"Three Myths on the World's Poor" Bill and Melinda Gates

[applegrove]

Three Myths on the World's Poor

by Bill and Melinda Gates at the WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304149404579324530112590864?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304149404579324530112590864.html

"SNIP..........................................


By almost any measure, the world is better off now than it has ever been before. Extreme poverty has been cut in half over the past 25 years, child mortality is plunging, and many countries that had long relied on foreign aid are now self-sufficient.

......

MYTH ONE: Poor countries are doomed to stay poor.

......

MYTH TWO: Foreign aid is a big waste.

.....

MYTH THREE: Saving lives leads to overpopulation.




..........................................SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Glad the Gates are trying to inform the right on these issues.

[JI7]

2. don't poor people have a lot of kids because they often die early ?

and this changes as things like better health care, more money, education , are available to people.

he is right about foreign aid also. we often see a lot of criticism about money not getting somewhere, a lot of waste etc. but it's also true that there have been alot of improvements in areas.

it's much better that money was given and some was stolen/lost,wasted etc than if nothing was given at all.

[applegrove]

3. Groups who give aid have gotten really, really strict about accountability. My understanding

about family size is that many kids are a form of social security and hope for the hopeless. Give them security in that all their kids will live and give them hope that the economy is improving and they will have only 2 kids.

[Wounded Bear]

4. ..and give them access to quality women's health care...

including contraception.

[applegrove]

5. Absolutely. You hear that Pope Francis!!!

[freshwest]

6. Another myth about the poor:

[Number23]

7. Ohhh, I love that graphic. Oh my goodness

thank you for posting that.

The UN Millennium Development Goals have played a large role in reducing a significant amount of global poverty and in a (relatively) short time too. But there is still a long way to go. Growing income disparity is not helping either.

[applegrove]

9. Well stated.

[Number23]

8. "Foreign aid is a big waste." That should be myth number one

[pampango]

11. That won't convince our tea party folks. "85% want to cut foreign aid."

Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement are more likely than all other Americans to support reductions in foreign aid ...

In particular, Tea Party sympathizers would like to see a cut back in aspects of American soft power. More than eight-in-ten would decrease aid to the world’s needy, compared with 43 percent of all other Americans who support such economizing.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/03/04/will-budget-cuts-isolationism/

Of course, they oppose aid to America's poor too, so I guess their opposition to foreign aid is not surprise.

[DonCoquixote]

10. despite the fact the gates are wrong on many things

This is a case of 2 + 2=4 no matter who says it.

[Romulox]

12. MYTH FOUR: Poverty isn't a problem in the US; all our focus should be overseas! nt