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Map of the world showing poverty as a percentage of population

(red = highest poverty ratio, blue = lowest poverty ratio)

Let’s face it America - we’re addicts. What else could we be? We are a nation with the world’s largest disposable income, at the mercy of mega-corporations whose sole purpose is to convince us to dispose of that income on their products. Despite the fact that tobacco companies aren’t even pretending anymore that cigarettes won’t kill you, we smoke them. Even though beer is the cause of many a coyote morning, we drink it. We try to be conscious of empty calories, but we still devour sugar like it’s going out of style. And like most addicts, we’re getting worse rather than better. We have been on the top of the economic food chain for so long that the very threat of losing our place sends us into a tailspin of self-destructive behavior, aimed solely at distracting us from the long hard economic fall we fear.

Take talk shows, for example. Talk about getting worse rather than better. The days when talk show hosts were educated people with social agendas are long past…if they ever really existed at all. Today, Jerry Springer rules the roost - when his bouncer Steve isn’t stealing the show. Tyra spills her wig and her crazy all over the stage on her own talk show. Oprah tells us what to read, while Dr. Phil is busy dodging copious lawsuits due to the fact that he IS NOT LICENSED to practice psychiatry, which clearly doesn’t hold him back.

All of this leads us to wonder, with so many opportunities to bring attention to actual issues, why are talk shows so full of tripe? Sure, the lazy answer is that ad revenue is the real driving force behind talk shows, not audience interest or education. A show’s success really only depends on whether or not it can sell diapers or new cars to its target audience, and target audiences are in a better buying mood when they’re distracted from their problems by outrageous behavior. But lazy is for Dr. Phil. With hundreds of opportunities each year to create news, why not devote one or two episodes to issues that actually matter to someone besides advertising executives?

So this week, we’re devoting our own little post to an issue that matters to us: Global Poverty. Take a look at these statistics. They’re not sexy, they won’t put a shine on your shoes or whiten your teeth, but if you’re really looking for distraction from your own problems, you may find that they work better than a smoke and drive in fast car. A little perspective might help our mortgage-obsessed society to see that having to sell our house and move into a three bedroom apartment isn’t really as near to the end of the world as it sounds.

Causes of Global Poverty

1. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.^{Source 1}
2. More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.^{Source 2}

3. The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.^{Source 3}

4. According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”^{Source 4}
5. Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

   If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.^{Source 5}

6. Based on enrolment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimisitic numbers.^{Source 6}

7. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.^{Source 7}
8. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.^{Source 8}
9. Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.^{Source 9}

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Welcome to the recession, fellow Basement dwellers. For the last seven years, our nation has been more or less distracted from a dismal domestic policy by a downright heinous foreign policy. Now suddenly we can’t afford our own homes. So while you’re writing checks to credit card companies, floating multiple mortgages, and avoiding creditor phone calls, you might want to take a look at what all those frivolous business majors were learning in college while you were weaving baskets.

From the DebtMasters blog, Road to Prosperity:

… I want to share one of the most closely guarded secrets with you, that really isn’t a secret at all. It is just hidden in plain sight.

I will tell you on one condition, and you have to cross your heart, hope to die, stick a needle in your eye… Alright, maybe that sounded a bit better when we were kids, but you have to promise that you will tell everyone you know AND tell them where you heard it.

Here it is. The secret is that you were born to be a millionaire.

Let that soak in for a minute, because it is absolutely true. By merely being born in the U.S., you are pretty much destined to be a millionaire.

Before you think I should be committed, let me clarify. You will earn more than a million dollars in your lifetime. More than ONE MILLION DOLLARS will pass through your fingers.

So, why aren’t we all wealthy? Why don’t we all retire and live terrific lifestyles?

The main reason is that we are not taught very much about about money, and what to actually do with it when we get it. Another reason is because you aren’t actually supposed to keep very much of it.

But, wouldn’t it be cool if you got it all in one lump sum? It would be more than cool, it would change everything we think about money.

The problem is that we get it incrementally, or in periodic installments. Maybe you get yours weekly, or bi-weekly, bi-monthly? It doesn’t really matter how it arrives, what matters is who actually gets to keep it. Is it you or a bank? A credit card company? Loan Company?

Just as much as we get our income on the installment plan, we spend it on the installment plan. Some of us, even spend more than we get.

So, the secret to wealth really isn’t a secret at all. It doesn’t involve picking a penny stock, and hoping someday you will be the next Warren Buffet. It doesn’t require you to win the Lotto, you already did. You are already wealthy. Incrementally wealthy.

The real secret of being a millionaire is that you have to actually HAVE the money. As shocking as this might sound, in order to REMAIN wealthy, you have to actually keep your money or at least most of it. A millionaire without his million is just someone who busts his hump every day.

Let me give you a great example; I am sure you have heard stories about people who win the lottery, and then they have people come out of the proverbial woodwork asking for their money.

People like your long lost Uncle Willy, who has a terrific idea to design a car that runs on gravity. It sounds a lot like a soap box derby car, but hey, who knows? It could turn out to be a winner if you never need to go uphill.

Or your environmentally minded third cousin, twice removed, who wants you to pay for a study of the yellow freckled, double chinned toad that looks a lot like a frog you might see around your own pond.

Before you know it, the Lotto winner is flat broke. The result of a series of bad decisions with a large sum of money looks identical to bad decisions made with small incremental amounts of money.

The irony is that there are an equal number of people trying to get their hands on your MILLION as it comes in, as there are with a Lottery winner.

Which is why most people in this country will retire and live on an income close to or below the poverty level. Since we get our million on the installment plan, we know there is always something more coming right around the corner. There is comfort in “tomorrow”. A buy now, pay later mentality that must be stopped.

The primary reason you probably haven’t ever had someone share this secret with you, is that it requires you to buy in to the idea of keeping your money and not just “buying”. It requires a shift in your thinking which is uncomfortable for most of us.

Banks and credit companies don’t want you to know this secret. If you did, you wouldn’t be so inclined to let them get their hands on your money. So, rather than tell you the truth about already being a millionaire, and teaching how to be successful with what you do have, you are bombarded by other ways to get rich.

“How to make a fortune in real estate.” “Make a fortune with Penny stocks”, Learn internet marketing”, “Selling on E-bay the easy way”, the list goes on and on.

It just doesn’t make too much sense to chase the million you don’t have, rather than keep the one you are almost guaranteed to get.

That’s why it is still a secret. If you thought this way, you wouldn’t be the “spender” they need you to be.

So, now the secret is out. Go tell someone.

Ok, so maybe it’s not a revolutionary idea, but it is a different way of looking at the same old problem. We live in a highly capitalist, consumerist, disposable income society, and just like our environmental tunnel vision is finally catching up with us, so is our materialistic economic single-mindedness. Now, since the rest of the world is invested (literally) in making you a spender, it’s up to you to re-program yourself to consider the true value of your money… not what new widget it can buy you, but what freedom your income - however large or small it may be - can afford you.

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