Poverty

Poverty

So, what is poverty and how does it affect and take lives of millions? Poverty is the state of being poor, and lack the means of providing material needs or comforts. Unfortunately, I have to say that this is still happening in many parts of the world. Partly, this has to do with the policies of rich countries. In Europe, every year thousands of tons of wheat, butter and other food items are destroyed in order to maintain high stock prices for their farmers! These could have been donated to people with their needs for food in Africa and other countries; instead it is used to fertilize more money, which causes the deaths of more lives. Poverty is taking lives of millions each week! One billion, three hundred million people in this world do not have access to drinking clean water. As a result, eighty percent of illnesses are caused by drinking contaminated water! Poverty remains a reality, as conflicts rise between countries. Inequality is not just bad for social justice; it is also bad for economic efficiency. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening. More and more people are living below the poverty line. Here is a fact to take in mind; did you know that twenty percent of the world's population takes in eighty six percent of the world's goods while eighty percent of the rest just get the remaining fourteen percent?! Inequality is also described by a combination of wealth, which turns into a force of political power. One of the main reasons for endless poverty has been in order to maintain this power. In U.S, the top one percent of the population receives more money than the bottom forty percent! This is not where it ends, for the last twenty years the share of income going to the top one percent is still increasing, while the poorest forty percent is decreasing at a rapid pace. To this day, the top one percent earns an average of six hundred thirty thousand dollars a year, while the bottom forty percent earns an average of fourteen thousand dollars...

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