“Recent evidence confirms that retail prices of essential consumer goods in poor countries are not appreciably lower than in the United States or Western Europe. In fact, with deregulation and "free trade", the cost of living in many Third World cities is now higher than in the United States. My experience in Latin America and Haiti is that the prices of meat, fish and fresh vegetables are about the same as in the United States. Can you imagine eating on less than one dollar a day?”
Quote by Vincent A. Gallagher
“Back in Russia we were dirt-poor. Here in the West we are still poor but have risen above the dirt to tower alongside stalks of grass!”
“Welcome to Hartford. The poorest city in the wealthiest state in the richest country on earth.”
Source: The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial
“Tipsy, they tumbled early into bed - to get as much sleep as they could. So they would feel less hunger. The summer catch had been poor; there wasn't much food. They ate with care and looked sideways at the old: the old were gluttons, everybody knew it, and what was the good of feeding them? It wouldn't harm them to starve a little.
The hungry dogs howled. The women rinsed the children's bellies with hot water three times a day, so they wouldn't cry so much for food. The old starved silently. ("The North")”
Source: The Dragon: Fifteen Stories
“Not all developing countries are the same.”
Source: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
“Ард түмэн үхрийн мах худалдан авч чадахгүй байна, гэтэл архи түүнээс нь хямдхан байдаг, чухам иймээс л, орос эрчүүд ядуурлаас болж архи ууцгааж байна! Ард түмэн ном худалдан авч чадахгүй байна, яагаад гэвэл зах дээр Гоголь, Белинскийн аль нь ч байхгүй, харин хямд архи л дүүрэн бий, чухам иймээс л орос эрчүүд боловсролгүй бүдүүлгээсээ болж ууж байна. Дмитрий Писарев”
Source: Moscow to the End of the Line
“Theology alone doesn't convine anyone.
Only those words which are pregnant with action, theology that is born of suffering, of struggles, of the poor--this theology is a testimony. This theology leads to conversion. (Leonardo Boff, p. 169)”
Source: The Struggle Is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation
“Persuading everyone to behave decently to each other because the society is so fragile is a worthy goal, but it may be more straightforward just to make the societies less fragile, which means developing their economies.”
Source: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
“This is the basis for the most important critique of microfinance. The poor are not entrepreneurs. The idea that more than a few will turn tiny loans into a viable business is simply unrealistic.”
Source: Freedom From Want: The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That's Winning the Fight Against Poverty
“One can slide between poor and rich, the difference as slight as between paper and parchment, one voice and a choir, arms hanging by sides and a hug.”
Source: Borrowed Names: Poems About Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters
“Suppose a country starts its independence with the three economic characteristics that globally make a country prone to civil war: low income, slow growth, and dependence upon primary commodity exports. It is playing Russian roulette. That is not just an idle metaphor: the risk that a country in the bottom billion falls into civil war in any five-year period is nearly one in six, the same risk facing a player of Russian roulette.”
Source: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It