Taiwan has the world's lowest poverty rate -comments?

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Comments on how this happened, evaluations, critiques, etc.?

I think that the phenomenon can be explained by the particulars of Taiwanese stats, which is composed of multiple poverty levels. The more levels one has, the more likely anyone person falls below one.

Also, Taiwan is a small country which means that the business influence of larger resource rich territories (china, japan, etc.) in the form of their labor and effort, and the efficiency of Taiwan’s gov. are magnified. That is, they can piggy-back on the labor and working conditions of say the Chinese, while also not needing an extensive bureaucracy to cooperate.
 
Taiwan is very free and very industrialized. Its government is working to the best advantage of its citizens. 'Fraid I do not get you on this one.
 
All politics aside, the Chinese people in Taiwan have the greatest work ethic of any people on the face of the earth. The difference between them and their bretheren on the Mainland is that on Taiwan the worker works for himself, whereas on the Mainland the worker works for the State.
In Taiwan, like in the US, the worker pays a tax on his income. He also pays a national sales tax on everything he buys. In mainland China, the worker pays no income tax but has low wages instead. There is also a sales tax on many items.
Tourists to China rarely see any of this in that not only is there a language barrier (one cannot even read street or store signs as they do not use the Roman alphabet, only Chinese pictogram charecters) but almost all tourists are carefully guided as to what they see.
 
I’ll be honest, I don’t pray for the poor and impoverished very much. The crosses they bear are blessings from the Lord. I believe they are more blessed than myself. Some of the most joyful people are in poverty. And I don’t think the solution to poverty is materialism.

I say this bc I doubt very much that this article and the Catholic Church define poverty in the same way.

My ultimate point is that Taiwan is suffering from spiritual poverty. It’s not a Christian country, and it seems that their God isn’t the God of Abraham… or even Bhudda, but the god of mammon.

I’d rather America be impoverished and Christian than it be rich and secularist. The wealth God has blessed Christians in the U.S. with must be used to aid our Christian brothers around the world- especially to help them convert non-Christians ans spread the Gospel.
 
Don’t worry. Obama will be helping the ChiComs invade Taiwan soon and will put an end to that.
 
How is poverty defined in Taiwan? I think that would make a big difference in the statistics, and would make comparisons between countries very difficult.

Is poverty defined in absolute terms, such as living on less than $1.25/day per person? If so, then I think most industrialized nations would do very well.

Or is it based upon an estimation of the cost of living within that country? In that case, wealthier countries might do worse, particularly if the average standard of living was high.

I think we need more information about Taiwan and its standard of poverty before we can answer the questions posed in the OP.
 
Only in our nonsensical world would having the world’s lowest poverty rate be looked upon as a possible problem. Beam me up Scotty!
 
fakename said:
Comments on how this happened, evaluations, critiques, etc.?

I think that the phenomenon can be explained by the particulars of Taiwanese stats, which is composed of multiple poverty levels. The more levels one has, the more likely anyone person falls below one.

Also, Taiwan is a small country which means that the business influence of larger resource rich territories (china, japan, etc.) in the form of their labor and effort, and the efficiency of Taiwan’s gov. are magnified. That is, they can piggy-back on the labor and working conditions of say the Chinese, while also not needing an extensive bureaucracy to cooperate.
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Do they count assets in their poverty calculations?

We really don’t over here.
 
SuperLuigi said:
Do they count assets in their poverty calculations?

We really don’t over here.
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Or Transfer Payments for that matter.

The poor in America are not poor when you take in transfer payments…but the fat, lazy guy on food stamps eating at McDonald’s seems to think he’s always worse off than the poor half-starved Indian kid rummaging through garbage for a meal. :rolleyes:
 
po18guy said:
Only in our nonsensical world would having the world’s lowest poverty rate be looked upon as a possible problem. Beam me up Scotty!
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Is that directed at me?

If so, I’ll point you to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is not logical. It is does not make sense. In fact, it is counter-cultural, it is illogical, it is nonsensical.

Influenced by Scripture, and the traditions of the Catholic Church, I can’t find poverty anything but a virtue. Why would monks take a vow of poverty if it weren’t a virtue? My view of poverty doesn’t come from the world, it comes from the Church. I think even poverty should be seen as something we take in moderation. Obviously, extreme poverty is an ill which the Church is called to address, but I would think the lack of poverty would also be an ill.

If poor nations are more God-fearing, and historically (Medieval Europe) most Catholics were in poverty, then the lack of poverty necessarily draws people away from God. The positive version of that statement is: poverty draws people closer to God.

I’d be very interested to hear other opinions about this though.
 
Semper_Zelare said:
Is that directed at me?

If so, I’ll point you to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is not logical. It is does not make sense. In fact, it is counter-cultural, it is illogical, it is nonsensical.

Influenced by Scripture, and the traditions of the Catholic Church, I can’t find poverty anything but a virtue. Why would monks take a vow of poverty if it weren’t a virtue? My view of poverty doesn’t come from the world, it comes from the Church. I think even poverty should be seen as something we take in moderation. Obviously, extreme poverty is an ill which the Church is called to address, but I would think the lack of poverty would also be an ill.

If poor nations are more God-fearing, and historically (Medieval Europe) most Catholics were in poverty, then the lack of poverty necessarily draws people away from God. The positive version of that statement is: poverty draws people closer to God.

I’d be very interested to hear other opinions about this though.
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What do you make of the non-God-fearing poor in China, Vietnam and Soviet Union? :confused:
 
austenbosten said:
What do you make of the non-God-fearing poor in China, Vietnam and Soviet Union? :confused:
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China has at least 75 million Christians, perhaps more than 100 million. Despite suffering severe persecution. One could make the case that the strength of their Christian faith is stronger than the Christian faith in America.

The Soviet Union doesn’t exist. But, here’s an article about the resurgence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia. And, it’s from a pretty reliable source: The Vatican
vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/russia-rusia-ortodossi-orthodox-christians-ortodoxos-18966/
-Some 88% of Russians believe in God, 79% call themselves Russian Orthodox.

As for Vietnam, most are Bhuddist, but there are 6 million Catholics there (8% of the population).

Even if I were to accept your premise that these 3 examples you cite are “non-God fearing”, I would account for that disputed fact with: state-atheism, Communism, and unreached people groups.

Being poor is a virtue, it doesn’t have a bearing on whether you’ve heard the Gospel or not.
And it certainly doesn’t have a bearing on whether your country has a regime which persecutes believers through Communism and state-atheism.

That’s what I make of it.

Again, if ppl disagree with my view of poverty, then show me how I’m wrong. So far, I haven’t been given a single reason as to how my view is in any way inconsistent with the Catholic Church’s view of poverty.
 
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