[Morgeruat]

Culture and practises plays a large part, as I posted, Egypt and Algeria used to be pretty major food exporters, through poor farming practices, divine famines, or whatever else one would want to blame they are no longer. In South America the rainforests are being decimated to make way for farmland (among other reasons), because of poor farming practices in a few years the once highly fertile land will have to be abandoned and more forest will have to be cut down to make way for more farmers. What is done with the land and the $ gained from vocation helps determine poverty. For instance much of the oil wealth from Saudi goes to spreading the Wahabi brand of Islam, not to supporting Saudis, The king and his dozens of sons and nepphews and their families also live lives that would make even the most jaded hedonist cringe, When it could be spent instead on social programs to make the desert bloom (and yes the desert does turn green after the 1-2 month rainy season, I've seen it) which would in addition to the oil wealth raise the standard of living.

As Timber mentioned what people in 3rd world countries do with their money tends to affect how they live, if they blow their paycheck on hookers and booze then of course they will be poor, it's no different in 1st world countries except for a culture that teaches you to save for what you need.

The fact that muslim lands are predisposed to poverty reflects several other cultural practises, muslims do not pay taxes, except possibly in the more secular countries, instead a tax is levied against unbelievers (and in times where the kingdom was poor it would actually restrict non-muslims from converting so that they could continue to leech the jizya -infidel tax- from them). Take a further look at scientific advances within lands controlled by muslims, most of them are either stolen and/or adapted from nonmuslims living in muslim lands, which of course tapered off and disappeared within a generation or two of muslims coming into power, the fact of loss of agricultural productivity in primarily muslim lands leads to the inevitable conclusion that their culture does indeed directly cause them to be poor.

{edit} Woot I'm a eunich... er I mean Unicorn

[ 07-08-2005, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]