The article that we have to read for class is titled the Scarcity Fallacy and covers a couple of major misconceptions that people have about hunger. Also this article discusses both the reasons behind as well as the class, racial, and gender dividing lines that have been shown to play a large role in whether a person may go hungry or not. First, the article discusses a belief shared by many free market capitalists and UN executives which is that food itself is too scarce in some regions, therefore to fix the problem all one must do is streamline production, distribution, and shipping. However this is not the case at all. According to the article there is actually more food available per person than there has been ever in history. What has changed is that the richer countries are dominating the food supply leaving little food for the developing countries. Ironically some of the countries that have the largest problems with malnutrition and starvation are still exporting millions of pounds of food each year because they are able to get a better price. Second, the article points out that even though there are health organizations that have programs in place to spread food around to people in need, they find that their elements on the ground are corrupt and that the food a large portion of the time never gets to there intended recipients.
Personally I believe that countries which have a certain percentage of residence that are under a poverty line should be required to feed them first before they can export their products elsewhere. It is absolutely ridiculous to be exporting millions of dollars of food when your countrymen are starving, Furthermore it is imperative originations like the WHO and the EU to take a more active role in overseeing the distribution of aid so that corruption cant occur. It has been proven that there is enough food to go around, all that is needed are honest people to get out and do it.
You have a similar opinion as me on this issue, I believe countries need to step up and work within there countries to fix the problem and rely on others as a supplement for the problems that they cant fix.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is ridiculous for poor nations to export food because the profits from these exports can be used to import other foods. For example, in a nation that can only produce a few types of foods (say they only grow wheat), it makes sense economically to trade the foods they are efficient at producing for foods they are not(say rice). This both enhances variety and introduces better nutrition into the diets of the nation's people.
ReplyDeletethis is true to a certain extent. Variety however must always come second to simple sustenance. If a person has nothing to eat they should be fed with whatever is available that and that alone is the primary concern. It may sound very harsh but dead people don't need much variety. on that same note if a person is starving the effects of malnutrition are not the most pressing matter.
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