Is Capitalism and private ownership the main cause of poverty?

Question

even in the GB one of the richest country there is existence of significant amount of child poverty.
Capitalism can not exist without poverty, because there can’t be a rich people if it wasn’t poor people.

Answer 1

capitalism means individuals who aim to profits owen everyting in the country
so their aim is to maximize profits without care of other people

so only few people beneficiary from that

the best solution for that is making the government hold everything in the company to be equally distributed

Answer 2

There are many examples that illustrate that poverty, starvation, and ruin can exist without free enterprize or the idea of private property. North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Eastern Europe under the Soviets, Pots Cambodia etc.

So, if poverty can exist without "capitalism" how can capitalism be the main cause of poverty.

If captialism actually creates poor people then feeds off them then the captialistic economies should have the highest percentage of poor people and communist nations the least. Yet the opposite is true.

To say that the rich cannot exist without the poor is the same as saying the intelligent need the help of fools, or the able need the assistance of the incompetent, or that the hardworking cannot exist were it not for the lazy.

Answer 3

You are right. You have answered your own question. In Red countries, there is nobody richer than another. Even if you work harder than your lazy neighbor, you both come out the same in the end. That is why a democratic society is much more desired.

My Creator wanted us all to have free will which is what I think a democratic society stands for. There are some poor families who get the short end of the stick. There are more fortunate folks who actually work hard to strive to get what they want by going to school, etc. It is what we don't see after this life that folks cannot seem to picture. Those who live a life of poverty will reap the benefits after they leave here. The ones with all the money will probably be kept here on this plane we call planet earth and try to help take care of those who are less fortunate.

There are those who do share their riches with the less fortunate and try to help. And they do. One door opens, one door shuts.

Answer 4

Where did you get that their cant be rich without the poor. there are countries KOREA where the greedy do take all from the poor. But the main cause of poverty is either laziness or being in a situation where it is impossible to get ahead ( like being in a country that can't grow crops ) but even in Africa there are a lot of places that are teaming with life and vegetation but people still go hungry doesn't make sense if one thing can grow other things can to.

Answer 5

No. The failure to participate in capitalism can cause poverty for some.

What is poverty in the U.S., anyway? The vast majority of the "poor" in the United States still have a better standard of living than perhaps 75% of the people in the rest of the world.

A typical "poor" person in the United States has a house, a car, plenty of food, free health care, cable TV, Internet and computer, telephone and cell phones, takes vacations, and a paycheck from the government.

A "poor" person in the U.S. generally has a much higher standard of living than most folks living in a non-capitalist society.

As for "child poverty," this usually means that the parent(s) doesn't properly take care of his/his/their kids.

Finally, a lot of people simply choose to stay poor. I've worked in homeless shelters and 75 percent of these folks had zero-none ambition or inclination to change their status despite the availability of limitless opportunities to do so.

I set out on my own at age 18 with zero dollars in my bank account and a bicycle with a flat tire. My first job paid $2.01 per hour and was part-time. I now own a business and monetarily and spiritually am doing pretty well...wife, kids, house...the whole shebang. Lots and lots of people have far more "things" and "money" than do I....does that make me "poor?"

Why do some people raise themselves out of poverty...and some don't? Lottery tickets?

Answer 6

Poverty is a relative state. Someone will always have more of something than another person. You can see this in a micro society such as a family with children. (NO FAIR! Billy has more candy that me!)

The poorest people in the USA have more "stuff" than the middle class in many Third World countries. I could spend 45 minutes or so researching GDP's and average disposable incomes, but I doubt that would prove anything. High tides rise all ships, my friend.

Answer 7

Not at all. In fact it's probably one of the best ways to eliminate poverty.

The problem comes when people are lazy and don't try to work within a capitalistic economy...layin around expecting someone else to carry their asses, not having an education to keep you up or failing to make sensible choices will all leave you lagging behind.

Poverty isn't necessary for capitalism, poverty is necessary for socialism or other nanny state types of governments to survive. How else can the government come along and say..."don't worry about working, we'll pay the way by stealing from the people that earned it and give it to you".

Answer 8

There is no excuse for poverty in the UK, then again it depends on your definition of poverty, if you look at poverty in Africa where people are starving to death, this is not caused by capitlism but by Geography, ie: where they live is prone to drought.
Communism isn't the answer, in Russia during their communist years people were still starving in the streets and they had to be helped by a capitlst society.
There is a lot more to this question than a simple yes or no answer....but I will go more on the no side.:)

Answer 9

Stupidity and laziness are the main cause of poverty in industrialized nations.

Even if you started every single person out under the same set of circustances, the stupid and lazy people would still piss it all away, while the intelligent and the ambitious would still rise to the top.

Child poverty is the result of parents who didn't find it important enough to work hard to provide a better life for their children, or they weren't smart enough not to have children when they didn't have the means to provide for them.

Answer 10

In my opinion capitalism and private ownership can contribute towards the expansion of the gap between 'the poor' and 'the rich'. However, whether it's the main cause of poverty is somewhat disputable. Let's not forget that 'poverty' can be defined in several ways, and indeed the focus has shifted from poverty towards 'social exclusion' in many debates.

I'll give an example, which is current, based upon one particular type of ownership which is going to have implications for many years and many generations to come.

The sale of council housing since the 1980s has contributed towards a more market-dominated housing system in the UK. Fewer properies are owned by the state and so the dominance of the market has increased over the past couple of decades. It is now the aspiration and expectation of the majority that they will own their own home, and embed within it their personal possessions. We have become a consumer society. More importantly however, the private ownership of property bestows upon the individual an asset, in which equity is embedded. The growth of population and the reduction in output of housing has meant that the cost of those housing assets has risen by on average 3% each year for the past 30 years, with greater rises in individual years, or individual areas.

Now, if 80% or thereabouts of the population own their own home, and see its value increase each year without any need to do anything to that home, the remaining 20% are not enjoying such similar increase in the value of their asset since they do not own a home. Those living in council housing, housing association propreties or renting in the private sector miss out on the increase in wealth derived from the ownership of private property. Thus, through private ownership the gap between those in one tenure and another increases. Is capitalism to blame for this incresing gap. Arguably, yes - because the state has significantly reduced its role in the provision of housing, in many cases selling off its council housing stock, privatising it, through transfer to housing associations so that the assets are no longer held by the state, but operating within a market.

Over time, those assets held within the private sector may be passed between generations, meaning that the effects of private ownership get compounded from one generation to the next. Access to credit, ability to release equity, exist in greater abundance for those owning homes than those not privately owning the property in which they live. So, do those who owner occupy have greater acces to wealth and credit than those who do not, yes they do. Does the system of home ownership create opportunities for some and deny them to others, Yes, it does.

One thing is for certain, the gap between the richest and the poorest widens every year, irrespective of how hard governments try to eradicate the causes of poverty by intervening in various markets.

Answer 11

There is poverty in other systems as well. Capitalism also needs large numbers of prosperous people to really thrive. There must be other factors responsible than 'capitalism'. Lack of education. Lack of values in upbringing. Structural neglect. Poor health due to bad diet. Alcohol abuse.