Poverty of the Spirit...an economic issue

  1. SparklingJewel profile image66
    SparklingJewelposted 13 years ago

    "Material poverty can be measured relatively or absolutely. An absolute measure would consist of some minimum quantity of goods and services deemed adequate for a baseline level of survival. Achieving that level means that poverty has been eliminated. However, if poverty is defined as, say, the lowest one-fifth of the income distribution, it is impossible to eliminate poverty. Everyone's income could double, triple and quadruple, but there will always be the lowest one-fifth. Yesterday's material poverty is all but gone. In all too many cases, it has been replaced by a more debilitating kind of poverty -- behavioral poverty or poverty of the spirit. This kind of poverty refers to conduct and values that prevent the development of healthy families, work ethic and self-sufficiency. The absence of these values virtually guarantees pathological lifestyles that include: drug and alcohol addiction, crime, violence, incarceration, illegitimacy, single-parent households, dependency and erosion of work ethic. Poverty of the spirit is a direct result of the perverse incentives created by some of our efforts to address material poverty." --George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams

  2. Flightkeeper profile image67
    Flightkeeperposted 13 years ago

    That's very true Sparkling, and it's a much harder type of poverty to overcome.  In a lot of our economically challenged communities whether that's the inner city ghetto or poor rural areas, it's almost impossible to fix.

 
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