World View on Poverty and Wealth - Term Paper Example

This needs to be written from a liberal point of view and then from a conservative point of view on the same subject. expamle: conseratives would point out that almost all the poverty in the U.S. is relative poverty, that is, only a small percentage of the people the government defines as poor are close to absolute poverty.((personal responsibility).  Liberals think that helping the poor is a job for everybody.(societal responsibility). After each topic written I need these two points of view conserning the subject of the paragraph. World view on poverty and wealth Introduction “Poverty is one of the main problems which have attracted attention of sociologists and economists. It indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for his physical and mental efficiency” (AZAD INDIA FOUNDATION) Poverty and wealth is a hot topic even from the beginning of human culture on earth. It is a global phenomenon irrespective of the country, culture, religion or region. The struggle for existence made somebody victorious in accumulating wealth while others still struggling to survive. Those who victorious in this struggle became more and more powerful as the time progresses while the rest struggled even harder and harder. The declared aim of politicians or the administrators of every country is to reduce poverty or to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. They will declare projects and policies for ceasing poverty. But so far no country was able to put an end to poverty irrespective of developed or developing country Some people argue that globalization has succeeded in reducing poverty in many countries while others are of the view that globalization has created Poverty and wealth on a global perspective Poverty and wealth in a developed country - America Even in America which is supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world, poverty is still a curse. “Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.” (Usborne) Even before the recession started, many Americans were living under miserable conditions. Recession has added more dimensions to the American social system. Most of the Americans have lavish life styles in which they spend all they earn and will not keep anything for the future. They will depend the financial institutions like banks for loans for every requirement. Banks on the other hand has allotted loans to every needy customer without having a proper analysis about the financial capabilities of the customer which finally resulted in failures in returning the loans by the customers and the banks began to collapse. Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York (Usborne) The recent economic crisis has caused one of the worst economic recessions in the U.S. economy which resulted in many people losing their employment. Unemployment rate often reflect the amount of poverty a country have and hence the recent economic activities is not so good for the American people. The crisis, still not fully under control and hence thousands of people are losing their jobs in every week. The current trend in which many people losing their jobs may continue for some time more as per economists and the President of America. The damage caused to the economy due to the current crisis may not be repairable over a night period and hence people need to wait patiently for some more time to stabilize the economy and to regain their lost jobs. In President Obama’s opinion the recession may continue for some more time and the actions taken will yield the required results within 6 months from now. The following table gives a rough idea about the unemployment rate changes in a month period. American States with statistically significant unemployment rate changes from January 2009 to February 2009, seasonally adjusted ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Rate | |-----------|-----------| Over-the-month State | January | February | rate change(p) | 2009 | 2009(p) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alabama ........................| 7.8 | 8.4 | 0.6 Arizona ........................| 7.0 | 7.4 | .4 California .....................| 10.1 | 10.5 | .4 Colorado .......................| 6.6 | 7.2 | .6 Delaware .......................| 6.7 | 7.4 | .7 District of Columbia ...........| 9.2 | 9.9 | .7 Florida ........................| 8.8 | 9.4 | .6 Georgia ........................| 8.5 | 9.3 | .8 Hawaii .........................| 6.1 | 6.5 | .4 Illinois .......................| 7.8 | 8.6 | .8 | | | Maryland .......................| 6.2 | 6.7 | .5 Massachusetts ..................| 7.4 | 7.8 | .4 Minnesota ......................| 7.5 | 8.1 | .6 Montana ........................| 5.6 | 6.0 | .4 New Jersey .....................| 7.3 | 8.2 | .9 New York .......................| 7.0 | 7.8 | .8 North Carolina .................| 9.7 | 10.7 | 1.0 Ohio ...........................| 8.8 | 9.4 | .6 Oregon .........................| 9.8 | 10.8 | 1.0 Pennsylvania ...................| 7.0 | 7.5 | .5 | | | South Carolina .................| 10.3 | 11.0 | .7 South Dakota ...................| 4.4 | 4.6 | .2 Tennessee ......................| 8.6 | 9.1 | .5 Utah ...........................| 4.6 | 5.1 | .5 Virginia .......................| 6.0 | 6.6 | .6 Washington .....................| 7.8 | 8.4 | .6 West Virginia ..................| 5.2 | 6.0 | .8 Wisconsin ......................| 7.0 | 7.7 | .7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- p = preliminary. (Economic News Release) Another reason for American poverty is inflation. Inflation is a universal economic phenomenon in which the prices of all commodities go on increasing except money and hence even the salaried professionals find it extremely difficult to survive in American society with the income they have. High inflation rate always adversely affect the economic development whereas the low inflation rate may result in output loss, unemployment and distorted investment and consumption decisions. Inflation rate must be kept at an optimum level in order to keep the economic development going on a higher note. Globalization and liberalization policies prompted big organizations to expand their business to overseas countries since the American market is almost saturated for them. The increased tax rate and non availability of skilled workers, forced the MNCs to think in terms of closing down or reducing their activities in America and to explore the possibilities in other countries. Thus even the employed Americans are losing their jobs and no new vacancies are created. In order to reduce cost, organizations are looking for outsourcing their jobs to cheap labor markets in overseas countries. They are getting lot of benefits from outsourcing their jobs and hence more and more employment sectors are opened up for outsourcing works and hence the employment possibilities in America getting reduced day by day and poverty and economic conditions getting worse every day. Conservative and liberal views of American poverty Poverty is perceived differently by different people. As per the conservative view, poverty is a relative term which should be addressed individually. They believe that only a small percentage of the American people are close to the absolute poverty level. Since most of the American people have better living standards compared to other countries, poverty in America cannot be viewed similar to that in other countries. An American poor definitely will be much richer than a Somalia or Indian poor when comparing the living standards in these countries. So poverty is a relative term as per the conservative view. Conservatives believe that it is the responsibility of the individual to better their living standards rather than the society or the government. They believe that others who are rich in American society have reached that position through their hard work alone. The American government is providing every facility to the people and hence a poor can become rich if he put some conscious effort to end his poverty as per the conservative’s view. On the other hand liberals believe that poverty must be tackled by the government and the society. They think that the government or the society must give more considerations to the poor since poverty is a social evil. In their opinion only through governmental or social intervention poverty can be addressed effectively. For example, because of the current recession, many Americans have lost their job and it is the duty of the government to protect the jobs of their public. Liberals justified the current bailout package to assist the American organizations to escape from the economic recession, because of this fact. Individuals can do nothing in saving their jobs under the present scenario as per the liberal views. Poverty and wealth in a developing country - India In most of the countries, there are two types of people; rich and poor. But in India where the population is huge, apart from rich and poor another middle class category is also there in some states. Even the middle class is again divided into upper middle class and lower middle class in states like Kerala where the literacy percentage is higher than anywhere in India. “Poverty in India is reducing but it is still a major issue. Rural Indians depend on unpredictable agriculture incomes, while urban Indians rely on jobs that are, at best, scarce.” (Stanley St Labs) India is considered to be one country which escaped from the current recession without many injuries. Moreover India along with China is considered to become a super power within 20 to 30 years of time. Poverty and underdevelopment are the main concerns of the Indian government though it has reduced a lot in recent times. “The government has initiated, sustained, and refined many programs since independence to help the poor attain self sufficiency in food production. Probably the most important initiative has been the supply of basic commodities, particularly food at controlled prices, available throughout the country. The poor spend about 80 percent of their income on food while the rest of the population spends more than 60 percent.” (Poverty in India) this spending of food and essential commodities by the Indian poor people is more compared to rest of the world standards especially that of the developed countries. Indian poor people are still using the conventional methods in agricultural fields. Most of the farmers are depending the natural rain for watering their crops and any irregularities in weather may result in immense loss of yields to the farmers in India. Though the Indian government has made a conscious effort to tackle the water shortage trough the proposed unification of river resources in India, because of regional opposition, it has not yet fulfilled. Conservative and liberal views of Indian poverty On Indian perspective the conservative view may not be much helpful because of the immense population. The resources are less in India and it is difficult for the Indian public to depend the Indian resources alone to tackle the poverty. It is because of these reasons most of the Indians migrating to other countries like America, Gulf region etc. These people are not getting much assistance from the society or the government when they are returning to their home country because of job loss due to recession. Absolute poverty is a fact even now in Indian conditions though most of the people rapidly approaching above the poverty line in India. Indian society consists of a middle class apart from the rich and the poor. Liberal views are more prominent in Indian conditions. Government or the society must take the responsibility of raising the living standards of the poor in India. An individual have lot of limitations in Indian conditions to overcome poverty because of lack of infrastructure or opportunities at the rural areas. There are villages even now in India, which don’t have electricity. Power is an essential component of infrastructure development and hence it is not possible to blame the poor for not utilizing the opportunities in Indian conditions. In fact they are smart enough in utilizing all the opportunities come on their way. For example the outsourcing jobs from America like countries are well utilized by the unemployed youths in India. For such utilization of opportunities or resources, the society or the government must help them. Poverty and wealth in an under developed country- Somalia “Poverty, in Somalia, is a way of life. People have been adjusting themselves to a situation of deprivation. Living with severe shortages in terms of basic services has become an accepted norm of life.” (Mohamed) Because of poverty so many violence and robbery is reported from Somalia. Even the ships containing commercial goods have been robbed by the Somalia people and recent reports have showed that the Somalia government has sought international help in avoiding ship robbery because of lack of resources in Somalia. “Leadership failure in Somalia has caused our people to sit on a golden rock while starving to death. That has to change, no matter how long takes. And change does not come out of the blue. It has to start from somewhere, some point.” (Mohamed) Political leadership is not competent enough to tackle the poverty in Somalia. They cannot survive without international aid. “Somalia joined the World Bank in 1962. Since then, World Bank assistance on 40 projects totaling about US$526 million has helped the country work towards improving governance, promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. As of August 2006, the lending program with the Bank was inactive. (Somalia –Overview) Conservative and liberal views of Somalia poverty Conservatives or their beliefs have not much role in country like Somalia when we consider the poverty issue. Nobody can argue that the society of Somalia is responsible for the poverty there. Absolute poverty is a fact for majority of the people there. So there is no point in saying that the individual needs to utilize the resources to overcome the poverty. Most of the people don’t have education and also the country does not have enough resources or infrastructure facilities to offer employment to the public. Individual growth prospects are very less in Somalia. Most of the people are engaged in robbery, prostitution like anti social activities because of poverty. Liberal views are more prominent in Somalian conditions. Only through international aid Somalia can overcome the poverty. It is the responsibility of the international society to help the Somalian people since the internal society doesn’t have much resources or financial abilities. Conclusions Poverty is a universal phenomenon which can affect any country irrespective of their economic standards. Even the developed countries are facing big problems of poverty because of the current economic recession. Wealth is accumulating to some segments of the community and the wealth distribution is not uniform, even in socialist countries like China. No political ideology can completely avoid poverty and wealth accumulation. Poverty can be tackled up to certain extent only through economic development of a country. Political stability and will is necessary for avoiding poverty. The recent economic recession has taught many lessons especially to the developed countries like America and Britain since they have less experience of poverty in the recent past. On the other hand current economic crisis has not made any huge impact on Somalia like countries since poverty is a part of their life in the past and at present also. In countries like America the conservative’s views may be more relevant than the liberal views because of the immense opportunities and resources they have. In India like countries both liberal and conservative views are equally important while in a country like Somalia the only the liberal views may be applicable. Works Cited 1. Usborne David, 2008, USA 2008: The Great Depression, Retrieved on April 21, 2009 from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/usa-2008-the-great-depression-803095.html 2. Stanley St Labs, Poverty in India, Retrieved on April 21, 2009 from http://www.economywatch.com/indianeconomy/poverty-in-india.html 3. Economic News Release, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary, Retrieved on April21, 2009 from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm 4. Poverty in India, Retrieved on April21, 2009 from http://www.indianchild.com/poverty_in_india.htm 5. AZAD INDIA FOUNDATION, Poverty in India, Retrieved on April21, 2009 from http://www.azadindia.org/social-issues/poverty-in-india.html 6. Somalia –Overview Retrieved on April21, 2009 from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/SOMALIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:367673~pagePK:141132~piPK:141121~theSitePK:367665,00.html 7. Mohamed Abdi-Noor Haji , Poverty in Somalia, Retrieved on April21, 2009 from http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=24182&AuthorID=12041 8. Somalia –Overview Retrieved on April21, 2009 from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/SOMALIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:367673~pagePK:141132~piPK:141121~theSitePK:367665,00.html Read More