, it's that the rest of us find ways to make things even harder for them as our comparative wealth grows. Being poor is most definitely a bad thing.
The fact remains that everyone starts with nothing. The parent questions why some are able to flourish, while others continue with nothing indefinitely.