Difference between poverty & inequality

EQUALITY is not necessarily good. There, I said it. Someone phone the Human Rights Commission!

“What the hell are you talking about, Potatoes?” – you’re probably saying right now.

At school, in church, at political rallies – everywhere I go people tell me that the one thing we need is equality.

I know, so I’m going to take this opportunity to explain to you why your teacher, pastor and favourite politician are all wrong.

Inequality isn’t bad. Poverty, however, is.

Many people don’t seem to understand the difference between the two.

Think of the following situation, and you’ll understand what I mean.

Let’s say your neighbour, who also happens to be your boss, lives in a massive eight-bedroom home. He owns three big German cars and a large collection of expensive whiskey. You, on the other hand, live in a nice, spacious three-bedroom house.

You have a nice family car that’s almost paid off, and you drink whatever is available at the local shebeen.

Your neighbour is obviously much richer than you. But are you poor? No.

There is a great deal of inequality between the two of you, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that you have everything you need and that you’re living a comfortable life.

Let’s think of another possible situation.

What if you live in a tiny shack, with no running water or electricity, and you have to spend almost every cent of the little money you get paid just to pay for transport to get to and from work.

Your boss is again your neighbour. He also lives in a shack, but has enough money left over after paying for transport to at least buy his family some nice takeaways once a month.

In this situation, there is little inequality between the two of you – almost none. But you’re both suffering and poor.

It should be obvious then that the problem is poverty, not inequality.

It’s almost as those who are always moaning about inequality are suffering from some form of jealousy.

They just can’t stand the fact that some people are better off than themselves. They would rather have everyone be poor than a few people very rich and the rest just having a middle class existence.

I don’t care how rich the 1% is, the group of people who own most of the wealth in the world.

What I care about is how much money the other 99% have. If we can ensure that no one lives in poverty, then let the super-rich have as many expensive mansions and yachts as they like!

Unfortunately, too many politicians focus only on getting rid of inequality instead of helping to create conditions that create more wealth.

It’s a shame, really, because their hearts are often in the right place. It is a good thing that Julius Malema is upset that, more than 20 years after the end of apartheid, so many people are still poor and living in terrible conditions. This should make us angry, and motivate us to take action.

But it’s a real shame that Juju and others like him channel all that passion and anger in a direction that will not help eradicate poverty but only deepens it.

It’s all thanks to the hold that communist and Marxist ideas still have on the minds of South Africans, ideas abandoned in most of the rest of the world after it became obvious that they are simply terrible and useless.

I can only pray that our younger leaders wake up to reality and use their considerable energy and talents to work for a better economy, education and wealth creation.

It may be less fun than quoting Mao and shouting slogans in front of a red banner, but it is also a lot more
effective.

Send your thoughts to [email protected].

Until next time, salani kahle!

This article first appeared in the Sunday Sun.