Pointing Out Proclivities

THE PERSISTENCE of widespread poverty in our supposedly advanced modern civilization perhaps proves points about people's proclivities which are not necessarily pretty. Does it meant that we are greedy, uncaring, or both? Take your pick. Greed, certainly, and uncaring only towards those we choose to identify as other than our tribal group. The primary point about poverty is that it is neither natural, normal, nor inevitable. Poverty can be eliminated, and prevented forever, if we choose to do so. Poverty is a manufactured product of our social structure, and we have the power to replace it. it is caused by human decision making, the product of politics and economic planning, or lack of planning. Poverty only exists because we all ow it, we accept it, we seem to prefer it, because we can change it, perhaps more easily than one might think. The point is that poverty has nothing to do with people being lazy or stupid, it has nothing to do with bad individual decision making, bad personal morals, or back luck. Poverty is not a matter of bad luck, but rather, careful planning. The difference between the rich and the poor nations is not that the wealthy nations have superior cultures with better values and, religion, andmorals than poor countries. No, not at all. Obviously, we could end poverty if we agreed to redistribute the world's wealth more efficiently, more widely, so that every member of society could contribute to society's health through economic participation. This could be done in such a way that the already wealthy need not be hurt. The cancellation of debt owed by the world's poor countries, and allowing them to protect and nutrute their economies would be a good start. A world wide minimum minimum wage agreement would be another excellent idea. Our human tendency is to hoard personal wealth, but also we have the proclivity of mutual assistance, if we choose to make use of it.