Climate change is NOT A SOURCE OF POVERTY! Get off the Mary Jane, quit sniffing the Coka Cola, and no more Acid Reflux stamps for you!

The poor... sigh... are poor because of many circumstances, but there is poor then there is POOR.

A poor person in the United States for instance, has a Cell Phone on average, a big screen television, a car, and fancy shoes.

A poor person in Zimbabwe has no clothes, just rags...

There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE!

Poor people in developed countries are poor because society can't afford for everyone to be rich. imo.

Poor people are poor because of bad choices.  Either by the government, the banks, or personal choices.

Obviously the poor person who posted above saying he no longer has enough money for strippers and booze is poor because of bad choices.  Then again that poor person with his poor decision on giving his money to strippers, will eventually pay for their further education in college.  Of course those piss poor strippers will pay that money on booze because they'll feel depressed about their current decision.  Or pay money to the hospital after their pimp boyfriend beats the living shit out of them for having such a job in the first place.

for both cases, in developed countries and undeveloped countries. people are poor because there are people better off then them.

The world: Rich & Poor are totally because of

(I'm addressing both rich and poor countries)

"the structure of societal institutions"

A great read on the subject would be "The Human Zoo" & "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris.        (insight to human nature and social structures)

I'm reffering to "tribes and super tribes" the evolution of our Hunter gather past.
(If you reply to my post please stay on topic: I am not going to defend evolution...and if evolution is a given then:

We started as a very small social unit.  Let me paraphase the statement of the begining of The Human Zoo.

To our family unit: Mothers,Fathers, Sisters, Brothers we would almost all agree to complete loyalty.  The very first traveling groups of our Homo Sapiens were comprised of 10-30 maybe 50 individuals bound by family, mating and useful skills.

As the world became more populus, things started to change.  Our loyalty to each other became streched: especially where resources were scarce.  New, larger "tribes" were formed.  Once we conqured the animal kingdom and most of the elements we crowded ourselves out.

Tribe evolution:  Immeadiate Family

                         Extended family : cousins , aunts, uncles, grandparents

                         The hunter/gatherer group helping each other to survive

                         The small village/town/city group working together (this was because of
                          the invention of the plow and farming) & defending against the only
                          danger: other Homo Sapiens that wanted to take what they had.

                          As cities turned into larger enities, different proffessions developed.
                         before when everone only had one of two jobs & it was easy to feel
                          connected but as we changed it was easier and easier to not consider
                         everyone as a family tribe member.   PATRIOTISM was born to keep
                          a sense of connection for everyone within the group.

                          Cities became Countries. 

Cities and countries being so big, fractures developed within: tribes within tribes within tribes.  For example:  The various wings of the government, Royalty, the world banking system.  Or even the trades & proffessions.

  The point to all this background is this:   It is almost unthinkable for you to watch your Mother, Father, Brother or Sister wallow in poverty if you could do something about it.
The human being has forsaken itself and forgotten we are all one family. 

We are Homo Sapiens.  Race, religion & politics are akin to different breeds of dog, if we were k9's.

Many have this revelation but still are powerless because of the social structurs we have set up.  Who in their right mind would give up what they have to a stranger; that they may squander the wealth bestowed, when you would feel that you would use it better for yourself but ultimatly for the betterment of your family! 

I started by saying it's our social structures and I believe thats true for most of the poorer countries but I live in Canada. (Unfortunately, We like the states and Western Europe, keep the little man down) In Canada believe its 20/80 rule.  80% are poor choices.  Or the inability to move forward.  put the past in the past. 

I say this because there are "professional" beggers that live on the street by choice here in Victoria BC.  A side bar note:  many on the street people in Canada are mentally challenged.  Not retarded but have had some hardships they have never completely healed from.  We have Free physical health care but not free mental counselling health care....  & didn't someone once say... Sound Mind, Sound Body?

Phew,  Are you still here?  Not quite a rant at the end but to sum it up further:

There are poor because we turn a blind eye and our economy is based on scarcity. (OIL)

Anaxagorus,

Interesting points.  If the population of humanity were a mere 100 people, each human could easily be considered a member of the interdependent tribe of humanity and that tribe's societal institutions would have evolved to ensure every member was a productive contributor of the tribe.  The problem is that our tribe is 7billion, and we are incapable of considering each member of our tribe as a contributor, and our institutions have evolved so as to differentiate and classify different humans by different values.

It's not a sufficient explanation for all poverty, yes.  Are you saying there is some single root cause of all poverty?  I was merely pointing out one large demographic of poverty victims.

When I worked a low income/disabled persons housing project... you could tell it was Social Security pay day by the number of prostitutes... errr... guests that came in...

Also by how many people came in stumbling drunk from a bar.

Sometimes hard work, blood, sweat and tears makes a man rich.  I knew a manuel laborour fellow, who was proud to heft heavy items to and fro, back and forth.  But then he was diagnosed with cancer.  Eventually he had to have a colostimy bag attached, and can no longer work.  He died no more than a month after retiring.  And many believe the only thing that kept him alive, even with cancer, was his work.  Without being able to work, he just slowly degenerated with nothing to do.

Sitting around, drinking booze, smoking dope, and sitting in front of the television, skateboarding, and what not....well your going to be poor.  But that's because of your own personal choices.

poor people in poor countries are poor because they're robbed when they get too far ahead

and poor people in rich countries are poor because they give up on earning paper

=^o.o^= Your heart tastes like ripened tomatoes.

Race based employee mandates are one way,bad science, and entirely wrong.

And lawsuits which declare a quota was not met is wronger yet.

Some companies may have 100%black employment but this company will not be used to reduce quota's.  That's true racism.

And statistical variation must be allowed for which means quota's are bad policy.