For decades now the world has had some of the same major problems linger around: too much war, too much hate, and too much poverty. Solutions for all three have been researched but with little success. All together being summed up by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men". In essence people have given up a pursuit for creating a better world for a chance at their country being number one. My main focus out of these major problems is poverty. I will be focusing on the origin of poverty, looking to find the real source and its causes. Also looking to see why and how it happened, and why it's so hard for people to come out of. I'm also going to take a closer look at the numbers of poverty. World census is notorious for providing information regarding poverty rather slow and by the time it's reported the situation has changed. The efforts that are being done to stop poverty is another thing that I will be taking a look at. I am going to try and discover everything that is and isn't being done to help this situation. To tie it all together I will look a country that is currently in poverty. I will try and figure out how they got that way and why they have had trouble getting out. Lastly I'm going to try and hypothesize a solution. With me being a nineteen year old college student I doubt it will hold any merit, but I will also be looking at others proposals. I will see if there is a set solution that can be applied and used to stop global poverty; and if there is I will try to find out why it hasn't been done. I believe that while poverty is a serious problem that will be tough to solve, it will come down to whether or not people have the morality to do so. 

The first thing I want to look at is the origin of poverty, and why people in it struggle so hard to get out of it. When researching poverty the question of where it all started is extremely elusive, yet worth the search. I have gotten the same answer pretty much everywhere I searched. That answer was basically an explanation of how poor people have always been around. As long as there was a system of currency there were always people who had less than others. This led me to ask, if this problem has been around for so long then why has nothing been done to fix it? In the book, "Reconsidering Culture and Poverty", it is explained that, 

" ... sustained poverty generated a set of cultural attitudes, beliefs, values, and practices, and that this culture of poverty would tend to perpetuate itself over time, even if the structural conditions that originally gave rise to it were to change".

What is being said is that when you live in an environment that has been stricken with poverty, a standard has been set. When all people see is struggle and hopelessness it generates a way of thinking. A way of thinking that tells them that this is what life is and nothing more can come of it. The author goes on to explain that even if the structures that surround the poor was to change it would do little good because their mindsets are still the same. This explains why it is so hard to overcome poverty. The people that suffer from it know nothing else, which will prevent them from being able to change it. However later in the reading the author starts to object the claim. Saying that it is wrong to blame the victim for the way they are. Looking at it from a contemporary standpoint the author claims that it is impossible for a culture to perpetuate itself when things are changing around them. Another claim is made on why it is so hard for people to escape poverty, "It is likely not that some have the "wrong" set of values. Indeed, the "right" set of values or beliefs may actually undermine one's mobility when exercised in a difficult context" (Reconsidering Culture and Poverty). What the author is saying is that what the people who live in poverty are doing may be wrong if they were to do the right thing instead it would make it harder to survive. Forcing one to ask themselves if they want to do the right thing and live even harder, or do something they know is wrong but it will help them get to the next day. 

A significant part of poverty that not enough people are aware of are the numbers. Poverty can be broken down into numbers throughout the years, while progress has been made much more has to be done. To be honest hardly anyone is completely aware of the true numbers of poverty. In the article, "Poverty in Numbers: The Changing State of Global Poverty from 2005 to 2015", it is explained how, "Official global poverty estimates are only rarely produced, and when they do appear, they are out of date by the time they are published". I do imagine it would be hard to accurately find all the poor people in the world in a timely manner, but I don't think it would be impossible. While complete up to date information is lacking there is still info available. Martin Ravallion tells how, 

"The best available economic measurements indicate that around 2010, the poorest 20% or so of the world's population-about 1.2 billion people ... cannot afford to what someone in America could but in 2005 for $ 1.25 a person per day"( The Economics of Poverty: History, Measurement, and Policy)

What Ravallion is explaining is the phenomenon called extreme poverty. What extreme poverty is are people living below the world's poverty line, which is 1.25 as of 2005. To put this in perspective, the average American lives on about $ 140 dollars a day, there are cases of some households living on 2 dollars a day per person, but that still does not qualify as extreme poverty. Not to mention about half the world's population, more than three billion people, live on less than $ 2.50. Having said all this there has been progress and the next world census will definitely show improvement. Robert Wade explains that, "Over the past 20 years the number of people living on less than $1 a day has fallen by 200 million, after rising steadily for 200 years"(Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality?). 200 million may seem minor but progress is progress and in the past 20 years, as Wade pointed out, there has been more than the previous two hundred. 

Now I would like to take a look at the efforts that have been done to try and stop poverty. There are a wide range of different tactics to handle the issue as there are many ways to go about the eradication of poverty. Within the past few years some major ideas have been come up with that look to end extreme poverty all together. The first that I'd like to look at is the idea that education can change things. William Bennett's article, "Reduce poverty by promoting schools, families", claims that the more education a person has then they are less likely to end up impoverished, 

"Brookings Institution found that young adults who finish high school, get a full-time job and wait until age 21 to get married and have children have just a 2% chance of falling into poverty and a 74% chance of ending up in the middle class"(Bennett). 

Some will look at these requirements as no big deal, but in areas like Washington, D.C only 59% or their high school students graduated. Resulting in an 18.7 poverty rate for the city. Another effort that has been met with much resistance is the thought of more fairness. In the book, "World Poverty and Human Rights", it is suggested that, "we are seeking a widely acceptable core criterion of basic justice that assesses social institutions by how they treat persons" (Pogge). This idea of fairness is constantly opposed because of the different ideas of what fairness is. Peoples' different religious, ethical, and political beliefs pollutes the idea of fairness. So if a policy was made based on "fairness" it would hard to make it truly fair to all. In the case of religious beliefs some even believe that poverty is a good thing. They believe, "Poverty then is praiseworthy, inasmuch as it delivers a man from the vices in which some men are entangled by riches" (In What the Good of Poverty Consists). While this makes sense in a religious stand point saying this to an economist might drive him crazy. 

Finally, I will be taking a look at possible poverty solutions. There is no clear cut way to end poverty; ideas have been proposed but none have made a substantial effect. However, this all may be coming to an end very soon. The World Bank has come up with a plan to possibly end extreme poverty by the year 2030. They have already reported, "Between 1990 and 2011, the number of people living in extreme poverty has halved, to around one billion people, or 14.5 percent of the world's population" (A Measured Approach to Ending Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity). They plan on doing this by implementing their shared prosperity goal. This goal is relatively simple to understand, 

" ... the shared prosperity goal places emphasis on the bottom 40 percent of the population. In other words, good progress is judged to occur not merely when an economy is growing, but, more specifically, when that growth is reaching the least well-off in society ...  emphasizing that good growth should benefit the least well-off in society" (A Measured Approach to Ending Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity). 

What their plan is proposing is that the bottom 40 percent of the population of all of earth receive extra support. Ensuring that growth reaches all of the people, doing so would have a great effect if the poverty information could be accurately reported. Another idea was formed by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his plan focused more so on caring for your neighbor. In his last book, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community", he tells how, "All the wealthy nations-America, Britain, Russia, Canada, Australia, and those of Western Europe- must see it as a moral obligation to provide capital and technical assistance to underdeveloped areas". He is calling for as sustained growth for these nations and no more sketchy forms of aid. However King also mentions how this form of aid cannot be used outside of its initial purpose, 

"The aid program that I am suggesting must not be used by the wealthy nations as a surreptitious means to control the poor nations. Such an approach would lead to a new form of paternalism and a neo-colonialism which no self-respecting nation could accept" (King). 

Dr. King is saying that the assistance should have no strings attached and be purely just as a form of support for those in need. He goes on to explain how if these countries were to allocate two percent of their gross domestic product to theses underdeveloped counties for ten to twenty years; poverty would be a thing of the problem. This book was written in 1967, which is nearly 50 years ago. To some this may make the information invalid, well it really shouldn't. For one the poverty rate has decreased greatly since 1967. Poverty is still a big problem, but measures have obviously been taken against it in the years following Dr. King's death. Secondly, if this same thing was to be done it would probably take half the time that Dr. King proposed. Another concept to ending poverty is getting children that are in poverty a quality education. A study that was conducted by Nicholas Kristof where he claims that if children are taught early they can overcome the problems they face when they are young. Kristof's main claim seems to be that, "The crucial period seems to be from conception through early childhood. After that, the brain is less pliable and has trouble being remolded" (Kristof). If the mind is further advanced then a person would be able to find new ways to make money and get out of bad situations. However if a person is poorly educated they will have a harder time when they grow up figuring out ways to come out of it. 

Overall I think poverty is a problem that will find a solution. In the beginning of my research I was skeptical. I was positive that most people cared nothing about the topic of poverty but I came to learn that that was not true. Progress has been made but more still has to be done. The need for more having to be done is explained in the TedTalk video, "The Hidden Reason fo Poverty the World Needs to Address Now". The speaker Gary Haugen tells how, 

"The extreme poverty rate of $1.25 has been reduced from 50% to about 15%... it's amazing to see the way that compassion has the power to stop the suffering of millions ... the sobering part comes when you raise the poverty line to $2.00 the rate goes back to 50%" (Haugen). 

Haugen goes on to tell stories of pain and violence in places that are destitute. He talks about a woman who is poor because of how her neighbor robbed her and took all her belonging. He also tells a story of a young lady who doesn't go to school because she was raped before by people on the way to school and is now too scared to go. Haugen points out how no matter how much money is donated or how many plans are thought up nothing will get done if compassion still lacks. In another TedTalk video Ian Rosenberger talks about how he was sick of thinking of doing something about poverty and actually acting. He went to help the people in Haiti after the earthquake and saves a young man's life by helping him get medical attention. Rosenberger's big theory is that, "Poverty isn't the absence of wealth, it's the absence of dignity". He tells a story about a Haitian man who he helps get a job as a taxi driver. Ian is his last customer and when he is done with work he goes home with him and watches as he celebrates with his family about the fact that they were able to eat that night. The main thing that I am trying to focus on in these videos is the fact that compassion can conquer poverty. There has to be a plan, and money will definitely be something that will have to be addressed, but if people all over the world can care for one and other the solution will be found much faster. Selfishness and greed is the one thing that cannot be overcome. Poverty is a problem that can be solved, but as I said before the main worry is whether or not we have the humanity to do so. 

