Sadly most poverty is a result of stupidity, corruption and greed

As we emerge from Christmas we can be thankful that it’ll be another year before we have to once again listen to multi-millionaire popstars telling us to “feed the world”. But perhaps it’s time to say the unsayable – most poverty is self-inflicted. Most poverty is caused by greed, stupidity, mismanagement  and corruption. Why is North Korea starving and South Korea rich? Mismanagement. Why is South America poor and North America rich? Because in North America land was distributed to people who wanted to farm it and wealth was reinvested in developing schools, hospitals roads etc. Whereas in South America a corrupt elite of a few families stole most of the land and other natural resources, used force to keep their power and didn’t reinvest any of their wealth in developing their countries. Why are most African countries basket cases? Because their leaders steal most of their wealth and channel it into their offshore bank accounts. In Africa, countries like Libya and Zimbabwe are the rule rather than the exception.

The good news is that we can feed the world. But only when the international community acts to force greedy, incompetent tyrants from power. But giving a little extra to charity at Christmas will change nothing – UN studies estimate that over 80% of all foreign aid is stolen by corrupt Third World politicians and bureaucrats or wasted due to the incompetence of the people spending the money.