Mosheh Thezion said:
THE ONLY alternate to capitalism, is.... to regulate it... in moderation and in cycles as needed.
many people like to blame capitalism for poverty.
but poverty is caused by greed, selfishness and heartlessness.
of which many here show an abundance of.
-MT
Depends. Poverty is caused by many factors. Geography, disease, wars, greedy capitalist creditors who'd rather see a poor country collapse into further poverty (and see millions die) than see their debt repayments postponed for a year or two, greedy/naive/inexperienced/untrained governments of the poor countries, lack of education, poor economic planning and economic policies, poor central banking decisions, people like us who choose not to donate to the poor countries (but complain about it all the time), famine, drought, and maybe laziness (but that's a very small minority, because there are very very very very few people who'd choose to do nothing and starve rather than work and eat).
The problem is a lot of people assume it's the final reason (laziness). They think that if poor people (in Africa, for example) got off their butts and worked, they wouldn't be in a mess. That right there is the most flawed bit of idiotic reasoning EVER. Compare African climate to the rest of the world. Compare African soil nutrients to the rest of the world. Compare Africa's modern history to the rest of the world (Slavery for a couple of hundred years; then colonialism that ROBBED their countries of advancement, education, nutrition, natural resources, innovation, and natural movement of ideas and technologies; and now tough and unfair import restrictions on African goods flowing to us while trying to force African nations to let down their restrictions on our products, robbing them of a chance to expand their industries and businesses; and crippling debts that we Westerners are forcing down on them, with impossible debt repayment plans. Africa also has no capable road systems and don't have the money to build them. They are racked with diseases like malaria and AIDS, and it's killing their important societal figures: teachers, middle aged workers, children, and farmers. We Westerners give VERY little to Africa in terms of foreign aid. Complain and whine all you want about how generous we are, but that amount itself is pitiful to what would get Africa off it's feet and on to a better path. I think per capita spending on Afican health and medicine is $10. In North America it's in the 100s or 1000s of $ per year, and we're still obese and sick.
If I had to place blame on African poverty, I'd probably put 50% of it on North Americans (like me) and Europe, 40% of it on their natural habitat (bad climate, short growing seasons, bad soil, little rain, ideal tropical conditions for mosquitoes to flourish, etc...), and 10% on the dictators/fake democratic leaders/autocrats/etc... for robbing their own country of money and foreign aid.
In addition, paraphrasing Colin Powell: The war on terror is tied to the war on poverty. You help eliminate poverty, then you'll start a chain reaction that will eventually lead to eliminating a whole host of things that plague us today:
1. Once poverty is eliminated, birth rates will go down to manageable levels. That will free up more resources to spend on less people.
2. With more resources to spend, you can invest in further improving infrastructure, research (e.g. more efficient crop yields, seeds, technology specific to Africa, medicine, etc...). This in turn leads to more jobs.
3. Education will increase as families can afford to send their children to school (because they have less children) and have more disposable income.
4. Increased education means better trained workers of the future and more opportunities to improve their own country.
5. Improved education means a more broad understanding of the world, instead of hateful rhetoric taught by religious leaders and corrupt warlords. With that, terrorism will decrease as people choose to study and work instead of kill and spread fear.
6. All this will lead to better relations with the industrialized countries, breaking down economic barriers, bilateral relations, and a march towards democracy and freedom.
All that, because you rid the developing world of povery.
