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Spot on. Saying today's poor are better off than before is a distraction from the questions we should be asking: 1) Why are there so many poor? 2) Why are the

Spot on. Saying today's poor are better off than before is a distraction from the questions we should be asking: 1) Why are there so many poor? 2) Why are their ranks increasing? To say something is better than before is not the same as saying it is as good as it could be. And yet no one is trumpeting the latter.

jojobas 3y ago
> Why are their ranks increasing? They're not. Both absolute number and percentage in both "extreme poverty" and just "poverty" have been steadily decreasing since the 70s.
- chiefalchemist 3y ago
  Extreme poverty vs plain vanilla poverty? That's funny. You're falling for the ruse. Funny how the First World all but abandobed the rest of the (impoverish) world until it needs that head count to pat itself on the back and sell the ruse Thank you for proving my point. Regardless, the question remains: why so much poverty in so many places? *Especially* in the First World? "Smile and be happy you pathetically poor, you're slightly less pathetic than before" Do you not sense how insensitive and in-a-bubble that sounds?? Certainly, we can do better. Certainly, we shouldn't be bragging about that is still a massive loss to so many.
  - jojobas 3y ago
    Yes, it's a reasonable metric of "we're doing better than anyone anytime". It's very easy to ruin this and very hard to improve upon. Why should I believe whatever anyone suggesting is going to make things better? Every single attempt of destroying capitalism "for the benefit of the proletariat" made it worse for said proletariat, big time, every time. Also, figuratively speaking, clean your room.
    - chiefalchemist 3y ago
      Reasonable to whom? (Hint: Not the impoverished, and there are a lot of those) Or simply a twisted rationalization so some can sleep better at night? I would recommend you read "Broken Money" by Lyn Alden. There's are some serious systemic thumbs on the "globalization" scale, and those thumbs are the same outfits spewing the narrative you're parrotting. Get the book. We can resume this in a couple weeks.
mrkstu 3y ago
The main issue is the ones having a problem with the improved state of affairs reliably call on the use of other systems that have always worsened the affairs of countries that adopt them.

jojobas 3y ago

> Why are their ranks increasing? They're not. Both absolute number and percentage in both "extreme poverty" and just "poverty" have been steadily decreasing since the 70s.

chiefalchemist 3y ago
Extreme poverty vs plain vanilla poverty? That's funny. You're falling for the ruse. Funny how the First World all but abandobed the rest of the (impoverish) world until it needs that head count to pat itself on the back and sell the ruse Thank you for proving my point. Regardless, the question remains: why so much poverty in so many places? *Especially* in the First World? "Smile and be happy you pathetically poor, you're slightly less pathetic than before" Do you not sense how insensitive and in-a-bubble that sounds?? Certainly, we can do better. Certainly, we shouldn't be bragging about that is still a massive loss to so many.
- jojobas 3y ago
  Yes, it's a reasonable metric of "we're doing better than anyone anytime". It's very easy to ruin this and very hard to improve upon. Why should I believe whatever anyone suggesting is going to make things better? Every single attempt of destroying capitalism "for the benefit of the proletariat" made it worse for said proletariat, big time, every time. Also, figuratively speaking, clean your room.
  - chiefalchemist 3y ago
    Reasonable to whom? (Hint: Not the impoverished, and there are a lot of those) Or simply a twisted rationalization so some can sleep better at night? I would recommend you read "Broken Money" by Lyn Alden. There's are some serious systemic thumbs on the "globalization" scale, and those thumbs are the same outfits spewing the narrative you're parrotting. Get the book. We can resume this in a couple weeks.

mrkstu 3y ago

The main issue is the ones having a problem with the improved state of affairs reliably call on the use of other systems that have always worsened the affairs of countries that adopt them.