1      INTRODUCTION

The word poverty defines us the inequalities that manifest within a human society. The deficiencies of a part of a community are seen in the lack of basic resources such as food, water, housing and also in the lack of access to health, education and even the impossibility of being able to access decent work.

Unfortunately, these inequalities are maintained at various points on our planet and even deepen more and more. The causes can be diverse, depending on each culture and situation of the country, which can range from the lack of natural resources such as fresh water to embarrassing cases of corruption and inefficiencies in political efforts. There are several governments in the world that look the other way, especially towards the African continent where poverty abounds in most countries.

From the beginning of humanity that poverty is present, from the Egyptian civilizations, where the quality of life of the rulers and powerful was contrasted with the poor life of the oppressed slaves. So much so that the first recorded strike was in Egypt during the reign of Ramses III, in the year 1066 BC, where the workers demanded food. The same happened during the Roman Empire and the following European reigns; where the clergy and the monarch dome subjected their working and poor people.

At the end of the Modern Age, societies begin to improve their quality of life. The first republic appears, the United States, where any citizen could ascend socially, and the equalities begin to flourish as freedom of expression and freedom of opinion. And of course the first election to president via the popular vote.

These events, like the French Revolution and the English Revolution, improved and transformed, the poor living conditions that had the workers of that time, as well as access different rights that had never had.

Returning to the theme of the causes of poverty, as we said earlier, it depends on each territory and the political-economic context of the country or region; That is why it is very difficult to talk about casuistry.

As historical causes, we can stand up in wars, colonialism, slavery and invasions. Wars today unfortunately continue to be news, especially in the Middle East, in countries such as Syria; where entire cities have been destroyed and millions of people have been left in absolute misery.

In terms of factors we can name the low salaries paid by large multinational corporations in certain poor countries, which does not help to improve the situation. One example may be the big clothing brands employing cheap labor from Asian countries. The renowned Levis jeans brand paid about 40usd per month to its employees

Corruption is another archenemy factor of all peoples. Where resources made infrastructure, social services, and others are affected by political patronage, overpricing or incomplete works. In Argentina, there are many cases of this type, where the habitat solution does not end or only benefits family members or friends of the politicians in turn. Corruption does not have a political flag or ideology, but the problem derives from the country’s educational bases, its customs and values. Corruption not only affects the quality of life of a society, but also its future and progress. And of course it can also cause death as was the case with the tragedy of eleven, where the lack of maintenance of the railroads caused the death of more than 50 people and more than 700 injured. The Argentine justice, in this case, condemned the culprits

Climate change is another cause that is being very named these days and that is going to get worse unfortunately. Floods or droughts that are affecting towns and cities with increasing frequency. In addition, they directly attack the economy of any country, worsening crop yields and consequently the employment of people related to this task.

Inequality in access to health services or education directly influences society. Citizens who can not access a free university lose the possibility of improving their economic situation. The constant training is one of the main characteristics of our times to be able to adapt to the constant changes of the globalized world.

The growth of the population not only accentuates poverty, but it is one of the great evils that concerns us all over the world. The world population is already close to 8,000 million people and it is expected that by 2050 the 9,000 million will pass according to the UN. The irresponsibility of most governments and society in general will contribute to the increase of inequalities, since the resources of the planet are limited.

Gender discrimination prevents women from studying and working, and has opportunities to develop economically and socially; These cases occur in some Arab countries where women practically do not even have the right to go shopping at a shopping mall.

Globally, the issue of poverty has improved as we will see in Chapter 3 of the book; but there are exceptions, such as Argentina, which has an opposite tendency where poverty continues to rise. Even bordering countries such as Chile and Bolivia have improved this important indicator. As for Argentina, poverty continues to increase and goes against the trend of the region and the world; in this 2018, it increased again, due to the bad management of the government in office. Hence the reason for writing this book, not only to describe the theme of poverty, but also to provide a solution to it, since we understand that it is a multidimensional problem and that it is not treated in such a way by the authorities.