Poverty Is The Enemy

Poverty is the enemy. It attacks all ages, genders and can be found around the globe. Authorities on this subject have clear-cut ideas where to lay the blame. According to Patrick F. Fagan, who is the William H.G. FitzGerald Senior Fellow in family and cultural issues at the Heritage Foundation, believes that “the likelihood of whether a child will live in poverty is greatly influenced by the marital status of the child’s parents. Studies show that children of single parents are six times more likely to be impoverished than children whose parents are married” Fagan asserts. Furthermore, “divorce is closely “Children born out of wedlock, especially to teenage mothers, also experience high rates of poverty,” Fagan continues. “This cycle often continues in the next generation, since children of single parents are more likely to get pregnant before marriage, which lessens the likelihood that they will complete their education and obtain a good-paying job—thus making it more likely that their children will also be raised in poverty.” Jack M. Hollander, a professor of energy and resources at the University of California, Berkeley blames poverty for another problem: environmental degradation. “The real enemy of the environment is poverty—the tragedy of billions of the world's inhabitants who face hunger, disease, and ignorance each day of their lives. Poverty is the environmental villain; poor people are its victims. Impoverished people often do plunder their resources, pollute their environment, and overcrowd their habitats. They do these things not out of willful neglect but only out of the need to survive.” Quan Li and Drew Schaub, professors of political science at Pennsylvania State University, extends the problems of privation ever further, alleging that the primary cause of terrorism is poverty. “Because poverty causes feelings of military and economic inferiority, people affected by it choose violent means to express their discontent.” Consistent with this argument, [President George W.] Bush claimed, in a widely cited speech, that the United States would “ fight against poverty because hope is an answer to terror.” Numerous academic and social science researchers have demonstrated how the path to achieving a decent and stable income is still the traditional one: complete school, get a job, get married, then have children, in that order. Another factor, the acquisition of a positive work ethic, may be especially vital in the war on poverty. Li and Schaub believe that “for economic globalization to reduce transnational terrorism, globalization has to be able to promote economic development and reduce poverty.” As a consequence, Hollander states: “With the increase of freedom and affluence—both are crucial—people are then likely to become motivated and increasingly able to apply the necessary political will, economic resources, and technological ingenuity to address environmental issues more broadly.” Poverty is indeed the enemy. It has a negative ripple effect on families, the environment and society as a whole. POVERTY: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL As the margin of the rich and the poor widens, global poverty to day has increased, the middle class cannot catch up with the rich and slid back among the poor causing the numbers of the poor to rise up,poverty in today's global village has become the root cause of all evils, because it has power and the ability to make people compromise their once held and respected moral values, cultures and religious beliefs, poverty has created a new race of people with common marks of frustrations, loss of hope, prospects and value for life.

Loss of the meaning of life, purpose of living something to live for and disillusionments about morality because the criminals live better, poverty which knows no boarder has pushed societies to loose human hearts and compassion for others, if one is hungry, stealing,prostitution will be an opted for solution, life becomes the survival of the fittest, in order to survive people engage in crime of all sorts including fraud, money laundering drug trafficking, sex trade and corruption . The saying an hungry man is an angry man has always been the true reflection of what mankind is capable of once the biological and basic need for food ,water ,shelter and other basic necessities if not attended to has bred waves of evil in the minds and hearts of the people. The fact is that it is poverty and greed that breeds corruption, so it goes without saying that where poverty is alleviated, corrupt practices would be minimal or alleviated as well ( for corruption can never be eradicated and has not been eradicated anywhere in the world ) in other words poverty is a cause of corruption while corruption is the consequence of poverty and loss of moral values ,the high levels of poverty have resulted in many social problems including street kids, these kids are automatically exposed to various types of risks and hazards depending on the the socio-economic characteristics of the neighborhoods in which street are located all these is a result of poverty POVERTY: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL As the margin of the rich and the poor widens, global poverty to day has increased, the middle class cannot catch up with the rich and slid back among the poor causing the numbers of the poor to rise up,poverty in today's global village has become the root cause of all evils, because it has power and the ability to make people compromise their once held and respected moral values, cultures and religious beliefs, poverty has created a new race of people with common marks of frustrations, loss of hope, prospects and value for life. Loss of the meaning of life, purpose of living something to live for and disillusionments about morality because the criminals live better, poverty which knows no boarder has pushed societies to loose human hearts and compassion for others, if one is hungry, stealing,prostitution will be an opted for solution, life becomes the survival of the fittest, in order to survive people engage in crime of all sorts including fraud, money laundering drug trafficking, sex trade and corruption . The saying an hungry man is an angry man has always been the true reflection of what mankind is capable of once the biological and basic need for food ,water ,shelter and other basic necessities if not attended to has bred waves of evil in the minds and hearts of the people. The fact is that it is poverty and greed that breeds corruption, so it goes without saying that where poverty is alleviated, corrupt practices would be minimal or alleviated as well ( for corruption can never be eradicated and has not been eradicated anywhere in the world ) in other words poverty is a cause of corruption while corruption is the consequence of poverty and loss of moral values ,the high levels of poverty have resulted in many social problems including street kids, these kids are automatically exposed to various types of risks and hazards depending on the the socio-economic characteristics of the neighborhoods in which street are located all these is a result of poverty. As the margin of the rich and the poor widens, global poverty to day has increased, the middle class cannot catch up with the rich and slid back among the poor causing the numbers of the poor to rise up,poverty in today’s global village has

become the root cause of all evils, because it has power and the ability to make people compromise their once held and respected moral values, cultures and religious beliefs, poverty has created a new race of people with common marks of frustrations, loss of hope, prospects and value for life. Loss of the meaning of life, purpose of living something to live for and disillusionments about morality because the criminals live better, poverty which knows no boarder has pushed societies to loose human hearts and compassion for others, if one is hungry, stealing,prostitution will be an opted for solution, life becomes the survival of the fittest, in order to survive people engage in crime of all sorts including fraud, money laundering drug trafficking, sex trade and corruption . The saying an hungry man is an angry man has always been the true reflection of what mankind is capable of once the biological and basic need for food ,water ,shelter and other basic necessities if not attended to has bred waves of evil in the minds and hearts of the people. The fact is that it is poverty and greed that breeds corruption, so it goes without saying that where poverty is alleviated, corrupt practices would be minimal or alleviated as well ( for corruption can never be eradicated and has not been eradicated anywhere in the world ) in other words poverty is a cause of corruption while corruption is the consequence of poverty and loss of moral values ,the high levels of poverty have resulted in many social problems including street kids, these kids are automatically exposed to various types of risks and hazards depending on the the socio-economic characteristics of the neighborhoods in which street are located all these is a result of poverty I receive alot of criticism because of my stance on universal health care, with most critics claiming I do not care about the poor. For starters I would like to make it known that I do not believe those who cannot afford health care should be left for dead, on the flip side however, I do not believe more government is the solution. The solution to the health care crisis in this country aside from minor governmental reforms such as deregulating the industry thereby allowing residents from one State to purchase insurance in another, lies in the overwhelming number of people currently living in poverty. There has been much talk about the ‘war on poverty’ in this country and how the government needs to do more to help those in need. More and more, Americans appear to be relying on our government to take care of them, refusing to take any blame whatsoever for their financial position. Several years back the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) released a study titled

How Not To Be Poor. The study outlined some of the common traits those living below the poverty line shared, and offers a roadmap to eradicating poverty in this country. The solution to the poverty crisis seems obvious to some, but it bears repeating over and over again, because many just do not grasp the concept. Before looking at the solution to poverty in America, it is important to first examine the cause of it. According the NCPA study, the majority of Americans living in poverty shared some of the following characteristics:

No High School Diploma According to the 2001 Census Bureau report, 22.2 percent of individuals without a high school diploma were living in poverty compared to only 9.6 percent of those with a high school diploma. Additionally 14.2 percent of high school dropouts were living in long term poverty, compared to only 3.8 percent of those with high school diplomas who lived in long term poverty. Not Married 8.6 percent of unmarried adults with no children live in poverty, with a staggering 51.6 percent of unmarried adults with 2 or more children lived in poverty. Additionally the study found nearly 80 percent of children living in long term poverty live in some type of broken family or with a never married parent. There are those who would argue that a low minimum wage is the underlying cause of poverty, or at least a catalyst. Only 2.6 percent of individuals over the age of 16 with full time jobs are poor, as opposed to 11.4 percent of individuals who only work part time. Over the long term full time workers have a 0.4 percent chance of being poor. This study makes it apparent (at least to me) that the solution to poverty in America is not more government programs, with more wealth redistribution. The answer lies with the individual, more importantly with individual responsibility. In those who finish high school, get married, have children only within a marriage and go to work, the odds of long-term poverty are virtually nil. The Michael Moore’s and Hillary Clinton’s of this country wish to “Move from me to we”, creating a country where we each take responsibility for the actions of others. This is precisely the oppossite of what needs to be done. Killing individualism, and rewarding those who do not work by confiscating the property of those that do has already proven in other countries to be bad government policy. If Americans refuse to take responsibility for their actions on an individual level, they are dooming us all to a life of government intervention and loss of personal liberty.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV)

In our previous message, we talked about the inner struggle that some of us face — particularly those who have been around Christianity for awhile — where business and financial success are concerned. It isn’t too difficult to guess that one of the major contributors to this struggle is an abundance of erroneous teaching about the Bible and what it really says. For example, here’s a direct quote from a recent Newsweek article: “For one thing, Scripture is full of exhortations against accumulating wealth. The New Testament, especially, repeatedly reminds followers of Christ that earthly wealth means nothing in heaven. ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God,’ says Jesus.” These few sentences are so full of misunderstanding about Scripture that it’s almost infuriating. (Where does Newsweek get off interpreting Scripture anyway?!) But the tragedy is that many churches have actually taught — arguably with good intentions — fallacies like this. Another great example is the, “root of all evil,” Scripture referred to in the title of today’s message. Not only is it frequently misquoted as, “money is the root of all evil,” but the entire passage that it comes from is (in my experience) usually preached from a fundamental place of misunderstanding. If you’re hearing from those you look up to (spiritually speaking) that it’s wrong to accumulate wealth, doesn’t that directly work against you? Isn’t business challenging enough without wondering if God is upset with us for doing well in it? Is God so cruel as to require that we work to provide for our families and even call us into the business world only to tell us that we are only pleasing to Him when we fail?It’s time that we take a hard look at some of these teachings and find out what the Scripture really says.

Materialism, Poverty and the Root of Evil By: The Mystic | 17June2000

Consider materialism, not in the philosophical sense -- "the theory that physical matter is the only reality..." or "the theory...that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good..." -- but in the common, informal sense, i.e., excessive regard for money and what it will buy.

There are many people who spend a great amount of time and energy thinking about money. Day in and day out, practically their only concern is how to acquire more wealth and what goods and services they'll buy when they get it. They can't seem to find time to enjoy the

worthwhile aspects of life that make it worthwhile, like well-balanced people enjoy: romance, poetry, a good book, a sunset, spirituality...whatever clicks your lock. It seems so sad, sometimes. It's interesting how one's perspective changes over the years. When I was a little kid, the world was made up of the "rich" and the rest of us. The "rich" were people who owned a car that was newer than the ten-year-old Rambler my father drove. (If they were exceedingly wealthy, they owned two cars.) They lived in houses where every kid had his or her own bedroom. To the "rich", a vacation meant going somewhere other than to stay with distant relatives, for two whole weeks at a time, and they didn't travel cramped together with suitcases in a car, neither. We knew that all the "rich" thought about was making money, spending money and what they could buy with it and paying good money to eat in restaurants all the time instead of staying at home to eat like us decent folk. The "rich" were materialists; two words that were practically synonymous in my juvenile vocabulary. Then I grew up, went away, and spent some time in other parts of the world. I met people, some of whom were so bastardly dirt poor that their idea of "rich" meant having electricity, a working refrigerator and food in it too. I have been inclined to agree with them ever since. Somewhere along the way, I discarded my childhood ideas about materialism too. I have known people at various levels of wealth and poverty. Maybe it's just a strange coincidence, but it seems to me that the true materialists I've known -- people who were greatly concerned with money and what they could buy with it -happened to be the people who had little or none of it. Every person I've ever met who consistently thought about money did so out of a painful mixture of responsibility and necessity. They had to be materialistic; there were babies to feed, rent to be paid, and barely (or not) enough money to cover it all, let alone take care of unexpected emergencies. Even though I have found it impossible to completely rid myself of the thought processes I acquired in youth, in many ways, having known poverty first-hand has been useful. I learned skills out of necessity that I probably wouldn't have bothered to learn otherwise. When your

car is broke down out in the sticks, far from a phone and a tow truck, it's nice to know how to make that simple repair that will allow you to limp to a garage or auto parts store. Another myth I believed as a child and later outgrew was the idea -- common among many traditional religionists -- that poverty is somehow compatible with sainthood. There may be some incredibly good people who choose to live in poverty. I've known the occasional hobolike person who had nothing and seemed happy enough, but they also had no responsibilities and didn't mind living off the kindness of strangers or on the dole. (One that I met claimed to have founded the Jesuits.) However, many people don't have the luxury to choose to be poor [irony intended]; they just are. Many "poor" people (that's as relative as is "rich") that I have met were not only materialistic (again, out of necessity), they were also incredibly jealous of those who had more. That's the reality behind the "rich people aren't happy" theory. That theory is crap! Considering the third-world countries I have visited, I'm both rich (since I know I will eat tomorrow and probably the next day) and happier than most of the impoverished people I met overseas. Given what some people have to do to make ends meet -- cheat, steal, borrow money they know they can't pay back, sell their bodies -- money isn't the root of evil. If evil were a plant with a single root, that root would be poverty. That's not to say that "poor" people are bad because they are poor (or vice versa). The root of poverty is usually nourished by social conditions and government-enabled limitations that keep certain people -- whole societies, in some cases -- poor, regardless of how intelligent, motivated and pure of heart they might be. A ragged urchin, aimless and alone, Poverty often leads to society's common illnesses, Loitered about that vacancy, a bird such as exploitation, substance abuse, child abuse, Flew up to safety from his well-aimed domestic violence and -- ultimately -- war. stone: That girls are raped, that two boys Jesus of Nazareth said, "The poor will always be knife a third, with us." I happen to agree with him on this point. Were axioms to him, who'd never Short of selective breeding of the entire race, there heard will always be a certain number of people who are Of any world where promises were unskilled, unintelligent, unmotivated or unlucky. kept, There will always be the necessity of charity (or Or one could weep because another government subsidy, which has almost entirely wept. replaced it). -- From "The Shield of Achilles" by W.H.Auden

It will also always be necessary for decent people to fight the injustices that lead to poverty. The next time some pious apologist for government oppression and the status quo feeds you the line that poverty is good for the soul, remember that

when everybody's standard of living starts to increase, materialism will begin to decrease. If s/he is blowing that particular brand of smoke up your arse, it must be in his or her selfinterest to keep you down.

[edit] Etymology The word "poverty" came from Latin pauper = "poor", via Anglo-Norman povert. http://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakcha

[edit] Measuring poverty Percentage of population suffering from hunger, World Food Programme, 2006 Percentage of population living on less than $1.25 per day. UN estimates 20002006. Life expectancy. The Human Development Index. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality. Life expectancy has been increasing and converging for most of the world. SubSaharan Africa has recently seen a decline, partly related to the AIDS epidemic. Graph shows the years 1950-2005.

[edit] Recent trends in absolute poverty Poverty is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty (the latter being actually an index of income inequality). Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 20002500 calories per day for an adult male). The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1 (PPP) per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day, estimating that "in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day." [3] The proportion of the developing world's population living in extreme economic poverty fell from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001.[3] Looking at the period 1981-2001, the percentage of the world's population living on less than $1 per day has halved.

Most of this improvement has occurred in East and South Asia.[4] In East Asia the World Bank reported that "The poverty headcount rate at the $2-a-day level is estimated to have fallen to about 27 percent [in 2007], down from 29.5 percent in 2006 and 69 percent in 1990."[5] In Sub-Saharan Africa extreme poverty went up from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001, which combined with growing population increased the number of people living in poverty from 231 million to 318 million.[6] In the early 1990s some of the transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia experienced a sharp drop in income.[7] The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in large declines in GDP per capita, of about 30 to 35% between 1990 and the trough year of 1998 (when it was at its minimum). GDP per capita in Ukraine dropped from $7,185 in 1990 to $3,628 in 1996.[8] As a result poverty rates also increased although in subsequent years as per capita incomes recovered the poverty rate dropped from 31.4% of the population to 19.6%[9][10] World Bank data shows that the percentage of the population living in households with consumption or income per person below the poverty line has decreased in each region of the world since 1990:[11][12] Region

1990 2002 2004

East Asia and Pacific

15.40 12.33 9.07% % %

Europe and Central Asia

3.60% 1.28% 0.95%

Latin America Caribbean

9.62% 9.08% 8.64%

Middle Africa

East

and

and

the

North

2.08% 1.69% 1.47%

South Asia

35.04 33.44 30.84 % % %

Sub-Saharan Africa

46.07 42.63 41.09 % % %

Other human development indicators have also been improving. Life expectancy has greatly increased in the developing world since WWII and is starting to close the gap to the developed world. Child mortality has decreased in every developing region of the world.[citation needed] The proportion of the world's population living in countries where per-capita food supplies are less than 2,200 calories (9,200 kilojoules) per day decreased from 56% in the mid-1960s to below 10% by the 1990s. Similar trends can be observed for literacy, access to clean water and electricity and basic consumer items.[13] There are various criticisms of these measurements.[14] Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion note that although "a clear trend decline in the percentage of people who are absolutely poor is evident ... with uneven progress across regions...the developing world outside China and India has seen little or no sustained progress in reducing the number of poor". Since the world's population is increasing, a constant number living in poverty would be associated with a diminshing proportion. Looking at the percentage living on less than $1/day, and if excluding China and India, then this percentage has decreased from 31.35% to 20.70% between 1981 and 2004.[15] The 2007 World Bank report "Global Economic Prospects" predicts that in 2030 the number living on less than the equivalent of $1 a day will fall by half, to about 550 million. An average resident of what we used to call the Third World will live about as well as do residents of the Czech or Slovak republics today. Much of Africa will have difficulty keeping pace with the rest of the developing world and even if conditions there improve in absolute terms, the report warns, Africa in 2030 will be home to a larger proportion of the world's poorest people than it is today.[16]

[edit] Absolute poverty in US Main article: Poverty in the United States

Poverty in a developed nation, as seen in Harlem, New York, USA. In 2006 the poverty rate for minors in the United States was the highest in the industrialized world, with 21.9% of all minors and 30% of African American minors living below the poverty threshold.[17]

The US poverty line was created in 1963-64 and was based on the dollar costs of the United States Department of Agriculture's "economy food plan" multiplied by a factor of three. The multiplier was based on research showing that food costs then accounted for about one third of the total money income. This one-time calculation has since been annually updated for inflation.[18] Some economists such as Ellen Frank, argue that the poverty measure is too low as families spend much less of their total budget on food than they did when the measure was established. Further, federal poverty statistics do not account for the widely varying regional differences in non-food costs such as housing, transport, and utilities

Relative poverty Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context, hence relative poverty is a measure of income inequality. Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income. There are several other different income inequality metrics, for example the Gini coefficient or the Theil Index. Relative poverty measures are used as official poverty rates in several developed countries. As such these poverty statistics measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. The measurements are usually based on a person's yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is based on "economic distance", a level of income set at 50% of the median household income.

[edit] Other aspects Economic aspects of poverty focus on material needs, typically including the necessities of daily living, such as food, clothing, shelter, or safe drinking water. Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is lacking in the basic needs for a minimum standard of well-being and life, particularly as a result of a persistent lack of income. Analysis of social aspects of poverty links conditions of scarcity to aspects of the distribution of resources and power in a society and recognizes that poverty may be a function of the diminished "capability" of people to live the kinds of lives they value.[20] The social aspects of poverty may include lack of access to information, education, health care, or political power.[21][22] Poverty may also be understood as an aspect of unequal social status and inequitable social relationships, experienced as social exclusion, dependency, and diminished capacity to participate, or to develop meaningful connections with other people in society.[23][24][25] The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor," based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. [26] These include: • • • • • • • • • •

Precarious livelihoods Excluded locations Physical limitations Gender relationships Problems in social relationships Lack of security Abuse by those in power Dis-empowering institutions Limited capabilities Weak community organizations

David Moore, in his book The World Bank, argues that some analysis of poverty reflect pejorative, sometimes racial, stereotypes of impoverished people as powerless victims and passive recipients of aid programs.[27]

[edit] Causes of poverty

Street children sleeping in Mulberry Street - Jacob Riis photo New York, United States of America (1890)

Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs; no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. Possible factors include:

[edit] Economics •

Recession. In general the major fluctuations in poverty rates over time are driven by the business cycle. Poverty rates increase in recessions and decline in booms. Extreme recessions, such as the Great Depression have a particularly large impact on poverty. In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all nonfarm workers in the United States were unemployed.[28] In New York, one child in every five was hungry.[29]

•

Economic inequality. Even if average income is high it may be the case that the poverty rate is also high if incomes are distributed unevenly. However the evidence on the relationship between absolute poverty rates and inequality is mixed and sensitive to the inequality index used. For example, while many Sub-Saharan African countries have both high inequality and high poverty rates, other countries, such as India have low inequality and high poverty rates.[citation needed] In general the extent of poverty is much more closely related to average income than it is to the variance in its distribution. At the same time some research indicates that countries which start with a more equitable distribution of income find it easier to eradicate poverty through economic growth [30] In addition to income inequality, an unequal distribution of land can also contribute to high levels of poverty.[31]

•

Shocks to food prices. Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than richer people. As a result poor households, and those near the poverty threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices. For example in late 2007 increases in the price of grains [32] led to food riots in some countries[33][34][35]. Decreases in food prices can also affect poverty although they tend to impact a different group - small farmers - than food price increases.

[edit] Governance •

Lacking democracy in poor countries: "The records when we look at social dimensions of development—access to drinking water, girls' literacy, health care—are even more starkly divergent. For example, in terms of life expectancy, rich democracies typically enjoy life expectancies that are nine years longer than poor autocracies. Opportunities of finishing secondary school are 40 percent higher. Infant mortality rates are 25 percent lower. Agricultural yields are about 25 percent higher, on average, in poor democracies than in poor autocracies—an important fact, given that 70 percent of the population in poor countries is often rural-based.""poor democracies don't spend any more on their health and education sectors as a percentage of GDP than do poor autocracies, nor do they get higher levels of foreign assistance. They don't run up higher levels of budget deficits. They simply manage the resources that they have more effectively." [15]

•

The governance effectiveness of governments has a major impact on the delivery of socioeconomic outcomes for poor populations[36] Weak rule of law can discourage investment and thus perpetuate poverty.[37] Poor management of resource revenues can mean that rather than lifting countries out of poverty, revenues from such activities as oil production or gold mining actually leads to a resource curse. Failure by governments to provide essential infrastructure worsens poverty.[38][39]. Poor access to affordable education traps individuals and countries in cycles of poverty.[38] High levels of corruption undermine efforts to make a sustainable impact on poverty. In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999.[40][41]

• •

• • •

Welfare states have an effect on poverty reduction. Currently modern, expansive welfare states that ensure economic opportunity, independence and security in a near universal manner are still the exclusive domain of the developed nations,[42] commonly constituting at least 20% of GDP, with the largest Scandinavian welfare states constituting over 40% of GDP.[43] These modern welfare states, which largely arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing their greatest expansion in the mid 20th century, and have proven themselves highly effective in reducing relative as well as absolute poverty in all analyzed high-income OECD countries.[44][45][46]

INTRODUCTION The world poverty came from latten pauper means poor. Poverty is a measure of income in equality. Usually,

Poverty is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty (the latter being actually an index of income inequality). Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 calories per day for an adult male). Relative poverty is measured as the percentage of population with income less then some fixed proportion on median income. Hence in equal incomes ignites the poverty which is root cause of all evils. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day, estimating that "in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day. The proportion of the developing world's population living in extreme economic poverty fell from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001. Looking at the period 1981-2001, the percentage of the world's population living on less than $1 per day has halved.

POVERTY IS THE ENEMY Poverty is the worst enemy for the under developing countries especially for ASIA and AFRICA. Many living examples have been seen in these part of the world such as people are compel to sell their integral parts of their body and mother have been seen to sell their babies to satisfy their hunger. Further more socio economics status of such countries has not been up to the mark and due to social injustice poor becomes poorer and the rich becomes richer. Likewise if social justices not administered properly definitely all evils take place in the society. Our country Came into existence in 1947 on the principle that rule of Allah will be the rule of this country. Unfortunately our leaders totally denied what they promise at the time of its creation. Resultantly the situation which we are facing today is due to our own mistakes and the nation to come will not spare us. The problem of poverty can be over come if we practice Islamic rule of laws in country and justice can be provided to the effected on their doorsteps. Here we can take examples of HAZRAT UMER FAROOQ in his era system was so effective that all the rich peoples were use to pay zakat, and it was distributed among real needy peoples. As a result a time came when there was no needy person to receive zakat. Our leader should follow the footsteps of HAZRAT UMER FAROOQ. And declare war against the defaulters who do not pay zakat.

poverty attacks all ages, genders and can be found around the globe. Authorities on this subject have clear-cut ideas where to lay the blame. Experts believe that “the likelihood of whether a child will live in poverty is greatly influenced by the marital status of the child’s parents. Studies show that children of single parents are six times more likely to be impoverished than children whose parents are married. Children born out of wedlock, especially to teenage mothers, also experience high rates of poverty. This cycle often continues in the next generation, since children of single parents are more likely to get pregnant before marriage, which lessens the likelihood, that they will complete their education and obtain a good-paying job— thus making it more likely that their children will also be raised in poverty. The real enemy of the environment is poverty—the tragedy of billions of the world's inhabitants who face hunger, disease, and ignorance each day of their lives. Poverty is the environmental villain; poor people are its victims. Impoverished people often do plunder their resources, pollute their environment, and overcrowd their habitats. They do these things not out of willful neglect but only out of the need to survive.” Critics believe that “primary cause of terrorism is poverty. “Because poverty causes feelings of military and economic inferiority, people affected by it choose violent means to express their discontent.” Numerous academic and social science researchers have demonstrated how the path to achieving a decent and stable income is still the traditional one: complete school, get a job, get married, and then have children, in that order. Another factor, the acquisition of a positive work ethic, may be especially vital in the war on poverty. As the margin of the rich and the poor widens, global poverty to day has increased, the middle class cannot catch up with the rich and slid back among the poor causing the numbers of the poor to rise up, poverty in today's global village has become the root cause of all evils, because it has power and the ability to make people compromise their once held and respected moral values, cultures and religious beliefs, poverty has created a new race of people with common marks of frustrations, loss of hope, prospects and value for life. Loss of the meaning of life, purpose of living something to live for and disillusionments about morality because the criminals live better, poverty which knows no boarder has pushed societies to loose human hearts and compassion for others, if one is hungry, stealing, prostitution will be an opted for solution, life becomes the survival of the fittest, in order to survive people engage in crime of all sorts including fraud, money laundering drug trafficking, sex trade and corruption .The saying an hungry man is an angry man has always been the true reflection of what mankind is capable of once the biological and basic need for food ,water ,shelter and other basic necessities if not attended to has bred waves of evil in the minds and hearts of the people. The fact is that it is poverty and greed that breeds corruption, so it goes without saying that where poverty is alleviated, corrupt practices would be minimal or alleviated as well ( for corruption can never be eradicated and has not been eradicated anywhere in the world ) in other words poverty is a cause of corruption while corruption is the consequence of poverty and loss of moral values ,the high

levels of poverty have resulted in many social problems including street kids, these kids are automatically exposed to various types of risks and hazards depending on the socio-economic characteristics of the neighborhoods in which street are located all these is a result of poverty. FACTORS LEADING TO POVERTY

Economic aspects of poverty focus on material needs, typically including the necessities of daily living, such as food, clothing, shelter, or safe drinking water. Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is lacking in the basic needs for a minimum standard of well-being and life, particularly as a result of a persistent lack of income. Analysis of social aspects of poverty links conditions of scarcity to aspects of the distribution of resources and power in a society and recognizes that poverty may be a function of the diminished "capability" of people to live the kinds of lives they value. The social aspects of poverty may include lack of access to information, education, health care, or political power. Poverty may also be understood as an aspect of unequal social status and inequitable social relationships, experienced as social exclusion, dependency, and diminished capacity to participate, or to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor," based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. These include: • • • • • • • • • •

Precarious livelihoods Excluded locations Physical limitations Gender relationships Problems in social relationships Lack of security Abuse by those in power Dis-empowering institutions Limited capabilities Weak community organizations

CAUSES OF POVERTY

Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs; no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. Possible factors include:

Economics Recession. In general the major fluctuations in poverty rates over time are driven by the business cycle. Poverty rates increase in recessions and decline in booms. Extreme recessions, such as the Great Depression have a particularly large impact on poverty. In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all nonfarm workers in the United States were unemployed.[28] In New York, one child in every five was hungry. Economic inequality. Even if average income is high it may be the case that the poverty rate is also high if incomes are distributed unevenly. However the evidence on the relationship between absolute poverty rates and inequality is mixed and sensitive to the inequality index used. For example, while many Sub-Saharan African countries have both high inequality and high poverty rates, other countries, such as India have low inequality and high poverty rates. In general the extent of poverty is much more closely related to average income than it is to the variance in its distribution. At the same time some research indicates that countries which start with a more equitable distribution of income find it easier to eradicate poverty through economic growth In addition to income inequality, an unequal distribution of land can also contribute to high levels of poverty. Shocks to food prices. Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than richer people. As a result poor households and those near the poverty threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices. For example in late 2007 increases in the price of grains led to food riots in some countries. Decreases in food prices can also affect poverty although they tend to impact a different group - small farmers - than food price increases.

Governance Lacking democracy in poor countries: "The records when we look at social dimensions of development—access to drinking water, girls' literacy, health care— are even more starkly divergent. For example, in terms of life expectancy, rich democracies typically enjoy life expectancies that are nine years longer than poor autocracies. Opportunities of finishing secondary school are 40 percent higher. Infant mortality rates are 25 percent lower. Agricultural yields are about 25 percent higher, on average, in poor democracies than in poor autocracies—an important fact, given that 70 percent of the population in poor countries is often ruralbased.""poor democracies don't spend any more on their health and education sectors as a percentage of GDP than do poor autocracies, nor do they get higher levels of foreign assistance. They don't run up higher levels of budget deficits. They simply manage the resources that they have more effectively." •

The governance effectiveness of governments has a major impact on the delivery of socioeconomic outcomes for poor populations

Weak rule of law can discourage investment and thus perpetuate poverty. Poor management of resource revenues can mean that rather than lifting countries out of poverty, revenues from such activities as oil production or gold mining actually leads to a resource curse. Failure by governments to provide essential infrastructure worsens poverty.

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Poor access to affordable education traps individuals and countries in cycles of poverty.

High levels of corruption undermine efforts to make a sustainable impact on poverty. In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999.[40][41] Welfare states have an effect on poverty reduction. Currently modern, expansive welfare states that ensure economic opportunity, independence and security in a near universal manner are still the exclusive domain of the developed nations, commonly constituting at least 20% of GDP, with the largest Scandinavian welfare states constituting over 40% of GDP. These modern welfare states, which largely arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing their greatest expansion in the mid 20th century, and have proven themselves highly effective in reducing relative as well as absolute poverty in all analyzed high-income OECD countries.