What is the cause of Poverty in the Rich countries?

1. 75

   Goodpalposted 12 years ago

   What is the cause of Poverty in the Rich countries?
   
   One can understand poverty in third world countries. But it appear funny to read that there are 15 percent poor people in the United States. Is something wrong with the US capitalistic model that there are so many poor people in it? Does it not mean that money alone can't remove poverty?

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2. 85

   My Esotericposted 12 years ago

   The short answer is Life.  Just like happiness, money can't buy your way out of poverty.  Poverty is a fact of life, regardless of the wealth of a country; the amount of it is not, however.  You also have the definition of poverty; those on the high end of the poverty-level would be considered rich in many third-world countries but are barely making it here, given the cost of living in the U.S.  As to capitalism being the problem, with one caveat, I would say it is capitalism that keeps the rate so low; I think you will find, as a rule, poverty much higher in non-capitalistic countries.
   
   My caveat is this, the capitalism must be regulated.  Unregulated capitalism leads natually to a large poor, although not necessarily poverty, class by its very nature; it also leads to wildly unstable economies; we saw all of this in the U.S. in the 1800s.  The poor class comes from the economic advantage a person gets once they become wealthy and the ability to do things to keep themselves in that status.  Unregulated capitalism leads to very unequal distribution of wealth where the maxim of the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is very true; it is an artifact of unregulated capitalism and we are seeing it today where, in the last 15 years, during the deregulation period of business in America, the gap between the wealthy class and middle/poor class has grown significantly.  The growth in deregulation and the growth of the gap is not a coincidence; it wasn't in the 1800s and it isn't now.

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3. 57

   SpaceAgeposted 12 years ago

   I think a cause of poverty is when the rich take from the poor. another thing is when the country borrows, & even sends jobs overseas. many things cause poverty.

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4. 69

   vveaseyposted 11 years ago

   One of the causes is that some people are born into impoverished environments.
   
   Many people in this situation have more family, social and drug abuse problems than those who are more fortunate.
   
   Some people really do need help to improve their situations, but many who are well off believe that everyone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps...but some people don't have any bootstraps or any boots.
   
   They don't have any sympathy for those less fortunate then they are and are pissed off if our government tries to help these people improve their situation and their lot in life..

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