The One Thing Worse Than The Plague

In today’s world the difference between causation and correlation is increasingly difficult to tell apart. As a result finding the root causes of the world’s problem is practically impossible. However, I believe the consolidation of the means of production to a small minority is responsible for most of the world’s poverty. From this systemic poverty stems many of humanities other troubles such as lack of education, violent extremism, and the breakdown (or lack of building) of cross-cultural trust.

In 1776 when Adam Smith wrote of the invisible hand in his book "The Wealth of Nations" he could never foresee what would occur if applied on a global scale. In the 1800’s food production was a far more individualized affair. Most of the world’s population directly contributed to the growth of their food. As such, they were free from any outside meddling except through violence. With the advent of improved food production techniques the means of production fell into the hands of a select few; namely the seed (or clone), fertilizer, and pesticide producers. With globalization the monopoly over food production spread. Villages that had previously practiced primarily subsistence farming willingly (but unconsciously) became reliant on a single farmer’s ability to acquire seeds from such multinational corporations as Monsanto. This homogenization and monopolization of the means of production carried over to most other produce. As a result, large swaths of the world’s population became disconnected and disenfranchised from the economy as a whole.

This consolidation of the means of production to the select few has created a huge class of wage laborers who are totally reliant on their employers for their subsistence, just as Thomas Jefferson feared. Even worse billions have been cut off from the global economy as a whole. It is this split in the global society that has created the vast amounts of extreme poverty around the world. From poverty, one can track countless other problem stemming from it. The first that comes to mind is lack of education. One could debate endlessly over whether poverty breeds lack of education or lack of education breeds poverty. In either case it is easy to see how the combination of the two creates volatile atmospheres. One of the primarily reasons for the rise in extremist Islamism from the 1970’s onward is that large portions of the poor population were isolated from traditional support structures that would normally help them. Without these educational resources, a radical Sheikh’s tongue became a place of refuge. To read more about the problem of lack of education please read Sarah’s blog at microschats.blogspot.com.

Control over the means of production has landed mostly into the hands of developed nations further the economic disparity. As a result, many poorer nations often feel marginalized and even subjugated by the powerful few. Meanwhile, the richer nations continue to see themselves as unwillingly playing the role of big brother. However, for any truly mutually beneficial agreement to be formed nations must go to the table as equals. Globalization and the growth of multinational corporations were not bad developments in the world. Many great things have been birthed from them and we should be grateful for their creation. However, to ignore the problems they have created is to ignore the billions who have been marginalized just as much as we have benefited. Until we find a way to incorporate these people into the global economy they will continue to wallow in the bile of our excess.