Abolishing Poverty
eric posted on July 9, 2009
“Abolishing Poverty” by April Diaz
A few days ago I read on my friend’s, Andrew Marin, Facebook the following quote:
“You cannot abolish poverty unless you also abolish affluence.”
Ouch. I hated that quote as soon as a finished reading it, yet something inside me resonated with a deeper “yes”. I hate that quote – truth? – because I am a person of affluence. I can often fool myself into thinking I am not, but the truth is I am very affluent compared to the world’s standards. If you’re reading this blog, you are affluent too. Don’t believe me?Check out: http://www.globalrichlist.com/ for the proof.
I know I’m affluent because I’m typing this on a laptop while watching TV. I have a savings account though most of my money goes to pay for 2 cars, a mortgage, and putting food on the table every night before I retire to a king-size bed. And the honest truth is: I like my life. Thinking about abolishing my poverty is beyond challenging because it means that a lot of how I live would have to change! Of course, we also try to do our part by sponsoring two kids in Africa with World Vision. We live on less than we earn. We tithe more than 10%. For the love, we’ve also decided to add another child to our family by adopting a baby. But all this doesn’t make me superior…it’s only the beginning of loosening the hold on affluence in order to bring more equality to this world.
We can’t abolish poverty and maintain our own standards of living. It just won’t work like this, but I wish it did. I was talking to my 18 year old brother today, and he was sharing about his recent mission’s trip to Mexico. His greatest take-away and frustration is how complacent we are. The truth is that abundance breeds complacency. It just does. I wish that abundance produced a passionate movement toward selfless giving and helping the poor, but it doesn’t. It lulls us into believing we need more so we risk less.
I’m not calling you out. I’m calling me out. And I’m praying that this Baby Ethiopia journey propels us into less and less complacency. Any thoughts on what you’ve learned about this? How are you combatting complacency and abolishing poverty?
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“You cannot abolish poverty unless you also abolish affluence.”
This statement is part of the <a href”http://krusekronicle.typepad.com/kruse_kronicle/2007/11/economic-fall-6.html”zero-sum game fallacy of economics. A zero-sum game envisions a fixed quantity of something to be distributed, say, a pie. If my piece is bigger everyone else’s must be to some degree smaller. This is not how economies work!
Every year, expect with an occasional recession year, the worldwide Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows, the GDP in almost every nation grows. If economics is a zero-sum game, then it would not be possible for global growth to happen.
Every day people invest themselves in transforming matter, energy, and data from less useful states into more useful states, and then exchange the fruits of their labor with each other. That is what generates wealth. Affluence is not a static set of possessions. Affluence is a dynamic and organic system of coordinated human interaction.
The most poverty stricken places on the planet lack the fertile soil in which affluence can grow. There is insufficient human capital (spiritual resources, mental resources, health, etc.), social capital (just and effective societal institutions), material capital (infrastructure for transportation and communication) and financial capita (money to be put to use in production and investment.) Simple redistribution is pointless.
A gardening metaphor. Taking resources like water and fertilizer away from healthy plants in good soil in order to aid struggling plants that are growing in gravel may lessen the flourishing of the plants in good soil but it will not substantially change the plight of the plants in gravel. The plants in gravel must be given better soil.
Aid to the poor is critical but our aim should be for everyone to live in expanding affluence, rooted in good soil, always with an eye to care for natural order God has entrusted to us.
hey april,
these are great thoughts. thanks for sharing!