ch 1 and 2

Within the first two chapters of  Common Wealth by Jefferey D. Sachs, I think the idea that hit me hardest was the "poverty trap." This trap is a cycle in "their desperation to stay alive" (31) and the only way to break it is with cooperation from the world. Alot of people wonder why, if there is a God, poverty still prevails; however, from this small passage, I've begun to realize that the answer to that is because of free will. "The poverty trap requires special policies and global efforts" (31). It is up to the independent/able nations to work together to solve this poverty trap. Thinking about this, I began to wonder how certain nations may have ended up in these severe conditions. A documentary called "Guns, Germs, and Steel" mentions that perhaps poverty and economic delay is necessarily their fault, but rather, the fact that some areas have conditions in which it is harder to grow food. As the book mentions, I think the leading nations should team up to just provide the struggling nations with the technology and education need to take those steps. If you think about it, if everyone just worked together and put our differences aside, we could really make the world a better place. As cliche and obvious as that may sound, it's really true. I feel as thought the difficulty is more in cooperating than in economical/money related reasons. I think if we all just open our minds to the potential we have as a whole earth, we really could end poverty and starvation; but in the midst of all this, in the back of my mind, I sorry to say that realistically, this wont happen...