Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The history of the end of poverty has just begun

ourworldindata.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 449 posts

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#281

Post by inimino »

boucher wrote: post #207
kryogen1c wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> creates enormous inequality i dont know why everyone keeps getting away with statement like this. the proposition of equality as a meaningful metric is absurd at every level of examination. no one is equal to anyone else except on the most trivial and simplistic terms about anything. do you feel inferior to rich people? do you feel superior to poor people? what hogwash. i reject this axiom that inequality is bad. p…

Inequality has nothing to do with feeling superior or inferior to others (though, our culture absolutely does encourage those beliefs). In a world with limited resources, huge levels of inequality necessarily means that a small group of people are consuming vastly more of the available resources than everyone else. It also tends to concentrate political power in the same small group. Many people would say there is so…

> huge levels of inequality necessarily means that a small group of people are consuming vastly more of the available resources than everyone else.

Why would you think so? Inequality means wealth inequality, it does not measure consumption. There are still people starving in the world; that is because they cannot afford to buy food, not because Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are eating 1000000x more food than the average person.

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#282

Post by WalterBright »

DarylZero wrote: post #246
WalterBright wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For big evidence, look at the hundreds of thousands of people tramping thousands of miles just for a shot at getting into America.

Are you somehow unaware of migration into Europe?

They'd rather come here. I've met Afghan refugees here, and refugees from the Middle East. You bet they'd rather be in the US.

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#283

Post by [deleted] »

kryogen1c wrote: post #189
danschmitt wrote: post #24

It is always nice to see such narratives based on robust data. For similar stories backed by data I can also recommend the book "Factfulnes" by Hans Rosling [1]. When we talk about basic needs, our global community is making tremendous progress. At the same time, we should not forget that the same system that abolishes poverty also creates enormous inequality, which not only makes people unhappier, but also leads to…

> creates enormous inequality i dont know why everyone keeps getting away with statement like this. the proposition of equality as a meaningful metric is absurd at every level of examination. no one is equal to anyone else except on the most trivial and simplistic terms about anything. do you feel inferior to rich people? do you feel superior to poor people? what hogwash. i reject this axiom that inequality is bad. p…

[deleted]

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#284

Post by mbrodersen »

WalterBright wrote: post #279
mbrodersen wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only the minimum legally required (for them to not immediately die). After which they are shown the door.

Kings didn't have any. They didn't even have clean water.

However Kings did have shelter, plenty of food, easy access to sex, lots of fun and games, the respect of everybody, the best protection in the land, the power to behead or torture anything they didn't like etc. So lets be fair when we compare the two.

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#285

Post by [deleted] »

WalterBright wrote: post #228
dwaltrip wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today, America's poor have a better quality of life than medieval kings. Humans are social animals, and kings are at the absolute top of the social hierarchy. They had immense power. Poor people have very little power in comparison. This has an immense effect on their experience in the world. Most poor people in the US face a variety of real hardships. Your comment seems quite tone deaf to this reality.

I'm not talking about power or social standing. I'm talking about standard of living.

[deleted]

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#287

Post by mbrodersen »

t-3 wrote: post #269
mbrodersen wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you have any clue on what life is like as a homeless poor person or a person in jail in the US.

I've been both. I don't think you have any idea.

I flat out don't believe you. However you are welcome to enlighten us with some of the details. How long were you homeless? Where? How did you get homeless and how did you escape? Why did you go to jail? For how long? Where? And how amazing was your life doing all of that compared with being a King? A King that has shelter, easy access to food, sex with the most beautiful woman in the country, the power to torture and kill anybody he didn't like, the power to change the laws of the country at will, an army of people doing everything to please them? Please enlighten us all on how being homeless or in jail is better than that?

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#288

Post by nikanj »

Ericson2314 wrote: post #286
h0l0cube wrote: post #254

Could we classify the lives in tribes and villages prior to civilisation as "poverty"? Or did "poverty" begin with civilisation?

There was no poverty between the control of fire and civilization. We got our calories nice and easy.

Then why was the population so low?

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#289

Post by t-3 »

mbrodersen wrote: post #287
t-3 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been both. I don't think you have any idea.

I flat out don't believe you. However you are welcome to enlighten us with some of the details. How long were you homeless? Where? How did you get homeless and how did you escape? Why did you go to jail? For how long? Where? And how amazing was your life doing all of that compared with being a King? A King that has shelter, easy access to food, sex with the most beautiful woman in the country, the power to torture an…

Kings have people trying to murder them, they also have to murder others. They do not have peace. Power doesn't attract me, neither does rape. I'm sorry you're so broken.

Re: The history of the end of poverty has just begun

#290

Post by post_from_work »

yesbabyyes wrote: post #90
chrisco255 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have access to all the world's information. They can travel across continents in a number of hours for less than two weeks wages. They can push a button on their phone to have gourmet food delivered to their house in under an hour. They can press another button on their phone to fetch a personal driver that will deliver them to any destination. They can choose to drive themselves, of course, and can travel hundr…

At first, I was confused reading your assertions of what poor people of the US can do, things that obviously demand money - cash or credit - that a person in poverty don't have. With your final sentence I realized you're not talking about poverty at all, but the wealthy, which in a sense clarified things, but also made me confused: what does your comment have to do with this discussion?

>>>At first, I was confused reading your assertions of what poor people of the US can do, things that obviously demand money - cash or credit - that a person in poverty don't have.

A homeless, flat-broke prostitute can turn 4 tricks in a day. Let's call them $50 each, for $200 cash-in-hand. Then they can take that $200 to Wal-Mart, buy an Android phone for $50, a SIM card for $50, and one of those loadable debit cards for $50. That leaves them with $50 cash and a $50 debit card balance. They can use their smartphone and debit card to access many of the modern amenities that the parent post mentioned, such as a delivery meal from Uber Eats, or a Greyhound bus ticket, or music on iTunes. The point is, this stuff is within the realm of the possible for the modern poor. It is NOT for a medieval king. Not at all. No matter how large his army, no matter how much gold in his coffers, Richard the Lionheart can't instantly access music from the other side of the planet while traveling across England in a climate-controlled vehicle at twice the speed of a horse.

Post reply on HN