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June 15, 2005
What shall we make of poverty?
I have been reading The End of Poverty by Jeffery Sachs. Along with offering what proposes to be a prescription to end extreme poverty within the next few decades, it gives a great overview of a very simple question: what causes extreme poverty? I would recommend it for that reason alone. But the solution derives from a notion that I fear is lost in America today. Simply put, you can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you can't afford boots.
Americans like short term solutions to long term problems. This is understandable given our nature, if not necessarily understandable from the point of view of someone who actually wants to solve these problems. We're a nation of innovators, and as innovators we have a natural distrust of the future. This is why we react so strongly to a single natural disaster -- did the population of any other nation give as generously as ours to the victims of the Tsunami? -- and yet blithely ignore the fact that tens of thousands of people die each day from preventable diseases. To help a flood victim you only have to give once. To help wipe out malaria you have to give every day, and that's where the disconnect lies. Tell an American that you can save the world for the low, low price of 1% of GDP a year for the next 15 years, and they'll politely turn away. Who can say, after all, what the world will be like in 15 years?
I have some ideas as to what can be done to work around the mindset of the average American, but none are focused enough to present now. What I will say, though, is that I don't think the goals have been packaged right. Blair has been trying to sell it like a blockbuster. One big bang and we'll blow up poverty forever! I can see how that would feel right from a marketing perspective, but what it forgets is that blockbusters are made or broken in their opening weekend. Ending poverty, again, requires a long term commitment, both of funding and of patience. Assuming American attitudes towards long term commitments are entrenched, we need a way to make the long term seem not only important, but inevitable.
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One resource I will mention quickly is Make Poverty History, an organization out of Britain that seems squarely aimed at the youth martket. I admire the goals, but I can't help but wonder: just how many wrist bands can one person wear?
Posted by matt at June 15, 2005 05:21 PM