Doughnuts Defeating Poverty - NYTimes.com.
Something to think about in a week in which we sing the praises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why do we tolerate a system whose structures plunge some -- many -- people into situations which quite rationally lead them to self-medicate?
Our country confronted this 100 years ago, and went through a period of prohibition. It didn't solve the underlying problem.
Go to the root of the problem. Stop hacking at the leaves. Let's go fix the problem that causes the despair!
All this hints at an uncomfortable truth: The suffering associated with poverty is sometimes caused not only by low incomes but also by self-destructive pathologies. In central Kenya, a recently published government study found that men, on average, spent more of their salaries on alcohol than on food.
It’s a vicious circle: despair leads people to self-medicate in ways that compound the despair.
It’s a vicious circle: despair leads people to self-medicate in ways that compound the despair.
Something to think about in a week in which we sing the praises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why do we tolerate a system whose structures plunge some -- many -- people into situations which quite rationally lead them to self-medicate?
Our country confronted this 100 years ago, and went through a period of prohibition. It didn't solve the underlying problem.
Go to the root of the problem. Stop hacking at the leaves. Let's go fix the problem that causes the despair!
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