Poverty has been a constant in human history, it was only after the industrial revolution that welfare reached a large part of the population. A quick look at a world map on industrialization shows a clear link between poverty and lack of industrialization. To give some examples, African countries have very few industries and the most poverty. Most countries in Latin America have some industries so less poverty, and the most industrialized countries like USA, western Europe and japan are the richest with the least amount of poverty. Britain was the first country to industrialize, and did not let her colonies imitate her to keep an advantage over others. The attitude is repeated and practiced by most rich countries through trade and finances, thus increasing the gap between rich and poor. This is historically explained in a book by Norwegian economist Erik Reinert called “How Rich Countries Got Rich, and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor”.

A couple days ago I asked my mom if she was going to vote in the presidential election. She responded: “I don’t think so. Honestly, neither one is worth it”. I lost faith in the elections for many years already. Some conspiracy theorists call it “presidential selection”. There is so much manipulation from the news and in social media that one starts to question if it really makes a different to vote. Trump was just elected president and according to the latest estimate the turnout was higher than previous years. Maybe it is just my perception that people just don’t care who’s at the White House.

We all have dreamt at one point or another about winning the lottery. What are the usual thoughts that come to us in those cases? I would travel the world, I would help one family member, I would buy a nice house. Most of us don’t usually buy a lottery ticket, but we think about winning the big pot! Because the changes of gaining a million dollar are slim, few people do the things that would increase the chances of being a millionaire.