I don’t think it is unreasonable to come to the conclusion that if there is widespread poverty, whoever is in charge have mismanaged somehow. Beyond outright poverty, we have time scarcity. To avoid poverty, most people opt to spend most of their time at work. Often this is a job they dislike. Even getting a job is difficult for many people, which is one of the reasons why people stay in jobs they hate. Some people opt to use or abuse the benefits system, keeping them poor but somewhat comfortable.
Even governments complain about being in scarcity. That appears to be their excuse for not implementing measures to address poverty. Governments and regimes are largely in debt, which shows two things. First of all, it obviously demonstrates mismanagement of what is supposed to be public funds. Second of all, who are these creditors? They clearly have a massive influence over the worlds finances which directly affects the population. They need to be investigated and held into account if their influence cannot be demonstrated to be under meaningful consent of the population.
In terms of struggle in life, work and money are a massive thing for most people. However, there are other issues, such as friends, family and relationships, emotional needs such as sense of purpose, feeling of safety and security. The reality for most people is that they have such a network of issues, that they don’t have access to any way to make meaningful change in the world.
Is struggle and scarcity inevitable?
Money is a means of trade. It has no intrinsic value other than what society makes it. What we need and want to live is stuff (such as food, a gearbox or whatever) and people’s time and energy (such as doing building work, serving coffee). In terms of emotional needs such as friendships, relationships, security, feeling valued and whatever, what is that? People’s time and energy, directed to the right place at the right time. How do we make stuff? We farm, mine, build or cook it (depending on the product, of course!). This comes from time and energy, which is the ultimate currency.
There cannot be a literal shortage of time and energy! Even in a ‘primitive’ tribe, there isn’t, and we have significant technology that could be used to make everyone’s lives easier. Two things are happening here; our time and energy is being siphoned off (converted to money, and transferred somewhere else), and we are operating in such a haphazard, stressed and uncoordinated manner that our time and energy doesn’t go into helping each other out but instead into chasing our own tails somehow. An example of the latter point is the common occurrence where inconsistent reasoning due to unhappiness and confusion causes someone to choose to do actions that contribute to their unhappiness such as reckless spending.
Some activists call for a re-distribution of wealth, but clearly mental and emotional factors, confusion, conflict, unhappiness and bad co-ordination and cooperation are at the root as well. If there is anything that would illustrate the point, it is loneliness, which apparently is an epidemic. Loneliness is a scarcity of meaningful connection. There is not a scarcity of people in this world! The only reason loneliness can exist in a world full of people is if we are stressed, confused and divided enough to not be able to meaningfully connect to one another. The exact same thing is happening with our money, food and resources.
How do we solve poverty then? We address issues that are affecting our ability to understand, communicate, co-ordinate and connect to one another. We then operate in a way that helps each other out and begins solving the problem amongst each other. Then, we look at where our taxes are going, and where our energy is going (courts, bureaucracy e.t.c.) and address that. It is literally quicker to solve these problems ourselves than look to authorities, given that for us to be comfortable and happy might not be in their best interests.