The Correlation Between Greed, Power of Minority, and Poverty

This essay explores the pervasive issue of poverty, arguing that it is not solely a result of individual circumstances but is significantly influenced by the greed and power of a minority within society. The author contends that those in positions of political, economic, and social influence often divert resources for personal gain, leading to marginalization and lack of representation for the poor majority. The essay highlights corruption, policy failures, and the unequal distribution of wealth as key factors contributing to poverty, using examples like the Panama Papers and the situation in Masbate, Philippines, to illustrate the detrimental effects of greed and power. It emphasizes the need for strong institutions, equitable resource distribution, and a shift in priorities to address the root causes of poverty and promote social justice. The essay concludes by advocating for a society where both the poor and the rich have a voice in the operations and running of their governments to achieve a more equitable distribution of resources and opportunities.

Running head: GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 1
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GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 2
Abstract
Poverty is widespread across the globe. There is no society that does not have the poor.
Nevertheless, the poor are not solely responsible for their status. Even though there are instances
in which the poor have been blamed and seen as responsible for their current state of affairs, it is
evident that poverty is brought about by a few rich individuals within the society. These are
people who are keen on milking the poor to death. Doing business with the lives of the poor is
much easier than doing business with the lives of the rich. Hence the reason why a few rich
individuals with the society often resort to creating poverty. There are no clear policy guidelines
in various places to help curb poverty. Where there are any, such policy guidelines are not
implemented. Poverty can be eradicated only if there would be good will from all stakeholders.
There are enough resources in the world to satisfy human need. In the absence of greed, poverty
can be eradicated. Those in positions of authority should lead by example in helping eradicated
poverty.

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Introduction
Poverty is the condition of a majority of the world's population and it cuts across both
developed and developing countries. Different countries of the world have different levels of
poverty. The difference in poverty levels is not by accident, neither is it caused by natural
disasters. These poverty levels are by design. The question therefore is, are the poor people then
to be blamed for their state and condition? Could it be that the poor are not doing enough in
order to help change their lives, aren’t they doing enough to help themselves? Certainly not. This
condition is not brought about by poor people but rather by the few rich individuals in powerful
and influential positions within the political, economic and social structures of the various
nations of the world (Campbell, 2013). Political, social and economic power of the minority in
most countries of the world has often led to the diversion of various nation's resources from
domestic use to the world markets. A majority of those in power divert public resource from
serving the needs of the people to doing their personal business. This has led to poverty in most
parts of the world (Goldstein, 2013). The poor majority are marginalized and have no
representation in positions of leadership, they have no voice in both political as well as public
debates. This makes it impossible for their issues to be discussed. The plight of the poor is not a
subject for debate, and where such a topic is discussed it is often the last thing on the table. In
most instances, it is never discussed, and when it is finally discussed the recommendations are
never implemented. As a result, it is only the wealthy minority who stand to benefit from
political policies. This is because these policies are often made to satisfy their greed and not to
satisfy the needs of the people (Osborne & Weiner, 2015). A good example of these policies can
be seen in the amount that various nations of the world spend on financial bailouts and military
as compared to what governments spend on addressing poverty-related issues within the

GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 4
economy. Poverty in most parts of the world is a direct result of the marginalization of the
majority by the few in power. It is indeed true that poverty for the majority is not the result of
natural disaster, but of the greed and power of a minority. This statement is true given that
whoever has power has the ability to access and use factors of production as well as to acquire
more wealth. Their greed also makes it impossible for them to equally distribute the wealth of
the nation.
According to Hickey& Du Toit, (2013), corruption is a result of greed and it is what
contributes to poverty in many nations of the world. It is widespread all across the globe. Most
often, leaders from developed countries insist that aid and loans will only be issued to countries
that weed out corruption. The truth of the matter is that even the leaders of these developed
nations are involved in corruption (Duncan, 2014). The economic policies that are often
prescribed by leaders of the developed nations to the poor nations just work to serve their
personal interests. Through tax avoidance, the rich minority are able to hide trillions of dollars
(Sarker, et al 2015). This results in loss of huge tax revenues for various nations. These elite
individuals have power due to their accumulated wealth and as a result, they control both politics
and business in various nations of the world. As a result of greed, the world's super-elite use their
power to evade taxes too. A good example is a case in which Panama papers leaked information
of about 11.5 million files from its database that showed how Mossack Fonseca, one of the
world’s largest offshore law firm used various ways to secretively exploited offshore tax
regimes. It was discovered that 12 national leaders among the 143 politicians on the list were
involved in this activity. Various leaders and their friends were adversely mentioned in these
leaked documents. At the center of this scheme were some of the most prominent personalities. It
was also leaked that various state funds were hidden in most of these offshore accounts. Some of

GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 5
the leaders who were mentioned to have hidden money in these offshore accounts include former
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is said to have avoided paying taxes in Britain. He
is said to have used Some Bahamas residents to do his paperwork (Harding, 2016). Former
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also adversely mentioned in these leaks. Other
countries whose top leadership was mentioned include Iraq, Russia, Ukraine and Egypt among
others. The greed of the minority who are in positions of influence is responsible for the
entrenched poverty in various parts of the world. These groups of people are only keen on
formulating policies that serve their interest they also influence legislation and come up with
laws that serve to protect their business interest at the expense of the poor majority who for a
long time have been sidelined from positions of leadership for a long time.
Poverty is caused largely by the minority rich who prey on the majority poor within the
society. This is the means by which this group of the super-rich elites makes their money. A
good example of this scenario is the case of Bernard Madoff, one of the most prominent
American Stockbrokers. Because of greed and power, some of the super-rich use violence, fraud,
and theft to enrich themselves. When the super-rich uses violence, it is legitimized. When
government violence is used it is legitimized and this makes it appear as normal. In this case, the
ruling class, and the super-rich who control business and politics take advantage of the poor
more and more. Masbate is one of the provinces of Philippines. It is a good example of the effect
of greed and power. It is a fact that the real cause of poverty in Masbate is not the lack of
investment, neither is it because of lack of resources but rather it is the corruption and serious
levels of injustices that arise as a result of personal interested of the minority elite. This minority
group of elites who wield a lot of power turned a majority of government projects into milking
cows. A majority of the government officials including provincial officials were all keen on

GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 6
siphoning public resources for their own use and not for the service of the majority citizens.
Greed has proved to be a scourge. It has brought about serious suffering to the people of
Masbate. Eliminating poverty is the work of the elected officials of Masbate Island. Instead of
this group of officials eliminating poverty, they are busy entrenching it further.
Poverty is not caused by natural disaster, but rather by the greed and power of a minority
group who occupy positions of power and influence. This group of people has mastered the art of
subverting the interest of the public just to serve their interests. Instead of serving public
interests. These leaders are keen on serving their own interests. Addressing poverty requires
sacrifices and this is something that this group of people is not ready to do. Elections are thus
just a mock exercise since the poor cannot make it to the ballot, the requirements are such that
the poor have no access to some of the leadership position. Greed has also influenced the
election process to the extent that there is widespread violence which scares off the poor people
from going for an elective post. Justice is elusive and this makes the situation worse for the poor
people. Corruption has brought about poor publicity which scares off investor from investing in
Masbate. Masbate would experience massive prosperity if it could begin investing in its people
especially the poor and the needy. There are enough resources for all to use. It is enough to
address the needs of the people. However, there has never been enough money and resources that
can satisfy greed. Greed will often continue to make people poorer.
Politics of exclusion by the minority rich elite is a major cause of poverty in most nations
of the world. Exclusion brings about poverty due to unequal distribution of resources. The
resources of the nation are not equally shared. Only a given section of the population benefit
from the proceeds of national resources (Blair, et al, 2013). Theft of public resources and
embezzlement of public funds is another serious cause of poverty. All of these are practiced by

GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 7
the minority in power. Political control is one thing that has been used over and over again by
this group of individuals to achieve their goals. Those who go into politics do not go into politics
to serve the people but rather to serve themselves, friends and families. Politics as a result as
changed from being a service to being a business. Those who control the largest amounts of
resource are in politics not because they want to serve the people but because they want to serve
their interest and to protect themselves from prosecution because most often they are guilty of
various offenses (Mills, 2015). The super-rich has weakened several institutions of government
in order to have their way. Strong institutions have always been a thorn in the flesh for this group
of people. Strong institutions have always been effective in holding people to account. This is
why the business elite, as well as politicians, have made it impossible to have strong institutions
especially in most parts of Africa (Satterthwaite, et al 2013). The weakening of strong
institutions has often resulted in poor governance which has brought about serious political
blunders that have paved way for poverty in various countries of the world. Poverty and politics
of exclusion is a serious issue that needs to be eradicated. The gap between the rich and the poor
divides nations further and makes it impossible for national cohesion to thrive. Poverty also
tends to undermine political legitimacy especially of the rich elites.
In light of Barrientos & Hulme, (2016), the minority groups of the super-rich have
become cunning and have formulated ways to take advantage of the poor. These group of people
tends to mobilize the less advantaged people within the society around some shared concerns and
interest. In doing so they hoodwink the poor majority to pave way for them to achieve what they
want. This further favors their businesses. In the end, there is an unequal distribution of
resources. It is thus essential that all members of the society, both the poor and the rich should
have a say in the operations and the running of their governments (Rycroft, 2013). When the rich

GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 8
are allowed to control everything, they make sure that poverty never ends. When people are poor
they can be misused. The need to expand the welfare state can thus not be ignored. Sharing of
resources need to be done in a more convenient way. The rich must not be allowed to mobilize
resources only in their own direction. Resource should be accessible to all. In order to eradicate
poverty, it will be important for the citizens to demand electoral reforms in most of the electoral
bodies. Over the years, it has been noticed that the powerful elites have mastered the art of
election rigging in a way that it goes unnoticed. In order to rectify this issue total public
participation is required. Political parties have become business entities for money minting.
These are institutions to further the agenda and businesses of politicians.
In conclusion, it is important for the majority to be included in the decision-making
process of a nation. It is because of exclusion, both political and economic that poverty is so
widespread in various nations of the world (Miller, 2014). A reform is necessary for the
composition of the political setting of various nations for purposes of inclusivity. Greed should
be discouraged in all sectors because it is out of greed that corruption thrives. Every nation
ought to do some form of soul searching in order to establish how they can serve the people.
Theft of public funds should also be punishable in the severest manner possible to discourage
would-be thieves of public funds. Exclusion is dangerous as it threatens the safety and security of
a nation.

GREED AND POWER OF THE MINORITY 9
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