Sowell’s central message is that the reason some people are poor — in any country, at any period in history — is not discrimination or exploitation or malicious actions on the part of the rich. Rather, people are poor because they don’t or won’t produce. For him, the only mystery is why.Hivyo mshindani wetu hapa pekee ni Kenya. Tukiweka miundo mbinu mizuri kama hiyo ya sgr ya umeme na kuisimamia vizuri Kenya tutamshinda kwani geographically yuko mbali zaidi na nchi hizi kuliko Tanzania.
Geography may have something to do with it. Civilizations that shut themselves off from the rest of the world, Sowell writes, are those that lag behind.
Sometimes that is because of physical barriers, like mountains or a lack of navigable waterways or the unavailability of pack animals.
Other times, as with China and Japan in the 15th and 16th centuries, it is because political leaders seeking to protect their own power cut themselves off from the world.
Either way, the isolation inhibits the development of the “knowledge, skills, experiences and habits” that lead to economic growth. It also prevents humans from developing antibodies, making them susceptible to devastating diseases when foreigners arrive, as happened with the Incas and the Native Americans.
A second determinant of economic success is culture, by which Sowell means customs, values, norms and attitudes.
For him, the proof of culture’s importance is to be found in the experience of minority groups, in various countries, that have achieved extraordinary economic success: Germans in Eastern Europe, Lebanese in West Africa, Japanese in Peru, Chinese in other parts of Asia, Jews and Indians everywhere.
These immigrant groups arrive with a taste for entrepreneurship, a focus on education, a commitment to family, a reputation for honest dealing and an instinct for hard work. They also have high levels of trust and cooperation among themselves.
Successful countries have learned to incorporate these cultural traits into their own, in contrast to “lagging” ones that envy and resent these minorities and concoct grievances against them to explain their own lack of success.
Black leaders want to keep their people in poverty because otherwise they would have no purpose......
Source : https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/heres-why-poor-people-are-poor-says-a-conservative-black-academic/2015/09/03/
Wealth, Poverty, and Politics
Source : Hoover Institution