Social Exclusion and Chronic Poverty †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Social Exclusion and Chronic Poverty. Answer: Introduction Poverty is the condition of a majority of the world's population and it cuts across both developed and developing countries. Different countries of the world have different levels of poverty. The difference in poverty levels is not by accident, neither is it caused by natural disasters. These poverty levels are by design. The question therefore is, are the poor people then to be blamed for their state and condition? Could it be that the poor are not doing enough in order to help change their lives, arent they doing enough to help themselves? Certainly not. This condition is not brought about by poor people but rather by the few rich individuals in powerful and influential positions within the political, economic and social structures of the various nations of the world (Campbell, 2013). Political, social and economic power of the minority in most countries of the world has often led to the diversion of various nation's resources from domestic use to the world markets. A majority of t hose in power divert public resource from serving the needs of the people to doing their personal business. This has led to poverty in most parts of the world (Goldstein, 2013). The poor majority are marginalized and have no representation in positions of leadership, they have no voice in both political as well as public debates. This makes it impossible for their issues to be discussed. The plight of the poor is not a subject for debate, and where such a topic is discussed it is often the last thing on the table. In most instances, it is never discussed, and when it is finally discussed the recommendations are never implemented. As a result, it is only the wealthy minority who stand to benefit from political policies. This is because these policies are often made to satisfy their greed and not to satisfy the needs of the people (Osborne Weiner, 2015). A good example of these policies can be seen in the amount that various nations of the world spend on financial bailouts and milita ry as compared to what governments spend on addressing poverty-related issues within the economy. Poverty in most parts of the world is a direct result of the marginalization of the majority by the few in power. It is indeed true that poverty for the majority is not the result of natural disaster, but of the greed and power of a minority. This statement is true given that whoever has power has the ability to access and use factors of production as well as to acquire more wealth. Their greed also makes it impossible for them to equally distribute the wealth of the nation. According to Hickey Du Toit, (2013), corruption is a result of greed and it is what contributes to poverty in many nations of the world. It is widespread all across the globe. Most often, leaders from developed countries insist that aid and loans will only be issued to countries that weed out corruption. The truth of the matter is that even the leaders of these developed nations are involved in corruption (Duncan, 2014). The economic policies that are often prescribed by leaders of the developed nations to the poor nations just work to serve their personal interests. Through tax avoidance, the rich minority are able to hide trillions of dollars (Sarker, et al 2015). This results in loss of huge tax revenues for various nations. These elite individuals have power due to their accumulated wealth and as a result, they control both politics and business in various nations of the world. As a result of greed, the world's super-elite use their power to evade taxes too. A good example is a c ase in which Panama papers leaked information of about 11.5 million files from its database that showed how Mossack Fonseca, one of the worlds largest offshore law firm used various ways to secretively exploited offshore tax regimes. It was discovered that 12 national leaders among the 143 politicians on the list were involved in this activity. Various leaders and their friends were adversely mentioned in these leaked documents. At the center of this scheme were some of the most prominent personalities. It was also leaked that various state funds were hidden in most of these offshore accounts. Some of the leaders who were mentioned to have hidden money in these offshore accounts include former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is said to have avoided paying taxes in Britain. He is said to have used Some Bahamas residents to do his paperwork (Harding, 2016). Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also adversely mentioned in these leaks. Other countries whose top lead ership was mentioned include Iraq, Russia, Ukraine and Egypt among others. The greed of the minority who are in positions of influence is responsible for the entrenched poverty in various parts of the world. These groups of people are only keen on formulating policies that serve their interest they also influence legislation and come up with laws that serve to protect their business interest at the expense of the poor majority who for a long time have been sidelined from positions of leadership for a long time. Poverty is caused largely by the minority rich who prey on the majority poor within the society. This is the means by which this group of the super-rich elites makes their money. A good example of this scenario is the case of Bernard Madoff, one of the most prominent American Stockbrokers. Because of greed and power, some of the super-rich use violence, fraud, and theft to enrich themselves. When the super-rich uses violence, it is legitimized. When government violence is used it is legitimized and this makes it appear as normal. In this case, the ruling class, and the super-rich who control business and politics take advantage of the poor more and more. Masbate is one of the provinces of Philippines. It is a good example of the effect of greed and power. It is a fact that the real cause of poverty in Masbate is not the lack of investment, neither is it because of lack of resources but rather it is the corruption and serious levels of injustices that arise as a result of personal int erested of the minority elite. This minority group of elites who wield a lot of power turned a majority of government projects into milking cows. A majority of the government officials including provincial officials were all keen on siphoning public resources for their own use and not for the service of the majority citizens. Greed has proved to be a scourge. It has brought about serious suffering to the people of Masbate. Eliminating poverty is the work of the elected officials of Masbate Island. Instead of this group of officials eliminating poverty, they are busy entrenching it further. Poverty is not caused by natural disaster, but rather by the greed and power of a minority group who occupy positions of power and influence. This group of people has mastered the art of subverting the interest of the public just to serve their interests. Instead of serving public interests. These leaders are keen on serving their own interests. Addressing poverty requires sacrifices and this is something that this group of people is not ready to do. Elections are thus just a mock exercise since the poor cannot make it to the ballot, the requirements are such that the poor have no access to some of the leadership position. Greed has also influenced the election process to the extent that there is widespread violence which scares off the poor people from going for an elective post. Justice is elusive and this makes the situation worse for the poor people. Corruption has brought about poor publicity which scares off investor from investing in Masbate. Masbate would experience massive p rosperity if it could begin investing in its people especially the poor and the needy. There are enough resources for all to use. It is enough to address the needs of the people. However, there has never been enough money and resources that can satisfy greed. Greed will often continue to make people poorer. Politics of exclusion by the minority rich elite is a major cause of poverty in most nations of the world. Exclusion brings about poverty due to unequal distribution of resources. The resources of the nation are not equally shared. Only a given section of the population benefit from the proceeds of national resources (Blair, et al, 2013). Theft of public resources and embezzlement of public funds is another serious cause of poverty. All of these are practiced by the minority in power. Political control is one thing that has been used over and over again by this group of individuals to achieve their goals. Those who go into politics do not go into politics to serve the people but rather to serve themselves, friends and families. Politics as a result as changed from being a service to being a business. Those who control the largest amounts of resource are in politics not because they want to serve the people but because they want to serve their interest and to protect themselves from p rosecution because most often they are guilty of various offenses (Mills, 2015). The super-rich has weakened several institutions of government in order to have their way. Strong institutions have always been a thorn in the flesh for this group of people. Strong institutions have always been effective in holding people to account. This is why the business elite, as well as politicians, have made it impossible to have strong institutions especially in most parts of Africa (Satterthwaite, et al 2013). The weakening of strong institutions has often resulted in poor governance which has brought about serious political blunders that have paved way for poverty in various countries of the world. Poverty and politics of exclusion is a serious issue that needs to be eradicated. The gap between the rich and the poor divides nations further and makes it impossible for national cohesion to thrive. Poverty also tends to undermine political legitimacy especially of the rich elites. In light of Barrientos Hulme, (2016), the minority groups of the super-rich have become cunning and have formulated ways to take advantage of the poor. These group of people tends to mobilize the less advantaged people within the society around some shared concerns and interest. In doing so they hoodwink the poor majority to pave way for them to achieve what they want. This further favors their businesses. In the end, there is an unequal distribution of resources. It is thus essential that all members of the society, both the poor and the rich should have a say in the operations and the running of their governments (Rycroft, 2013). When the rich are allowed to control everything, they make sure that poverty never ends. When people are poor they can be misused. The need to expand the welfare state can thus not be ignored. Sharing of resources need to be done in a more convenient way. The rich must not be allowed to mobilize resources only in their own direction. Resource should be accessible to all. In order to eradicate poverty, it will be important for the citizens to demand electoral reforms in most of the electoral bodies. Over the years, it has been noticed that the powerful elites have mastered the art of election rigging in a way that it goes unnoticed. In order to rectify this issue total public participation is required. Political parties have become business entities for money minting. These are institutions to further the agenda and businesses of politicians. In conclusion, it is important for the majority to be included in the decision-making process of a nation. It is because of exclusion, both political and economic that poverty is so widespread in various nations of the world (Miller, 2014). A reform is necessary for the composition of the political setting of various nations for purposes of inclusivity. Greed should be discouraged in all sectors because it is out of greed that corruption thrives. Every nation ought to do some form of soul searching in order to establish how they can serve the people. Theft of public funds should also be punishable in the severest manner possible to discourage would-be thieves of public funds. Exclusion is dangerous as it threatens the safety and security of a nation. 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