The Relation of Poverty and Inequality

Poverty is a state when people do not have the monetary assets and essentials to fulfill
their primary needs. It has always been one of the main problems in the world that we should be
concern of. One of the Sustainable Development Goals even aims to eradicate extreme poverty.
But why is poverty always be one of the permanent concerns? Does it have anything to do with
inequality?
Many people insist that poverty and inequality are unrelated. The rich credit their own
attributes for their good fortune. A New York Times columnist David Brooks suggested that the
poor’s moral failings lead them to cycles of poverty, where parents transfer their immorality to
their children. They think that to relieve poverty, we have to make poor people into better human
beings by regulating their behavior.
But some people contend that the behaviors of those who aren’t poor significantly affect
the lives of those who are. They think that we all have a responsibility to alleviate poverty. The
supporting evidence about this view is the imbalance between productivity and wages.
Economist Lawrence Mishel has shown that productivity from 1973 to 2010 increased about
80,4% but wages increased by only 11%. The extra value the workers created by becoming more
productive is taken by executives and shareholders for themselves. This is a proof that actually
the rich getting richer only because they’ve been able to take the value of the poor. They are the
one who creates the inequality among the society.
In fact, the second one makes more sense in the real world. Poverty doesn’t happen just
because they don’t have the rich’s “great attributes”, it happens because of the inequality the rich
people create for their own purpose. Thus, they are morally obligated to do something for the
poor because they’ve taken larger value from the poor than they’ve contributed.
 Dear UI MUN Club Open Recruitment Team 2016,

I, Stefyana Hernawati, am applying to be a member of UI MUN Club. I always like to try

something new and challenging like this club. I recently get some interests in writing and
elaborating ideas about social issues, struggling for the equality in our society. I also like to
socialize with new people. Though I’m still not really good in public speaking, I am willing to
learn about it through this club. I hope by joining this club I can develop my soft skills and
extend my knowledge and view about the world.