expatplayer

Is poverty a problem in Panama? Is there much poverty in Panama?

tarzan95959

I believe so . There does'nt seem to be a middle class .

expatplayer

So, it's just poor people and then the upper class? What can be done to remedy the problem?

lee

Most of the "poor" people in Panama work everyday and live a good life. Of course, compared to 1st world countries they seem to be very poor.... however what I would call "poor" are people who barely survive... but aren't people who work everyday and live a good life then "middle class"?

There are very poor people as well who ask for money on the streets but they are few.

nuaeman

Well I think if people there can work and have good food, healthy life, able to afford some basic entertainment like computers and such then it's not poor nor rich but rather middle class.

ankuranks

yes certainly if the people can have good basic ammenities they are niether rich nor poor,the difference between affluent and poor arises when there is a flaw in the taxation system and trade policies,from what i have heard from some of my friends who've been to panama that poverty is not such a wide problem in panama ,there are poor people but tell me any country where they aren't poor people,the developed countries have a good marketing system where they focus mainly on their riches and not on poor people there are poor people in NY and LA.

nuaeman

It's kinda funny even for thousand of years and now humans has advance so great and yet very majority of people in this world are living in poor conditions.

Panamax

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"Few cities in Latin America can match the diversity, cosmopolitanism and sheer energy of Panama City..." - THE ROUGH GUIDE

Advanced

There will always be poor people. It's natures way of keeping the earth's population at a supportable level. If everyone were rich we'd all have more children and then there would be less goods and food for everyone else and some people would become poor again.

It's also the human mindset: poor people often blame others (government, the rich, even God) that they are poor. They won't ever try to become rich because they believe it's not in their control.

Middle class people believe they are (by comparison) wealthy because they deserve it (and not because they were born in a rich country or family), so they wouldn't allow themselves to become poor, instead they would either take a second job or get the government to tax others so they can live a good life.

I don't see a way for third world poor people to lift themselves up. The best way is to lower taxes so that other people and companies invest in the country and the higher living standards slowly affect the poor and improve their lives.

MRWOOHOO

Hello Advanced, that is a pretty interesting observation "you" have made about the poor and how nature deals with them. When did you come to this conclusion?

MRWOOHOO

soltero

"Interesting"? Hah. I try to not post opinions or judgments on these boards, but Advanced's post is arrogant idiocy. His choice of forum name is a classic oxymoron.

Laura

I disagree with this statement 100%.

Mmhhhh.... have you seen the movie Idiocracy? It's a comedy, but I'd recommend that you watch it.

First world countries are faced with the threat of an aging population where there are more old people than young ones, as a middle class family will usually have only one or two kids. And these countries are rich countries with educated people.

On the other hand, families in Latin American countries or even poor people in richer countries have more children.

I do agree with this observation somewhat, especially in Latin America.

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Laura

zog

Although on the face of it, when comparing Europe to Panama, there seems to be a lot of poverty. But having been there and been away from Panama city, everyone seems to be able to afford a mobile phone, and there are plenty of cars on the streets, and I certainly did not see homeless people.

I am not sure what poverty means there. I dont own a car here, but I see plenty of people on lower incomes than mine that manage to own a car. Many people have better mobile phones than mine.

Advanced

The trend of allmost all populations (humans, animals, bacterias) is to grow and expand as large as possible. If there are no external factors (predators, limited space, food shortage, disease) the population will grow exponentially and forever. But it doesn't happen as there are external limits. The limits come when people have a reason not to expand so quickly and have less children or the children can't survive.

In the first world civilization of today the rich people have less children because they choose to work or study instead. That's because "society" teaches them it is the "right" thing to do. Another reason is that they have to work more to maintain their living standard, therefore they have less time to have children. The poor people in these same countries have more children because they have less education (= more time), get money from the government (= less work), and know that their children will support them one day so the more they have the better.

But the above situation is an anomaly. In my theory I was not talking about rich countries who are about 15% of the world's population, or poor people who live in these countries and are supported by governments (= by rich peoples taxes).

More than 80% of the world population is really poor and within that population (as well as animals, plants, bacterias, .....) my description is accurate. Within that population, the less food a population or even a family has, the slower they can expand and multiply. It was like that in ancient history and is still so in the animal kingdom, undisputed. But it upsets some people if you make the same observation with humans.

As long as there is a growing population and competition for limited resources some people will always be poor. Look at the world today and you see evidence everywhere (except first world countries) that my theory is true. If you disagree, do not label my opinion as "arrogant idiocy" but describe a way how you would eliminate poverty.

Regarding the "anomaly" where the richer people become, the less children they have, it is not going to last. It is a temporary phenomenon that is only a few years old. Sooner or later the rich people and civilizations will practically die out because they don't have enough children. Then the poor people will compete over what is left (resources), and then my theory starts to apply to first world countries too.

MRWOOHOO

Just curiously what made you choose this forum to post "your" theories on poverty and poor people? It seems as though you spend ALLOT of time thinking about this.

jacktay

Advanced, let me tell you, some poor people do have goals to be rich or at least live in a decent place, some circumstances do not allow them to reach their goals. I don´t blame anybody for being poor, if we could choose between being rich or poor, there would be more hatred in the world because definetely we all dream of being rich...

Advanced

MRWOOHOO, it was "you" who asked how I came to "my" conclusions so "I" posted the explanation!

jacktay, interesting. I should have said, they do want to become rich, but they don't believe they can become rich (because they only saw poverty all their lives), so they are not going to do what it would takes to get rich, (work more, study more, stop wasting time, ......), or they simply have no time to do that because they live from day to day and have to work small jobs or look for food all day long just to survive.

About "circumstances do not allow them to reach their goals", that is the point of my theory! There is not enough food and resources for everyone to be rich. Populations expand faster than resources, result: a part of the population is always poor.

MRWOOHOO

Your conclusions sound rehearsed. My personal opinion is that you are rationalizing not having to help poor people. Maybe it helps you sleep better at night. Good for you.

jacktay

Advanced, please answer this question to me? How the poor who are just surviving as you say,could work more and study more if they are just getting as much as they can to be able to eat and have a shelter? I know very educated men and women who are poor and have more than 3 degrees and you see them working in restaurants etc.

lee

Hi Advanced. Your viewpoint is quite interesting. I agree with it as far as animals and bacteria go, but for humans I think your theory doesn't work. Humans are conscious of poverty and so can and hopefully will turn this problem around.

Also, there are different kinds of "poor" even in third world countries. For example if you are very poor in Panama you can still survive and reproduce easily; fruits fall from the trees all year round, the weather is optimal and allows you to live without a shelter and the water is potable and abundant.

Now if you are poor in a country in central Africa, your chance of surviving beyond the age of 20 and reproducing healthy children that grow old is slim to none.

Animals if they don't have food look for it in their proximity and if they don't find any they die. Also there are no rich or poor animals.

In Europe where the population problem is, (more old folks than young ones as Laura mentioned) these people don't just lay down and die... even the government is working on balancing out the population by bringing more people from other countries and lowering immigration requirements for certain countries. European society's negative mindset towards having larger families seems to be shifting also.

So how do we eradicate poverty?

I'd say the first step is awareness.