As I got older I realised this wasn't so. A lot of the time reason didn't come into it at all and all sorts of irrational considerations came into play.
I optimistically thought poverty could be ended easily if governments took more money from the wealthy and gave it to the poor.
Eventually it dawned on me that it wasn't so simple. Politicians were reluctant to tax the wealthy (especially if they were wealthy themselves). Some thought the poor should find their own way out of poverty and shouldn't need government help. Others thought the supposed poor weren't really poor at all and had hidden sources of income. And so on.
Likewise building more homes or increasing people's salaries or dealing with greedy landlords. What seems like the obvious solution is stymied by irrational objections that prevent any real progress.
Nowadays I tend to be a bit cynical about any grand plans announced by politicians. Instantly I envisage a flood of half-baked protests likely to stall those grand plans for years on end.
And meanwhile, despite endless pledges to abolish poverty for good, it gets worse. And worse.
A big part of why we don't see more government action to redistribute wealth from rich parasites back to the workers who created it, is that the rich -- being rich -- have plenty of money to bribe politicians in the form of campaign contributions, donations to foundations, all-expenses-paid travel, etc. A politician who caters to the rich instead of doing the right thing, because he's being bribed, is actually acting quite rationally. It's not irrational, just immoral.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are some poor people who could never get their act together no matter how much money they were given (the severely drug-addicted, for example), but that's only a tiny fraction of poor people.
Infidel: Indeed, bribery of one sort or another prevents any serious attack on wealth. As for the poor, training and qualifications are probably more useful than money.
DeleteNick, incredible greed and longing for more and more power. What they seem not have realised yet that in spite of billions of money they will die one day. All I have to say, when seeing what happens in Gaza at the moment.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: The situation in Gaza is horrific, and totally irrational. Goodness knows how the fighting and bombing will ever be ended.
DeletePersonally, I don’t expect the government to do anything for me.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I'm not surprised. The government has never done much for me either.
DeleteThere are so many people living in poverty and the government doesn't seem likely to help them.
ReplyDeleteMary: Absolutely. Governments have a dozen reasons why they shouldn't give too much help to the poor.
DeleteIn the US there is an attitude that one should pull themselves up by the bootstraps. People feeling this way don't seem to know how much help they had a long the way. There is a meanness in a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteSandra: Exactly. People who do well in life often conveniently forget all the good luck, the nurturing parents, the superior education, the high IQ and all the other advantages they've had.
DeleteFar-fetched beliefs seem to have taken over from rational appraisal.
ReplyDeleteYvonne
Yvonne: Absolutely. People can't seem to distinguish between crazy theories and real-life facts.
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