What makes a poor country poor and a rich country rich?

Answer 1

Well, let's see: both the Philippines and Mexico have lots of rich natural resources; both have an educated population, are religious (both are predominately Catholic), both have Presidents...and the list goes on. Unfortunately, both are also very poor.
Why? The most plausible answer is: politics. When the government is corrupt, or when the govenment takes too much or when the govenment sets bad precedents, rewarding crooked businesses, etc., people lose FAITH in their government, in their country and in themselves. That results in a downward spiral. (Think of it as being like a severely depressed individual.)
In the U.S., we no longer have silver and gold to back up our currency: what makes our currency strong is FAITH. I'm not referring to faith in God (but that certainly helps) but faith in the monetary system. If you run a business and I buy things from you, I need to have faith in your products: you need to have faith that I will pay.
Basically, that is what it is all about.

Answer 2

forces for entropy make for poverty. Forces for enthalpy create wealth and stability. Waste, lack of control, violence, destruction, lack of freedom, violent restrictive religions: all of these cultural items cause poverty. ON the other hand: the rule of law, separartion of church and state; stable banking and economics, conservation of resources and careful direction of energy flow, individual freedoms - these create and maintain wealth. The key is cultural difference - nothing else. There are many places which are out of the way and have no real resources and yet are wealthy and stable - if you parachuted 200 individuals from one of these places into an isolated part of some poor country these people would within one year have a stable prosperous community going.

Answer 3

The main difference is social agreement. The USA with the American dream the idea that through hard work anybody can make it too the top is the best example of social agreement. Europe and Canada work through apathy. Poor countries have no agreement and everybody fights.