Poverty
Today is blog action day, and the topic is poverty, so I figured I'd write something about the said topic….
How do we rid the world of poverty?
I don't think this is truly the question of we should be asking ourselves, but rather how do we improve the lives of everyone else. Poverty, sadly, will always be around because the economic principle of scarcity applies; resources of all kinds are scarce. To put it simply we do not have enough resources to produce all of the goods and services that anybody might like to have. Some of us may not know it, but clean water is a precious resource. A lot of us do not realize the advantage we have when we are able to drink clean water straight from the tap. I remember living in a place where clean water was privatized. In order to drink any water I had to buy two five gallon jugs on a weekly basis in order to have a drink. This wasn't really a big deal for my family who was middle class in Mexico. But for the poor families, clean water can put a strain on your budget. It would cost roughly 5 dollars a week to refill those jugs of water. In a place where roughly 40% of the population makes $550 USD annually, that is a big deal. In Mexico you can literally have a billionaire stand right next to a beggar. You can have state representatives with lavish salaries (USD $85,000 and more) and yet their constituents with only dollars a day. The income inequality gap is wide in Mexico. Although growing up in a border town opened my eyes to the hypocrisy of both countries.
I finally was able to move to the USA when I went to college, and this move opened my eyes to the income gap between the 50 states. We had a minimum, barely living wage of $5.15 an hour down in Texas, while New York city at least had a $10 dollar an hour minimum wage. We could justify this inequality with saying that New York has a higher cost of living than Texas, but even then I don't understand why Texas doesn't raise its minimum wage to better suit the needs of its working poor. I find it a ridiculous that a guy working full time retail in New York can make more than some salaried employees in Texas. I know what some of you might say, that if we raise the minimum wage, that things will become more expensive, and that by raising the minimum wage we'll all have to pay more money for essential items. Yes, this is actually true, raising the minimum wage to a workable living wage will inflate the economy, but the past few years we have seen our economy inflate without the minimum wage increase. This means that people have gotten poorer and were able to afford even less with their meager wages. Also if you increase minimum wage, right out of the bat you increase consumer spending. Families are able to afford more. This automatically puts more money into liquidity, thus combating inflation.
Really there is no way to rid the world of poverty. The rich will always be there, they will always control the majority of the world's wealth, in fact, I am sure even if we spread the wealth of the richest 1% around we would probably still have poverty running rampant. It is something we will always have to deal with as a world with limited resources. So how does one help those in developing countries, or even in a developed nation who are not as fortunate as the rest of us? In my humble opinion there are 5 simple rights that every person must have as a human being. These are not guidelines, these are not privileges; these are rights. Human rights, self evident, that we as a species should observe. When we see a culture, a city, or a nation that is being denied these rights, it is our obligation as human beings to stand up and demand of our leaders to preserve them. There are of course more rights that every person deserves, but right now I am only speaking in the context of poverty and how to get rid of it.
So there you have it, these are the five simple rights that every person must have in this world. If ever one person be denied these rights, it should be criminal. If we look away, then we are culpable as well.
How do we rid the world of poverty?
I don't think this is truly the question of we should be asking ourselves, but rather how do we improve the lives of everyone else. Poverty, sadly, will always be around because the economic principle of scarcity applies; resources of all kinds are scarce. To put it simply we do not have enough resources to produce all of the goods and services that anybody might like to have. Some of us may not know it, but clean water is a precious resource. A lot of us do not realize the advantage we have when we are able to drink clean water straight from the tap. I remember living in a place where clean water was privatized. In order to drink any water I had to buy two five gallon jugs on a weekly basis in order to have a drink. This wasn't really a big deal for my family who was middle class in Mexico. But for the poor families, clean water can put a strain on your budget. It would cost roughly 5 dollars a week to refill those jugs of water. In a place where roughly 40% of the population makes $550 USD annually, that is a big deal. In Mexico you can literally have a billionaire stand right next to a beggar. You can have state representatives with lavish salaries (USD $85,000 and more) and yet their constituents with only dollars a day. The income inequality gap is wide in Mexico. Although growing up in a border town opened my eyes to the hypocrisy of both countries.
I finally was able to move to the USA when I went to college, and this move opened my eyes to the income gap between the 50 states. We had a minimum, barely living wage of $5.15 an hour down in Texas, while New York city at least had a $10 dollar an hour minimum wage. We could justify this inequality with saying that New York has a higher cost of living than Texas, but even then I don't understand why Texas doesn't raise its minimum wage to better suit the needs of its working poor. I find it a ridiculous that a guy working full time retail in New York can make more than some salaried employees in Texas. I know what some of you might say, that if we raise the minimum wage, that things will become more expensive, and that by raising the minimum wage we'll all have to pay more money for essential items. Yes, this is actually true, raising the minimum wage to a workable living wage will inflate the economy, but the past few years we have seen our economy inflate without the minimum wage increase. This means that people have gotten poorer and were able to afford even less with their meager wages. Also if you increase minimum wage, right out of the bat you increase consumer spending. Families are able to afford more. This automatically puts more money into liquidity, thus combating inflation.
Really there is no way to rid the world of poverty. The rich will always be there, they will always control the majority of the world's wealth, in fact, I am sure even if we spread the wealth of the richest 1% around we would probably still have poverty running rampant. It is something we will always have to deal with as a world with limited resources. So how does one help those in developing countries, or even in a developed nation who are not as fortunate as the rest of us? In my humble opinion there are 5 simple rights that every person must have as a human being. These are not guidelines, these are not privileges; these are rights. Human rights, self evident, that we as a species should observe. When we see a culture, a city, or a nation that is being denied these rights, it is our obligation as human beings to stand up and demand of our leaders to preserve them. There are of course more rights that every person deserves, but right now I am only speaking in the context of poverty and how to get rid of it.
- 1. The right to food.
There is something wrong in the world when we have people starving in the world, yet here in America we have poorer states suffering from Diabetes because of high fat food and lower quality foods, and the richer states having less of a problem with their weight. I swear only in America could there be such a thing as a peanut allergy. - 2. The right to shelter
Everyone in the world needs housing, if you cannot afford housing, there should be adequate government programs that house you and help you afford housing. I heard there was this great program in Australia that helps couples buy their first house by giving them money for their deposit. I think that is amazing. - 3. The right to universal healthcare, affordable/free, and of quality
I cannot believe this is even an issue in America. Healthcare is not a privilege, it is not something only those who cannot afford it deserve, and healthcare is for everyone. A doctor should be able to help anyone and everyone, and should not be getting flack for it from some insurance guy. The system in America is disgusting and should be rectified immediately. - 4. The right to clothing
this is pretty self explanatory, everyone deserves clothing, and new clothes, also not just those who can afford it. I find clothing to be the prime example of what's wrong with the world. Glorification of people who do absolutely nothing (Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein) whose worthless product drives prices up making it hard for people to afford the things they need. Lets not forget that people like Ralph Lauren are worse because they market their product as quality when in fact they're no better than wal mart clothing. - 5. The right to life
This one is a bit general, but it means just about anything it could mean, everyone deserves the right to work, and if unemployment is too high, they deserve help from the government, they deserve the right to defend themselves and be given a fair trial and adequate representation from a competent lawyer, you shouldn't only be able to have a good lawyer if you can afford one. Also Habeas Corpus applies to everyone, not just Americans, everyone. Finally, if you are wondering if the right to life applies to a sperm that's reached to an egg…I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole. I personally believe in a woman's right to choose.
So there you have it, these are the five simple rights that every person must have in this world. If ever one person be denied these rights, it should be criminal. If we look away, then we are culpable as well.
posted by ingenium at 4:15 PM
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