The greatest fallacy of our modern economic times is that poor people are poor because they are lazy.

It implies that hard work is all that’s required to lift yourself from poverty.

Not true.

Poverty is a function of an enabling environment, a lack of access to opportunities & a social malaise that sets in to communities that are homes to the poor.

And the worst of these is manifest in the savior syndrome: a favorite dietary requirement of corrupt politicians.

Don’t forget the crucial ingredient of an enabling environment & access to opportunities.

A part of lie that some successful people are often won’t to admit is that they are were they are, in part, because they were given the opportunity to be in the room with decision makers.

The next time you catch yourself thinking the poor must simply work harder to lift themselves from poverty, make sure that cast that shallow thought where it belongs, in the bin.

And here is the irony of this mindset:

The wealth of the rich is often derived from the labour of the poor. No doubt those who direct the means of production take a risk & for that risk should be rewarded proportionally.

But, and this is the heart of the issue, if the poor are poor because they lazy then why would capital employ them.

Capital, an instrument driven by the efficient & maximized return, would not entrust its accumulation to the whims of the lazy.

Here is the unfettered truth:

Wealth is not an indicator of work ethic. Wealth is not an indicator of intelligence.
Wealth is not an indicator of a supreme genetic disposition.

Wealth is a function of access to opportunity.

I’ve also grown increasingly weary of the “but Simphiwe did it” narrative.

The idea that the rise of one from the confines of an oppressive environment is symbolic of the rise of all.

Outliers are not averages.

So the collective work of the “conscious capitalists of our time” should be how do you design a system that presents an equilibrium of opportunities.

No system will ever be perfect.
No system will be devoid of human prejudice.

But a more equitable system can sure be designed.