Jeffrey Sachs Discusses Poverty with Jon Stewart

On The Daily Show last night, John Stewart interviewed economist Jeffrey Sachs. Check it out:

I look forward to reading Jeffery Sachs new book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. Regarding the interview, I like that he empathizes the connection between poverty and wasteful, destructive militarism. Also, I like that he basically says that we can find practical and effective ways to end poverty and the underlying problems if we chose to do it, rather than ignore those problems and focus on throwing more and more resources into militarism. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

Why the Poorest Countries are Failing

Oxford University economist Professor Paul Collier’s book about poverty has won the prestigious Lionel Gelber Prize for 2008. The book’s title explains its subject rather well: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It

According to the description, the book investigates and attempts to explain why traditional approaches to alleviating poverty have failed in the poorest countries of the world. Namely, the book explains how corrupt governments have made these countries dependent on the extraction and export of natural resources.

I want to read the book. I just requested 3 other books from the library a few days ago, so it will take a little while before I get to this one. But I will read it soon.

Recession and Poverty

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) determines when the United States is in a recession. However, the group usually does not make the determination until 6 to 18 months after we enter a recession. Generally, economists define a recession as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. Using that definition, a recession would not become an official recession until about 6 months into it.

The president of the NBER, Martin Feldstein, has said that we are in a recession, but that is not an official NBER declaration.

Also, three out of four Americans now think that the United States economy is in a recession, according to a CNN poll.

I worry that a recession will worsen the poverty problem in the United States. After having observed the international instability caused by the recent credit crisis, I worry that a United States economic recession would worsen poverty internationally.

A recession will also greatly hinder the ability of anti-poverty organization to find investments, loans and other funding.

At the risk of sounding cliché, I recommend we hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Whatever happens, I hope we all learn that we need to find a more stable economic system. The boom/bust cycle makes people too complacent during booms, and too weak and fearful to change anything during busts. The very existence of poverty demonstrates a massive flaw in our economic system. We need to create a more stable and meritocratic economy without poverty and preferably without so much speculation and usury.

I encourage everyone interested in United States economics to research the Federal Reserve. As Henry Ford said, “It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”

If you do research the Federal Reserve, I recommend you try to figure out its actual interests, and do not assume it has the interests of the typical citizen in mind. Also, research the effects of inflationary monetary policies. Remember, people in power predictably tend to do what benefits themselves regardless of whether it hurts or helps people like you and I.

Poverty and the Expensive War on Drugs

In his song Changes, Tupac Shakur said, “Instead of a war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.” That powerful line has always stuck with me.

I believe we, the people of in society, can end poverty whenever we decide to end it. However, we generally rely on a government that underfunds poverty alleviation programs. Instead of putting it towards ending poverty, we let the government put our tax-dollars towards waging a needless war on drugs.

Estimates generally say that the “war on drugs” costs the United States government $50 billion per year. Worse yet, prohibition hands the lucrative drug market over to violent criminals, thus funding and increasing violent crime, which has a lot of unmeasured socioeconomic costs.

Just like with the alcohol prohibition, drug prohibition does not seem to decrease usage, but instead it costs a lot of money while increasing violent crime and corruption. Drugs may cause problems in society on their own, but I firmly believe drug prohibition makes matters much worse.

I would much prefer if drugs were legalized and the money spent on the “war on drugs” was put towards poverty alleviation. Better yet, the money could be given back to the tax-payers in the form of working-class tax-cuts, which I believe would also help reduce poverty.

In addition to saving the money spent on the needlessly devastating war on drugs, the government could tax drugs. In theory, I do not like any taxes, but I would much prefer taxing drug usage than income paid for labor. And I would much prefer taxing drugs than criminalizing them. Taxing drugs could bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenue. Again, the government could put that money towards poverty alleviation programs or income tax cuts.

Instead of wasting so much money throwing non-violent pot smokers in jail, imagine if we put all that money and extra tax-dollars into poverty alleviation programs. For example, imagine how much education that funding could provide to poor kids.

What do you think about the relationship between poverty and the war on drugs? Post your comments in this thread at the World Hunger and Poverty Forums.

Localized Poverty Tour

I often stress the importance of using grassroots organizations to alleviate poverty on a local level. Local organizations understand the local community and can meet the local community’s specific needs.

Unfortunately, most communities have become too passive about poverty. Almost all people realize they would rather live in a world without poverty, but they do not make local poverty alleviation a priority in their personal lives. Many people’s views on poverty amount only to passive indignation.

We need more than passive indignation to end poverty. We need to actively work to end poverty.

For organizations to work on fighting poverty on a larger scale, I suggest a poverty tour. By this, I mean to suggest that an organization focus on one local community at a time. One at a time, the organization could go to single towns or neighborhoods, and stay for a certain period of time. During that time, the organization could research the local situation and help spark a customized, local movement to end poverty in the specific place.

If you know about any organizations already doing some sort of poverty tour, then post about them in my World Hunger and Poverty Forums. Otherwise, keep in touch if the idea interests you. In the future, I will try to help organize such a tour.

Fight Poverty with Student Loans for Young Kids

On this blog, I often stress the importance of using education in efforts to alleviate poverty. Education puts people on a healthy path, giving them self-esteem and self-respect. Quality education gives people the skills and credentials to support themselves and their families.

Today, I want to point out that we need to make sure children get a quality education from a very young age. Poor children usually have already fallen behind before they even get into kindergarten. After that, poor children go to the worst schools in the unhealthiest environments. I suggest that anti-poverty organizations find ways to get young children from poor neighborhoods into quality schools.

If the children get a quality education in a healthy environment, they will have a great chance of not only escaping poverty but also of achieving more success in their life. Later in life, they will make more than enough money to pay back any student loans. In addition to student loans, the kids can get scholarships which they will not even have to pay back.

I think it may greatly help to enable poor kids to go to boarding schools in non-poor neighborhoods. That will not only give them a quality education but it will also get them away from the hindrances and ill-effects of poor neighborhoods, which have large amounts of drugs, violence, hopelessness, unhealthy influences and bad role models.

Getting kids out of poor neighborhoods and into quality private schools could break the poverty cycle.

If you know of any organizations that already provide scholarships to very young children from poor neighborhoods, please post about them in my World Hunger and Poverty Forums. I would love to help spread the word about such organizations. Please also use the forums to post comments about this blog post.