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On the “Reduction” of Global Poverty
The over-glorified statistics on global poverty reduction are nothing more than goal posts that are arbitrarily moved to satisfy the illusion of a prospering international economic system.
If there is one thing that billionaire ‘philanthropists’ love more than flaunting how generous they are (while making money from it), it would have to be talking about how capitalism has brought an exorbitant amount of people out of poverty. They do this by using statistics consistently pumped out by global predatory economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank surrounding the concept of GDP growth and — most importantly — poverty reduction.
It is not just people like Bill Gates who claim these statistics as reasons to keep capitalism as a global system laying around for much longer than some might wish. It also includes much of the politically active population. Many, particularly in the Western world, will argue that while capitalism is not great, it is the ‘best system that we have’. They might argue that universal healthcare is a good thing, or that university-level education should be free, but they are also perfectly fine with the globalization of capitalism and the serious consequences that come…
