Mary Bargsley

Econ-2010-402-F14
E-portfolio Paper
Reflection on Global Poverty
Before reading the article on global poverty I was unaware of how poverty was defined both in
America and by the World Bank. I have considered myself a member of Americas working poor, for
most of my life. I support a family of five on my earnings of about $45,000 a year. According to
Americas standard I am not considered poor. However, after paying for the house I live in, the utilities
it requires to maintain a decent standard of living, the student loans and other debt I have, and the car
that is required to get my family to things like doctor visits and other places; I have only about forty
dollars a month to spend on food, personal items, and clothing. This may seem rather dire, but I am
lucky that I have a couple of online business that allows me to earn extra money for things. I still
consider myself in the class of working poor.
According to the US poverty thresholds, my household is well below average but not poor
enough to require assistance. I do own my home; however I cannot sell my home as I have only
negative equity in it now. Also, a lot of my income goes to debt, which is my own fault but was incurred
to pay for an education to get a better job and during a time when I would have been homeless without
my credit cards. Also, I do have a car, which I use because the public transportation system where I live
leaves much to be desired. On the outside it must look like I have a lot. I have a home, a car, and a
good job. The problem is that much of my income, like many Americans is tied up in debt; debt that was
largely incurred beginning with the recession of 2008. When I look at my monthly budget of only having
$40 dollars to spend on food and everything else, I do not feel wealthy.
Compared to the World Bank thresholds however, I am considered rather well off. According to
the World Bank the poorest people in the world only have an annual income of $2,190 dollars. This
amounts to about $1.50 a day to spend. I completely admit that compared to the global poverty
standards I have no room to complain. However, one thing the article does not discuss is the average
costs of living differences between America and the less developed nations of the world. The difference
in prices of certain items such as housing in the different nations would definitely show a dramatic
difference. For example a small family home in America can cost on average $100,000 dollars however
a small family home in El Salvador is only about $16,500 dollars. In America owning a car means owing
a vehicle that conforms to certain standards of safety and with that comes a lot of extra cost. In
America a standard Volkswagen Golf is $21,000 while in India the price is only $12,108.51. (Numbeo)
The other thing the article does not take into account is the difference in standards of living
between America and lesser developed nations. I am not trying to lessen the harsh reality of global
poverty, but what is acceptable in one country could be considered a crime in another. For example in
less developed nations leaving children of certain ages alone is a normal practice, however in America if
you leave a child under the age of 12 home alone all day that could be considered neglect and/or abuse
as well as a crime. Another example is in America I cannot go to my back yard and dig a large hole to

use as a septic system without the proper permits and inspections and I could be fined and/or jailed if I
try. However, in other countries that is an acceptable practice. Although I believe that global poverty is
an actual occurrence, I think this article is slightly skewed with the information it presents.
I think the way that we could slow down global poverty, in by learning that less is sometimes
more. I think this simple statement is actually the way we should all strive to live, and if we lived by this
philosophy we would live better and we would live in greater harmony with the planet. The world,
Americans included, need to learn to consume less. The world in which we live does not have enough
to support everyone at the current imbalance that exists. In America, I think we could start by looking at
the way companies such as Dr. Bronners , which believes in running a ethical and responsible business
model.
According to their mission page their All One! method includes a commitment to quality
products that are ethically and environmentally sound, commitment to family, commitment to
responsibility that builds an equitable and sustainable supply chain, commitment to advocacy, and a
commitment to philanthropy. They accomplish this by producing products that are Organic and Fair
trade with complete biodegradability and no synthetic agents. The most surprising parts of their
business model is the commitment to family (Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps). This practice reads as follows:
Dr. Bronners is a family business, and we consider all who work with us to be part of our extended family.
We recognize the important roles of all our employees in every position of the company, and we pride
ourselves on providing them with our unique benefits and compensation programs. The total compensation
of our highest-paid employees and executives is capped at five times that of the lowest-paid position. Our
employees receive 15% of their salary paid annually into a retirement/profit-sharing plan, up to 25% of their
salary as a bonus, and a no-deductible PPO health insurance plan for themselves and their families. We
implement approaches within our workplace to encourage personal growth and development, and we strive
to create a healthy environment for workers to thrive and take pride in their contributions to the broader
world community through their work at Dr. Bronners.

This idea of executives having their salary capped at only five times that of the lowest paid
employee is something that is quite unheard of here in America. Yet, this practice could be the key in
closing the income divide and what could bring back the middle class. The other idea of having 15% of
the employees annual salary paid annually into a retirement account helps ensure employees avoid
poverty after they retire. Finally the no deductible PPO health insurance plan for the employees and
their families ensure a proactively healthy work force, where wellness checks and routine exams are not
avoided due to cost. Even after providing all of this to their employees, the company has remained
profitable and has been able to make contributions to causes and charities that roughly match their
total after tax income. (Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps)
Something else that America needs to do in order to eliminate poverty is to fix the way our
social safety net is operated. Programs like Welfare, SNAP, Disability, and even Social Security need to
be redesigned and overhauled in order to stop the cycle of cradle to grave dependency. Currently when
a person needs assistance to make ends meet their level of need is based on number of dependants and
income. I think this is a perfectly logical way to evaluate need, however, once the person such as a
single mother is able to find work the aid is then reduced or in many cases cut off completely. Although

this seems logical, in many cases this withdrawal of support creates a cycle that causes the person to
come to the conclusion that they were actually better off not working and living on the assistance. With
the example of a single mother, if the woman goes to work full time making $12.00 an hour the child
care assistance would be withdrawn and her food stamps would eliminated along with her housing
assistance. At $12.00 an hour she is making roughly $23,000 dollars a year and no longer considered
impoverished. However when one considers that a two bedroom apartment costs roughly 800 dollars a
month and day care (so she can work her full time job) can cost on average 500 dollars a month, plus the
cost of utilities, and transportation (even if she takes public transportation) and the mother is left with
about 66 dollars a week to feed, clothe, and get medical care for and her child. Right there we have
created a situation of where the idea of staying on assistance forever would be better than finding full
time work. Instead what should happen, is the mother should continue to receive the child care
assistance and some food stamps until she is able to obtain a salary that would supplement that or the
child becomes of school age, at which time the assistance could be scaled back.
Concerning the idea of global poverty, what I am about to say is probably not going to be
received well, but in my mind it is absolutely the long term solution to the current problem of global
poverty. This idea also applies to the situation of poverty in America. It is a lesson that humans best
learned from the Black Death epidemic of Europe. Before the plague spread across Europe there was
more people than resources. Poverty was high, health and sanitation standards were poor, and the
divide between the richest and the poorest of the area was astronomical. Then the Black Death came
and culled the population, both rich and poor, and provided the opportunity for the renaissance, as the
pandemic occurred in the years 1346-1353 and the renaissance of Europe began in 1350-1400. When
the population decreased resources were not spread so thin and the lower classes were able to move up
in wealth. Although, I am not suggesting some kind of mass population culling, I am suggesting that we
need to look at the exponential population growth. It is up to us to understand the limitations of
resources and each of us should understand the responsibility of putting a demanding strain on those
resources.
The idea of slowing down our population growth may sound harsh and unethical, but in reality it
is a socially responsible and needed thing. The best way to accomplish this is providing reproductive
education and reproductive resources on a global scale. Although some religious faiths and cultures
shun the idea of medically controlled reproduction avoidance, the information should still be available,
but not mandatory. History has taught us that if we do not take control of the ever growing population
and ever shrinking resources, nature through famine, pestilence, and pandemics will.
My ideas on ending poverty in America and on a global scale come from my own experiences.
Being among an ever growing class of people who are only one pay check away from being completely
destitute has made me look at things in a way that could be considered shocking and unconventional.
However, I have based these concepts on much research and observation of the world around me. In
the interest of full disclosure, I must make a final comment on my family. In the beginning of my paper I
said I have a family of five, which I do. One might call me a hypocrite when I mention the idea of
responsible reproduction in order to end global poverty. Therefore, I must say that 3 of my dependants
are adopted, special needs, parrots that require specialized diets and expensive vet visits. Although,

they are not considered children, and I could certainly give them up when I adopted them I made a
commitment. Perhaps, one could say I do not understand that demands put upon someone with actual
children and there may be an argument there, but that would be the subject of another paper entirely.

Works Cited
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. "How we do what we do the "All One!" Method." 2014. Dr. Bronner's Maigic
All One! 01 December 2014 <www.drbronner.com>.
Numbeo. Cost of living comparison between India and United States. December 2014. 05 December
2014 <www.numbeo.com>.