John’s Blog

Poverty is not simply a word, it is a complex system of existence.

As I see it there are four  types of poverty:

1. By birthplace.

2. By circumstance.

3. By choice.

4. By mental inability to survive in a social setting.

Taking the first case, poverty by birthplace. There are children who are born into areas that have had their natural resources depleted by either overpopulation, warfare or weather changes. Usually weather alone is not the cause. Overpopulation results in depletion of wood both for building, cooking and heating.

Regarding wood, I experienced a startling example of this a few years ago when we had our motorhome at a campground in the New Hampshire woods. The sites were separated by about 200 feet and all around was fairly dense forest.

Because of the distance from our home we only went to the campground about 5 times a year during the summer months and stayed for 3 days at a time.

We used ‘windfall’ wood and we only used it for cooking.  There were 2 meals cooked the first day and only breakfast the last for a total of 9 meals each trip or a total of 45 meals a year.

For cooking alone I had used all available wood without cutting any trees or branches or going into the area of the other campsites that is, an area of  approximately 20,000 square feet.

Imagine the wood requirement for even a small village using wood for cooking, heating and building shelter.

In addition to windfall wood, trees would need to be cut down to support the requirements of the people. If the population was sufficiently dense in a very short time the area would be bare and subject to erosion by rain which would wash away the fertile topsoil and preclude any possible survival by agriculture. This scenario is well documented in Jared Diamond’s excellent book, “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”.

Inter-tribal warfare for competition of any available resources would end the possibility of survival.

This has been going in many places since antiquity and particularly in Africa today.

Poverty by circumstance is the result of natural disasters—floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis and mudslides. This can occur to anyone regardless of where they live. It can happen in jungles or in the most populated cities.

Those affected may range from those already living in poverty to the extremely wealthy. The wealthy usually have investments away from the area of disaster so they can survive. The poor lose everything. Even the middle class can lose everything unless they have excess money in banks or other investments. Today, the middleclass is so deeply in debt that it is unlikely that they can survive catastrophic events.

When an area suffers widespread devastation to the point where employment is not possible members of the middle class can be pushed into poverty from which they may never recover. (See Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference“)

The third type is poverty by choice. It occurs in First World countries which permit people to choose if they wish to work or not. Those choosing not to work are provided with assistance from the Government, churches and groups of people who feel guilty because of what they have.

The majority of those who ‘have’ have achieved it by hard work but are made to feel guilty about it. Ayn Rand’s novel, “Atlas Shrugged”, deals with this subject and what can eventually occur if this attitude by the ‘takers’ becomes powerful enough.

 It is sad that in this country that there are so many ‘taking out of the pot’ when they are fully capable of adding to the pot to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves.

The final group is comprised of those who cannot fend for themselves either through sickness, old age or mental incapacities. There are some who have either never adjusted to living in a society or are incapable of doing so.

In the area where I live don’t know of any remaining state-funded institutions that care for those who are mentally incapable of interacting with society. The “State Hospitals” have closed and dumped the mentally ill onto the streets

When I lived in New Hampshire years ago there was a truly humane system in place. It was a cooperative called a “County Farm”. Indigent people were provided a place to live but they contributed by growing food and taking care of the buildings, grounds and each other.

I would like to see this system brought back on a national level where instead of compulsory military training every high school graduate or school drop-out would be required to spend a mandatory year in social service to their country. Besides making life a lot easier for the truly poor and infirm it would generate responsibility in our future generations.

I am in no way advocating socialism or communism just public service

Finally, we should not group those people in the world who are living as their ancestors did as living in poverty. Comparing them to a First World country one would assume that to be true. If those people have sufficient food, shelter and enough free time to enjoy life, they are not living in poverty.

It is only when you compare their annual income to that of those who live in First World countries would you consider that.

People who live in First world countries require houses with electricity, heat and sanitation by definition. Large populations cannot exist in close proximity without that. Large tightly-packed societies require a means of food distribution and waste removal. To satisfy those conditions an infrastructure of roads and administration is required which requires that the inhabitants must be gainfully employed to pay for those services.

Therefore a much higher level of income is required to survive.

Regions that are so completely devastated as has happened in Africa present  an incredible problem. Some groups have attempted to start “cottage industries” by supplying materials and instruction to small groups of those people but if there is no market for their products it becomes a futile effort.

This approach also creates resentment by those who have not received the same help and leads to theft of the materials.

Giving seeds to people who are starving so that they can plant next year’s crop is ludicrous because they will eat the seeds immediately.