Poverty
Reader comment on item: [The Hamas Victory and] Prospects for Peace
in response to reader comment: Prospects for peace

Submitted by Sidda (United States), Jan 31, 2006 at 09:03

Yes we all wish to eradicate poverty in the world. But there is a faulty reasoning among some that certain people are poor as a result of others having wealth. It's not a zero-sum game. Too many people in the world need a real lesson on the basics of the laws of economics. Economics has laws just as physics has laws. If I throw something up in the air, gravity will cause it to come down. I might wish that the object remain suspended in the air all I want; it does not matter how hard I wish, the object will still fall down. So it is with economics. There are just certain laws that govern.

Wealth does not create poverty it creates more capital. Poor people do not create jobs, wealthy people do. You do not penalize your society's movers and shakers; you set them free to create and produce. Capitalism provides the most opportunity for the most people to prosper. Witness what is occurring in China right now. Yes, Capitalism like anything else can be abused so oversight is needed and a humane society provides safety nets. But as an economic system there is nothing more efficient.

What creates poverty in countries is a combination of factors, one of the most important being the corruption of its leadership and government. You can give these countries all the aid to the point where there is not one person in America who has a dollar left and the money would still not go to the people or to provide infrastructure. It goes to the corrupt leaders and their cronies. There are plenty examples of this all over the world.

America can only do so much to encourage change in these countries. Look at Mexico; we have sent most of our manufacturing jobs there, they have plenty of natural resources, beautiful resorts and plenty of tourism. They are still dirt poor. Is that the fault of America or of their leadership?

And last but not least, I do think that poverty can contribute to providing a breeding ground for potential terrorists; however, this is not the driving force. The driving force is the ideology of Islam. If poverty were the main factor, why do we not see Haitian or Guatemalan homocide bombers? Why do we not see Christian Palestinians blowing themselves up to kill as many civilians as possible? All of the hijackers of 9/11 were well-educated and from wealthy and upper middle class families. Osama bin Laden is a multi millionaire.

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