UNITED STATES—This week has been a tough week for me, but especially because I just watched a documentary titled “The End of Poverty” that literally ripped my heart out of my chest. Why? It just puts into perspective what is important in life, but also the fact that with the United States being one of the richest countries in the world, why do we have so much poverty?
Think about poverty because so many throw that term around as if they fully understand what it means, when they have no idea whatsoever what it means to live in poverty or to come from a poverty-stricken environment. It all starts with government, and the film does a superb job at examining how the colonialization of specific countries by the Europeans and the Spanish was the start of taking resources from some in the quest to make others richer than what they already where. Once again we’re looking at greed work at full speed.
Nope, people can’t just be satisfied with what they have; they gotta have more regardless of what transpires in the process. Looking at the United States alone, we have so many people from urban cities living in absolute poverty. They don’t have housing, they have no food, some lack the clothing needed to survive. And I bring this up because there are various parts of the country where being homeless can be detrimental, but for other parts of the country being homeless can be deadly. Those brutal winters in the Mid-West and on the East Coast are prime examples of this.
A lot in the film noted how capitalism alone has been a driving force of so much poverty in Third World countries. Seeing people document their tale of living in a shed with 10 people with only 15 square feet between them. Yet, this is a country that has produced so many viable minerals like copper, tungsten and other valuables that are used by so many American companies to profit and profit and profit by selling products that quite frankly we don’t need to begin with.
These people in these countries are working for pennies on a dime just to make it to the NEXT DAY, yet our country is making millions, billions and trillions of dollars off of their labor and so much more. I mean what is fair about that? I need someone to honestly explain to me how this is fair, why aren’t more strides being taken by the government and the 1 percent in the country who has more wealth than the rest of the world? We need to take some sort of stance to advocate ending poverty or implementing changes to help battle the issue at hand. Yes, the World Bank is full of **** and does very little to remedy the situation. Raising taxes is always at the core to fix a problem, but the taxes are always raised on the lower and middle class, not the rich. The rich continue to navigate the waters to find a way to skirt the issue of paying taxes.
I’m sick of it; the politics when it comes to money is so upsetting. The government claims to have the best interest of the people, but we know politicians are bought time and time again and they do what the corporations want them to do to line their pockets. Dammit we need to have a little bit of accountability in the world. This is not a personal problem, this is not a local problem, this isn’t a state problem, this isn’t a US problem, this is a global problem! Come on people, do your part, find a way to help end this crisis that is unending.
