Poverty is the state for the majority of the World’s population and nations. Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices.

These are influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people.

In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.

Just eight of the richest people in the World, such as Mark Zuckerberg, own as much combined wealth as half of the Human race.

Poverty is not created by the poor, but by the institutions and policies that we have established

About half of the World‘s population – more than 3 billion people – live on less than $2.50 a day.

1 child is dying every 4 seconds. 14 children are dying every minute. 7.6 million children are dying every year. 92 million children have been dying between 2000 and 2010.

Pause for a moment to take that in!

The system we have for producing and distributing wealth is capitalist. It is organized in ways that allow a small elite to control most of the capital used to produce wealth.

This encourages the accumulation of wealth and income by the elite and regularly makes heroes of those who are most successful at it.

It distributes income and wealth in ways that promote increasing concentrations among those who already have the most.

Poverty is caused by failures of initiative, effort and imagination.

If you are really interested in doing something about poverty itself – if you really want a Society free of impoverished citizens – then you will have to do something about the system people participate in and how they participate in it.

The reason we have poverty is that we have no imagination.

There are a great many people accumulating what they think is vast wealth, but it is only money … they do not know how to enjoy it, because they have no imagination.

There is no earthly reason – there is no physical, technical reason for there being any poverty at all anywhere.