Poverty: A Personal Perspective

A perspective on poverty from the vantage point of the poor is sorely required. The understanding of poverty is mainly shaped by the filters of the rich. This is a personal perspective on poverty from a vantage point of living amongst the poor and oppressed and seeing how basic human physical needs are being met by these communities. Those who are in poverty lack access to markets, access to means of production, access to funding investment, access to management skills, and access to structure. Those who address poverty offer community development curricula, micro financing, access to community resources, management skills development, and seed money.

Poverty decisions are made by the rich and powerful to benefit and favor the rich and powerful. Most of the allocations for poverty are used by the rich to protect themselves from the consequences of poverty. The poverty paradigm is a gravy train for the prosperous to prosper more. There are no incentives to eradicate the golden goose of poverty that lays so many golden eggs for the powerful and privileged who gorge on the poverty trough. Millions of dollars raised in the name of the poor are siphoned off by the rich and powerful decision-makers who in turn create rules to maintain deep poverty, primarily aiming resources at helping those unfortunate privileged who inadvertently slip into the poverty circle.