Poverty... ahhh.... sweet, sweet poverty. Not a day passes without a mention, a glimpse or a discussion about poverty. It causes everything and is a result of everything.
In the Philippines, poverty causes migration, corruption, starvation, prostitution, abortion, destruction, rebellion, deprivation, malnutrition, and lack of education. Further, poverty affects peace and order, the credibility of elections, the efficiency of workers, and the temperament of the president. It leads to housing congestion, squatting and urban slums. It even worsens global warming.
And what causes poverty, the same things... migration, corruption, rebellion, deprivation, malnutrition, and lack of education. The lack of peace and order causes poverty.
The idea is best captured in the Vicious Cycle of Poverty. Poor households have more children because they see them as assets that can help them escape poverty. Some say that they might be lucky that one of their children will be able to go abroad to become rich (or marry a rich spouse). They think that the more children they have the bigger the chances that one of them will become rich.
Some poor households are less fatalistic, they see their children as labor stock. More children means more workers and more money. They see their children as their pension, health insurance and disability compensation.
But alas... because they have so many children resources are stretched. Their children end up undernourished and uneducated. The entire family ends up poorer than before. The cycle of poverty comes around.
Poverty causes poverty. Because of its power to explain everything and anything, it explains nothing.
Despite all the efforts of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to see a world without poverty, poverty is here to stay. It is very difficult to solve poverty.
It is actually easier to escape poverty than to solve it. And perhaps, poverty is not a problem. Poverty is just a symptom of several problems.
I agree that poverty is a vicious cycle, that poverty perpetuates itself. However I do believe that poverty can and will be solved eventually.
ReplyDeleteThe answer lies in targeted investments that break the cycle of poverty. Give a poor farmer some land and irrigation, and he can grow crops perpetually. Invest in the education of our youth, and they could get jobs that earn many times more than their parents. Give the urban poor access to condoms that don't break, and you will see a reduced population growth rate. Now do all of this and teach them all how to save, and the poor would be well on their way to wealth accumulation. Yes, poverty does perpetuate itself, but so does progress.
I'm not saying dole outs are the solution. Dole outs are just for temporary relief that have no lasting effect (e.g. the PHP 500 "katas ng VAT"). I'm talking about key investments in infrastructure, industry, education, and health that benefit to society throughout an indefinite period of time.
And one striking fact is that the world can very well afford these key investments. And the world has committed to them. Hence, we have the Millenium Development Goals that aim to end extreme poverty by 2015.
Yes, poverty is a vicious cycle. But we can break it. Moreover, we can do it in our lifetime.
Prince, di ka pa rin nagbabago..serious ka pa rin...hehehe!!! akalain mo, blog ba ang topic na "poverty"... you know what.. that's a BIG BIG MYSTERY word to start with... well, hats off to you for your initiative.. well, if you need some inputs on slum-upgrading/infra works in urban areas, just inform me..maybe I can help.. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Oscar. Thanks for the comment. While I share your enthusiasm that the cycle of poverty can be broken, things are always easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteSome poor farmers sell their CARP-acquired irrigated land to pay for placements fees to go abroad, but their money can end up on the hands of illegal recruiters.
While everybody agrees that the youth must be educated, there are debates whether tertiary education must be subsidized or not. The government (and households) has limited resources, and everybody feels that their needs are more important (or their cause needs more focus).
Selecting which "need" must be prioritized involves a lot of politics (and lobbying and corruption), and this is where things become more complicated.
Yes, we can do it in our lifetime (South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan did it in one or two generations), but are we willing to do our part...
p.s. In my next entry, I wish to discuss this more...
hi abby... poverty... everytime I say it, I do it with Sir Arsi's accent... then I'll remember how he calls you Abe... Sir Aby po... right, Abe!!! B-D
ReplyDeleteGrabe ka Prince...you really made me laugh out loud..hahaha!! Naalala mo pa yun?!.. galing talaga ng memory capacity mo..hehehe!! I really miss our school days especially with Sir Arsi, Sir Ruping, Sir Diokno, et. al...and of course..Ma'am Carlos..hehehe! :-)
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