[poor-people]

America is the most impoverished developed nation on Earth, but it’s been more than half a century since a presidential campaign seriously debated the subject. Why do Americans, so many of them poor or teetering on the edge of becoming poor, prefer to keep poverty out of sight and out of mind?

[poor-people]

What is food fortification? And why does it matter?

[poor-people]

The biggest champions of corporate greed and irresponsibility are often the poor people they exploit. UC Berkeley sociologist, Arlie Russell Hochschild, uses the environmental disaster that is Louisiana to explain why.

[poor-people]

There’s one and only one issue that our two presidential candidates agree upon - subsidized childcare - the lack of which is a $3 billion dollar drain on the U.S. economy annually. It would certainly help people like Debra Harrell “a South Carolina mother [who] was arrested for leaving her 9-year-old daughter in a park for hours while she worked at a nearby McDonald’s.”

[poor-people]

Brexit is a minor hiccup in globalization’s centuries long march. Yes, a few million pensioners may have dealt a scratch to it, but if anything global interconnectedness is accelerating. And if you happen to believe that’s a bad thing take a look at GDP per capita circa 1600.   

[poor-people]

Within 7 years of taking office, Hugo Chavez managed to halve extreme poverty. So how did it come to 87% of Venezuelans unable to afford food and widespread looting? 

[poor-people]

Vladimir Putin has surely done some bad things: suppressing dissidents, invading Ukraine, etc. They pale in comparison to the actions of the US, if you ask me, but they are bad nevertheless. However, American and European sanctions have sent 3 million Russians into poverty. We need to rethink when and how sanctions are applied because punishing the working classes of Iran, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela is neither effective or reflective of humanitarian values.

[poor-people]

Countries with more English speakers not only have better economies, they have better quality of life. Why? Because as the international business language, English opens many doors - and not just to jobs. Travel, information and entertainment on the internet, and many other opportunities await the English speaker. That’s why English is now compulsory in China’s schools. 

[poor-people]

With few exceptions (*), no country has ever gotten rich without building a manufacturing industry. So the mission should be to promote manufacturing in the developing world as the only pathway toward prosperity. (*Those few exceptions are oil-producing states like Kuwait and Brunei. Still, most oil-producers like Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola remain poor.)

[poor-people]

Post World War II, civil wars have lasted for an average of 10 years. That means Syria’s war and Europe’s refugee crisis are likely to drag on for a considerable time. So momentum is building for a new Marshall Plan.

[poor-people]

I honestly believe that rooftop composting is the easiest and cheapest way to create millions of jobs and mitigate climate change.

[poor-people]

There’s absolutely no reason an expat aid worker should be paid triple, double, or even one penny more than an equally qualified local. 

[poor-people]

I had the chance to visit some of our new employees homes in Ouzai the other day. They are living 8-10 in small rooms with little to no furniture, refrigerators, or even food. Five years into the Syrian Civil War, the humanitarian response continues to fail many of those in need. New strategies are desperately needed.

[poor-people]

Today, one of our new workers told me that her father is dead and that she supports her mother and 6 siblings. They live together in a single room with no furniture. She is nineteen.

[poor-people]

One thing I’ve learned from Recycle Beirut is that when it comes to physical labor, women are much better than men. I don’t know how it came to be that men earn 30% more than women, but it should be the other way around.

[poor-people]

Last month world leaders met in London to discuss a way forward on the refugee crisis. They decided the best approach is to create jobs for refugees in host countries, namely Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. Recycle Beirut is doing just that.

[poor-people]

Gordon Brown is calling for a Marshall Plan for the Middle East: “Either we mobilise our power and resources in the cause of opportunity in the region, or there will be mounting chaos there and at Europe’s points of entry as refugees clamber over walls, and sadly each other, in search of a future. We know the face of failure. From South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Afghan-Pakistani border, pinprick policy solutions have led to ever-lengthening conflicts and aborted attempts at reconstruction... compassion and competence need not be at odds. We now urgently need an injection of both.”