The End of Poverty

The End of Poverty

Economic Possibilities For Our Times, by Jeffery D. Sachs.

Jeff Sachs' groundbreaking book asserts that extreme poverty can be eliminated from the planet by the year 2015. In this, the first part of a three part series in which we will examine and discuss Sachs' claims, we will begin our search for the truth by examining what extreme poverty is and why some countries just can’t seem to escape the poverty trap.

Sach’s book separates fact from fiction about the causes and cures. For many of us the idea that poverty is a state that has always been with us and will always be with us is such a pervasively accepted truth, we do little to seriously attack the problem. Sachs shows us that we are surrounded in a fog of myth, half-truth and in some cases, outright misrepresentation. For example, former US Secretary Paul O’Neill said, “We’ve spent trillions of dollars on these problems and we have damn near nothing to show for it.” His remarks were specifically about aid for Africa. President Bush said in 2004 that as “...the greatest power on the face of the earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom. We have an obligation to feed the hungry.” US aid to farmers in poor countries to help them grow more food runs at about $200 million per year, or less then $1.00 per person per year for the hundreds of millions of people living in subsistence farming households.

Could it be that the investment we make, as large as $200 million sounds, until you compare that number to the real wealth of our country, is simply too small to make any difference? Worse still, do we know that what we are giving is too small to make any difference? Do we act as if it is enough then lament the outcomes, the damn near nothing to show for it sentiment? I’ll save you reading that part of the book and answer that yes, we know we aren’t giving enough to produce any real results, we absolutely know it. Let’s compare our spending policies for military and poverty for a moment. This year the US will spend nearly $500 billion (with a B) on the military. We will spend one-thirtieth of that or $16 billion, to address the plight of the poorest of the poor.

The poorest of the poor are living in countries whose societies are destabilized by extreme poverty, the types of societies that may become the breeding grounds for tomorrow’s terrorists. Can we hope to achieve lasting peace in the world when only 15¢ on every $100 dollars of our national income is spent to eliminate poverty around the planet? It’s a rhetorical question really and it gets worse. Our share devoted to help the poor has been in decline for decades and is a tiny fraction of what the US has repeatedly promised, and repeatedly failed to give.

As I sometimes do, I am getting ahead of things though. Let’s get back to defining the extreme poor before we move on in parts two and three to looking at the solutions in more detail. Nearly half the 6 billion people in the world are poor. That fact shocked me so much I had to re-read it a few times before I could really grasp the implications of it. As a matter of definition there are three degrees of poverty: extreme (or absolute) poverty, moderate poverty and relative poverty. Extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as getting by on an income of less than $1 a day, means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival. They are chronically hungry, unable to get healthcare, lack safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education for their children and perhaps lack rudimentary shelter – a roof to keep rain out of the hut – and basic articles of clothing, like shoes. Extreme poverty has been described as “the poverty that kills.”

Moderate poverty, defined as living on $1 to $2 a day, refers to conditions in which basic needs are met, but just barely. Relative poverty is defined by household income levels below a certain proportion of the national average and lacking in things that the middle class takes for granted.

Extreme poverty exists almost exclusively in the so-called developing world. The World Bank estimates there are 1.1 billion (with a B) people living in extreme poverty or about one-sixth of the world’s population. Where are these people? For the most part they live in either sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, particularly Southeast Asia or one of the world’s mountainous regions such as South America and Central Asia including much of the former Soviet Union.

Get a copy of The End of Poverty at our online bookstore here. Join in this discussion at The Mountain Fund Blog here.

(This article consists of excerpts and commentary on writings from both The End of Poverty and from the December/January issue of Time Magazine.)