Three things that would erradicate – or severely decrease – poverty

In your opinion, what three things do you think would greatly combat destitution and poverty?

Chris wrote:In your opinion, what three things do you think would greatly combat destitution and poverty?

Greatly combat poverty?

Government needs to BTFO out of the private sector by at least 95%. That will help relieve poverty.

Lower some of these dumb taxes across the board.

People need to give up on unnecessary luxuries, like cell phones for little kids.

There's more I'm sure. I picked three from the top of my head.

I don't really think that cell phones for little kids has anything to do with poverty. As if parents who pay the extra cash for the added line would donate that money if not spending it on the phone?

RedBedroom wrote:I don't really think that cell phones for little kids has anything to do with poverty. As if parents who pay the extra cash for the added line would donate that money if not spending it on the phone?

Who said anything about donating? And who said anything about limiting it to cell phones? My point is that even poor people in America have a lot of luxuries compared to the poor in other countries. Perhaps if some things were forgone, they'd have more money for other things. In other words, that one basically comes down to personal responsibility for finances.

We took the question two different ways. The inclusion of the word "destitution" made me think the question was more about the homeless and people who are living malnourished and without needed health care due to lack of means...and not the person who is living paycheck to paycheck but still indulges in luxuries. No big deal, just two different takes on the same question.

RedBedroom wrote:We took the question two different ways. The inclusion of the word "destitution" made me think the question was more about the homeless and people who are living malnourished and without needed health care due to lack of means...and not the person who is living paycheck to paycheck but still indulges in luxuries. No big deal, just two different takes on the same question.

Oh right. xD Well, for that, I think we'd eliminate homelessness if we ourselves took the initiative to help them instead of hoping legislatures pass laws to do it for us.

Chris wrote:In your opinion, what three things do you think would greatly combat destitution and poverty?

Teachers who can teach, students who are willing to learn and parents who check their kid's homework.

I strongly believe that there is very limited exposure to extreme hunger and poverty to people in wealthier countries. In order to have poverty and hunger eradicated there must be more than a 2 minute commercial, during the wee hours of the morning, stating for just a dollar a day, you can feed this child. In order to make a difference children at a very early age should be aware of the extremely poor and hungry. It is not cruel to say a third grader should watch a video of the starving people in Africa; it does not take away their innocence. If you show the same video to a high school kid, odds are, they are going to think the video was sad, thank whatever god they pray to that they were not born in an area of extreme poverty, and that’s about it. In order to eradicate hunger and poverty a superpower like the United States must not be going through a economic crisis. The richest country in the world has an effect on the countries it trades, buys, and sells from. This domino effect leaves the world in a state where everyone needs to take care of themselves. This closed door mentality is the exact opposite behavior needed to make a difference in poverty and hunger. The United States cannot afford to pour mass amounts of money and resources into other countries, when it is having its own crisis on its door step. The most important way to eradicate poverty and hunger is by having powerful countries with a lot of money being in an economic boom. By fixing the problems on their home front the United States would be able to share its wealth with other countries around the world.

Hunger would be the easier problem to fix than poverty in general. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone in it; the problem is getting to food there before it gets rotten. I find people starving to death unacceptable and I believe hunger is a more universal feeling to everyone in this world than living in poverty. Missing one meal is inconceivable to most people but the thought of someone who hasn’t eaten for days, can really have an impact on people. People may not care if someone is poor except that if the poor person is hungry. What we do is donate money to feed them but not improve their quality of life. Fixing hunger is easier said than done but overall I think it is a more conceivable goal than eradicating all poverty. It can be done by changing our transportation of food and making sure that nothing goals bad. We need to Insure the hungry people in the world that if food is being unused, it will find them.