Quote from: Clara.Wilfred on May 08, 2018, 09:43:02 AM

I think its important to provide equality of opportunity first and foremost. Even though your outlook does seem quite doom and gloom, on a whole living standards are increasing massively and have done for the last 200 years so I'm quite optimistic that we are heading in the right direction.

Right. Opportunity to improve ones lot is the first requirement. Several of the African countries where people are living in poverty have warlord type governments where people have to worry about their safety first than anything else.

Quote from: Clara.Wilfred on May 08, 2018, 09:43:02 AM

I think institutional charity is one of the biggest things holding back economically poor countries. I think its a tactic used to control these countries by the superpowers of the world. We are keeping them on life support instead of letting natural growth and innovation.

Most of this institutional charity flows through institutions into the pockets of those who control them. This becomes just another form of kickbacks. Why else would we still have unpopular leaders continuing to rule through power of the gun. Where do these people get the resources to maintain huge police states to keep the people under heel.

People who want to make the world better should also realize that life is lived at several different levels by people. A tribal family living happily in a jungle in deep interiors of India can be as happy and prosperous as one living in a concrete jungle in New York. Forcing the notions of growth and development onto people who don't really want it, isn't a desirable outcome either.