Comments on: How bad is poverty, really? http://www.uncrediblehallq.net/2009/10/06/how-bad-is-poverty-really/ Best blog name ever Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:27:09 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 By: Chris Hallquist http://www.uncrediblehallq.net/2009/10/06/how-bad-is-poverty-really/comment-page-1/#comment-5409 Chris Hallquist Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:31:44 +0000 http://www.uncrediblehallq.net/?p=769#comment-5409 Robin, do *you* feel like you've met many typical real poor people? What passes for poor in the most English-speaking countries isn't "typical" from a historical perspective; you can be living well below the U.S. poverty line without merely subsisting, and future subsistence-level living was what your original post was concerned with. The advantage of reading Mill, for an English-speaker, is that he wrote during a time when really desparate poverty still existed in the main English-speaking countries. I know that's no substitute for real-world experience, but for an English speaker going to really desparately poor and countries and getting to know the locals is a challenge. Not an insurmountable one, since I do plan to travel to Egypt next summer, where lots of people are poor and lots of people speak English, though on the other hand I may never have the guts to visit Johannesburg. If you've done what I hope to do in terms of travel experience, by all means share. But if you haven't, it's hypocritical of you to suggest I need more real-world experience. Robin, do *you* feel like you’ve met many typical real poor people? What passes for poor in the most English-speaking countries isn’t “typical” from a historical perspective; you can be living well below the U.S. poverty line without merely subsisting, and future subsistence-level living was what your original post was concerned with.

The advantage of reading Mill, for an English-speaker, is that he wrote during a time when really desparate poverty still existed in the main English-speaking countries. I know that’s no substitute for real-world experience, but for an English speaker going to really desparately poor and countries and getting to know the locals is a challenge. Not an insurmountable one, since I do plan to travel to Egypt next summer, where lots of people are poor and lots of people speak English, though on the other hand I may never have the guts to visit Johannesburg.

If you’ve done what I hope to do in terms of travel experience, by all means share. But if you haven’t, it’s hypocritical of you to suggest I need more real-world experience.

]]> By: Robin Hanson http://www.uncrediblehallq.net/2009/10/06/how-bad-is-poverty-really/comment-page-1/#comment-5405 Robin Hanson Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:21:56 +0000 http://www.uncrediblehallq.net/?p=769#comment-5405 I think you need to get out more, and meet some typical real poor people. Being moved by Mill's eloquence isn't at all the same as looking at typical real cases. I think you need to get out more, and meet some typical real poor people. Being moved by Mill’s eloquence isn’t at all the same as looking at typical real cases.

]]>