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Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

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Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#21

Post by ninkendo »

newyankee wrote: post #8

One reason is how much ever we try to disagree, the socio economic construct is still a zero sum game with an ever increasing pie. People who argue otherwise point to the size of the pie without practically ever stating what those in difficult positions can realistically do to get more of it. Other reasons are that honestly there is not much "real work" to be done so we can argue that a very small % of existing popul…

If there has to be poor people in order for there to be rich people, let’s make robots be the poor people.

The best endgame we can probably hope for is for there to be a sustainably small number of really comfortable, happy humans on this planet, and an army of robot servants/AI to keep us all fat and happy.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#22

Post by dr-detroit »

realgeniushere wrote: post #15
newyankee wrote: post #8

One reason is how much ever we try to disagree, the socio economic construct is still a zero sum game with an ever increasing pie. People who argue otherwise point to the size of the pie without practically ever stating what those in difficult positions can realistically do to get more of it. Other reasons are that honestly there is not much "real work" to be done so we can argue that a very small % of existing popul…

What are you talking about? Everyone is eating bigger pieces of pie these days. A lot of the things we take for granted weren’t even available to wealthy people one or two hundred years ago. Electricity, running water, sewage, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, effective surgery, motorized transport, sturdy housing. Not to mention the increasingly universal availability of education. Sure, some people still live in squalor,…

the developing world does not have access to TV Refrigerator and to a lesser extent Cellphone and our society and tech as we know it cannot produce the energy they need to power these appliances

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#23

Post by realgeniushere »

jongjong wrote: post #12

Simple answer; people from rich countries will use flaws in the political structures of certain other countries to install corrupt politicians; these politicians are then going to work for the interests of their rich foreign patrons and against the interests of their own people (for kickbacks/self-enrichment). The corrupt politicians will do things like saddle their people with significant public debts (which will fo…

So I agree it has to do with bad governance. But you deflect all blame away from the people in those poorly governed country, instead blaming wealthy people in other countries. I’ll say though, the worst thing the West has done to the third world is insist on democracy. Peasants don’t know what they need government to do, and the political classes in those countries don’t have the maturity to steer them.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#25

Post by mathverse »

jongjong wrote: post #12

Simple answer; people from rich countries will use flaws in the political structures of certain other countries to install corrupt politicians; these politicians are then going to work for the interests of their rich foreign patrons and against the interests of their own people (for kickbacks/self-enrichment). The corrupt politicians will do things like saddle their people with significant public debts (which will fo…

This is true but the example in the article (South Korea) is one of the most corrupt rich countries out there.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#26

Post by actionfromafar »

jdthedisciple wrote: post #14

My personal (purposely incomplete!) answer is because the whole world doesn't deserve to be rich. Imagine this scenario to help understand why: Let's say the top richest people gave away so much money that every person on earth was a millionare. What would happen? People wouldn't change their spending and other habits, in fact they would buy more useless stuff. Prices would thus rise and rise until they matched the n…

There are several studies which have shown that cash transplants have a lasting beneficial effect on poverty.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#27

Post by phpnode »

jongjong wrote: post #12

Simple answer; people from rich countries will use flaws in the political structures of certain other countries to install corrupt politicians; these politicians are then going to work for the interests of their rich foreign patrons and against the interests of their own people (for kickbacks/self-enrichment). The corrupt politicians will do things like saddle their people with significant public debts (which will fo…

There's really no reason to blame this on the foreigners installing corrupt politicians, corruption is far more frequently organic and homegrown. Corrupt people work to further their own goals, if that happens to be using their power to take on e.g. debt on unfavourable terms then so be it, but that's not because they're beholden to foreigners, it's because that is their best route to enriching themselves - they can just steal the borrowed funds!

Keep in mind that corrupt societies are the most likely to have their debts forgiven, i.e. they are not likely to pay back the money borrowed.

I really recommend reading The Dictator's Handbook to learn more about how corruption works.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#28

Post by JKCalhoun »

mlatu wrote: post #7

the answer is statism. to easy. next!

Or not enough "statism".

I read "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke when I was young. If you read it: the aliens that take over and control the Earth very quickly make production so efficient, global that the work week is reduced to a day or two. No starvation, everyone has a home, comforts.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#29

Post by brutusborn »

mcv wrote: post #13
newyankee wrote: post #8

One reason is how much ever we try to disagree, the socio economic construct is still a zero sum game with an ever increasing pie. People who argue otherwise point to the size of the pie without practically ever stating what those in difficult positions can realistically do to get more of it. Other reasons are that honestly there is not much "real work" to be done so we can argue that a very small % of existing popul…

But if the pie increases, it's not really a zero sum game, is it?

I think the logical fallacy is thinking about the economy as a steady state system. At any given time there are finite resources, so it is "zero sum" in that the pie is finite and slices can only be shared once.

Re: Why Isn’t the Whole World Rich?

#30

Post by aflag »

awb wrote: post #9

> Yet even though extreme poverty has fallen, in 2018 about 80% of the world population still had material living standards less than one-third of that in the United States. That’s it right there. If wealth is relative then you can’t possibly create a system that will result in equality of outcome since we’re all born unique.

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