The real causes of poverty

One way to understand poverty is by looking at water availabilty and disctribution as a similar problem. Some commentators trace the global challenge in water to a problem of scarcity.

The spirit of Thomas Malthus, who in the 19th century disconcerted political leaders by predicting a future of food shortages, increasingly pervades international debates on water. With population rising and demands on the world’s water
expanding, so the argument runs, the future points to a “gloomy arithmetic” of shortage.

We reject this starting point. The availability of water is a concern for some countries. But the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability.

The video makes the case that poverty is exactly the same:  rooted in power and inequality, not availability of resources.