Rich people generally are unable to understand why poor or

[Veggie Meathead]

middle class people do certain things. Their point of view is quite obviously very different from the rest of us. If we extrapolate this attitude to the international arena, can we say that the U.S. will never be able to understand the poorer countries of the world unless we have very wise leaders ? On top of this vast differences in wealth,the racial and cultural barriers and our ignorance of the history of the other countries also impede any understanding.Finally, our worship of money makes us take the side of the moneyed elite in each country we get involved in making it impossible for us to attend to the needs of the common people in those countries.I think this is the root cause of all our misadventures.If we had people communicating with the common people of Vietnam instead of the Diems, Nhus, Kys and Thieus we could have avoided war and bloodshed that drained us and Vietnam.

[EnfantTerrible]

1. We should've learned from the french

and stayed the fuck out! IMHO

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. We did not learn from ourselves

look at Iraq....

Ah yes we have tripped twice

[EnfantTerrible]

3. After not learning from the French the first time

we should have at least listened to them the second time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. What US? Com'on we are suffering from

ahem, Imperial Hubrish

[Veggie Meathead]

6. The French did not learn just at Vietnam.Their disastrous wars in

Algeria also caused them irreparable damage.It looks like that unless Imperial Hubris is totally destroyed, even lingering traces of that vanity can plunge a country into adventures from which it will take years to recover.In that sense, we can compare our misadventure in Iraq as the second phase of the destruction of our own Imperial Hubris after Vietnam is assigned the top spot(or did it all start at Korea?).In any case, as a greater power than France we are entitled to our day in the sun one more time, I guess.

[northstar]

4. Hell, some of us can see it within our own families,

why would it be different upon the world stage.

For some people, money is their servant - for others (who, I believe are basically unprincipaled) money is their master.

[shanti]

7. only if they've never

experienced poverty themselves.

[Veggie Meathead]

10. Even those who have experienced poverty become transformed by

money.Yesterday, in a thread on John Steinbeck, it was commented that as he became famous and moved to Hollywood he started adopting the value systems of the moneyed elite there.This from a man who could write movingly about the Joads in Grapes of Wrath.

[Senior citizen]

8. It does make sense, up to a point.

When I was a kid I was pretty good in school and I couldn't understand why other kids weren't. I thought maybe they weren't paying attention, or weren't trying, or just didn't care. It took me a long time to figure out that some people just seem to be born smarter than others.

So I guess people who are born rich probably don't understand why other people might be poor. They must think the poor just aren't trying, or aren't paying attention, or just don't care. The only problem is, if they were of at least average intelligence, they'd have managed to figure out by the time they reached the third grade in elementary school, that some people are just born rich and some just born poor, and that only in rare and exceptional cases do things like paying attention, caring, and trying harder, make much of a difference.

[Veggie Meathead]

9. This is why we often see posts in which GWB is reported to have

said " Poor people are lazy".

[Tsiyu]

11. I know working poor

who do more work in one day than * has probably done in his entire life.

There are so many reasons for poverty, it really isn't as if you can point to one kind of poor person.

The poverty in America stems from lack of access to resources, unequal schooling, bigoted jurisprudence, War on Drugs, pollution and related health and sanitation issues, family violence, high divorce rate, high rate of illegitimate births, high teen pregnancy rate, lack of health insurance, inadequate housing options, high insurance rates in general, low minimum wage, slash-and-burn-trickle-down-i-got-mine-so-screw-you economics.

The poverty in Brazil relates to lack of middle class. The poverty in Sierra Leone relates to resources ( diamonds) funding death and dismemberment. In Botswana it's AIDS. In Zimbabwe it is poor management of crops.

The problems of poverty will only be solved when people stop beeing greedy and start looking out for their brothers and sisters more than they look out for a too-good-to-be-true affluence.