Inequality and Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Inequality and Poverty - Essay Example Bishop and Amiel (2007) assert that there is poverty in the majority of the world nations and its people. However, it is not enough to blame people for such predicaments, claiming that they are lazy or made poor decisions which are responsible for their plight. The government has pursued some policies which hamper successful development. Causes of inequality and poverty are in doubt but are more and deeper causes of poverty which are less discussed. Behind the increased interconnectedness which is promised by globalization are practices, policies and global decisions. Such are influenced, formulated, or driven by the powerful and the rich, or rather can be leaders from rich countries and other global actors like institutions, influential people and multinational corporations. However, in the face of such external influences, the government of the poor nations and their people are powerless and as a result, few get wealthy, while the majority struggle with their poor lives. Most of th e people live on just a few dollars a day, and it does not matter if one lives in the wealthiest nations or poorest, one will still notice the high levels of inequality. The poor people have less access to health, education and other basic services that are important in their lives. Problems of disease, malnutrition, and hunger afflict the poor people in the society. Additionally, the poor people are also marginalized from the society and have little representation or voice in political and public debates, which makes it harder for them to escape from poverty. In contrast, the richer you are, the more likely you benefit from political and economic policies. The amount of money the world spends on financial and military bailouts and other areas which benefits the richer is compared to the amount that is spent to address the daily crisis of poverty and other related problems (Jenkins, 2007). The Cutbacks in education, social services and health around the world results for the adjustm ent structural policies by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as conditions for repayment and loans. To add to this, developing governments are required to open their economies in order to compete with more established and powerful industrialized nations. To attract poor countries and investment, they have entered into a competition to find out who can provide cheaper resources, reduced wages, and attract investment. This has increased inequality and poverty for most people. To add to this, it also forms a backbone of what is we call globalization and as a result, it maintains the unequal historic rules of trade (Bishop & Amiel, 2007). Around the world, in poor or rich nations, poverty has always been present. In all most all nations, the inequality, meaning the gap between the poor and the rich is widening and quite high. The causes are also numerous, including bad government policy, exploitation by businesses and people with influence and power, lack of responsibility or a combination of such factors. Many individuals feel that the high levels of inequality affects the social cohesion, which leads to problems like violence and crime. Bishop and Amiel (2007) assert that inequality is often a measure of poverty that is usually relative. However, absolute poverty is also a matter of concern,

Immorality of Abortion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Immorality of Abortion - Research Paper Example Contrary to popular belief that abortion is a modern operation, there is retrospective evidence that it was practiced as long ago as the 5th century BC by ancient civilizations. Even in biblical times, a form of abortion was practiced, as is evidence in the book of numbers where a woman accused of infidelity would be made to drink â€Å"the bitter water† which would bring out the â€Å"curse† (Fox). Other recorded cases of abortion were in ancient Egypt (1550 B.C.E.) and China in the 5th century where among other things used to induce it was mercury (Fox). Notably, many the methods used in the past were dangerous and could have killed the mother just as easily as induced the abortion. In the recent past, abortions were illegal for moral, religious and health issues. However, after the 20th century, women rights groups and doctors have been often able to repeal this ban and as a result, many countries, especially in America and Europe, have legalized it to the chagrin of the pro-life groups. The issues that have made abortion such a controversial and pertinent issue include the fact that apart from the guaranteeing the unborn child’s death, it also jeopardizes the life of the mother; in addition, several of those who undergo abortions are underage girls who are pregnant and have no one to support them or the baby. Bearing in mind that it is the moral duty of the strong to protect the weak and comparably pro lifers consider it their duty to protect the life and rights of the unborn child. While the modern methods of carrying out the operation are mostly safe and performed by qualified doctors, from an objective perspective the action is immoral. Nonetheless, in view of the fact that a woman has agreed consciously and actively to end the unborn life in her is immoral in itself (Lee and Robert 13). Proponents of abortion have been trying to justify abortion and paint it with a moral brush for as long as the pro-lifers have been condemning it. O ne of the principal arguments put forward to humanize abortion and portray it in a moral light is that the fetus is not yet human being. They claim that if the pro-life side agrees a sperm and ovary are not considered human, yet they have potential to become human then the same should be said of the fetus. Therefore, should the pro choice concede it is human, they will go ahead and claim for one to be recognized as a person; thus, they would need to be self-aware. As such, anything in the womb is not self aware, ergo, cannot be human and the same argument has been proposed by advocates defending suspects of infanticide (Lee and Robert 15). However, these arguments are untenable and illogical at best; therefore, comparing the sperm to the fertilized egg flies in the face of logic since the sperm will only have potential for life if it is merged with the egg. On its own, it does not have a chance to generate life, the fertilized egg, on the other hand, in an autonomous genetic unit on ly requires the parent to host it and supply it with nourishment for the duration of the pregnancy. This is no different from when a child stays with its mother fully dependent on her for the first few months. However, at this point, even the diehard pro-choice people will not agree that the mother is free to terminate