TOPICS: Wealth and poverty

Poverty is an outcome of the disproportionate distribution of the wealth produced in society. Poverty is the result of poor economic models that impede the progress and development of society as a whole.

Today poverty has affected a quarter of the population in the developing world.

Wealth and poverty are inseparable. They constitute an unfortunate union, since they are not natural partners. Although the ‘sufficiency’ is not considered the objective of the human ambition, poverty, obscured by the seductive promises of ‘more’, cannot be ‘cured’. They constantly change the image of a particular and selective concept of wealth.

In our daily life we realize that wealth means more than money. We say someone is ‘rich’ in experiences. We talk about the ‘wealth’ of the details of a wonderful sculpture or painting. When we talk about the ‘wealth’ of the natural world, we refer to its beauty and diversity.

We recognize the ‘wealth’ of the information contained in a book.

Wealth and poverty are part of an ideological construct that ‘benefits’ the rich, but charges an unacceptable toll on humanity. The growing inequality in the world and the unsustainable nature of our conception of wealth creation has at least one positive consequence.

It is useful to separate a cultural conception of subsistence living as poverty, material experience of poverty, which is derived from dispossession and deprivation. Poverty culturally perceived need not be a real material poverty: subsistence economies that are self-sufficient in their basic needs are not poor in the sense of being private.

Wealth is not only money. Happiness is the most important thing in human life. Nepal is a poor country with rich people. Politics is a profitable business here. Whether you are educated or not you can make good money if you have some connection to politics.

We are rich in natural resources and culture but the policy and the system impoverished us to become poor as a result of corruption, favoritism and cronyism.

fundamental behavior of people in rich countries is order and cleanliness, integrity, timeliness, responsibility, desire to excel, respect for laws and regulations, respect for the rights of others, and work ethics.

It is very difficult to find such behavior in people of a poor country. We are not poor because our countries are missing natural resources or because nature has been cruel to us. We are poor by our attitude.