Quote Originally Posted by 120mm View Post
I, too, have strong suspicions that poverty and violence are correlational, not necessarily causal. Even if it WERE causal, the foundations of poverty are NOT the lack of material goods; poverty has political/social foundations that cannot be addressed by "programs" and "financial aid", and I doubt sincerely that we could effectively eliminate it, worldwide, through the theft of taxpayers' money and redistribution to "the poor".

Oddly enough, those who propose the strongest that material goods will stop violence are the first to accuse those who disagree with them of being "materialistic."
Getting out of poverty requires income, that's already almost all. With income you can pay for what you need.
The Black African tragedy is that even if one state suceeded in prospering, it would be drowned in the overall poverty around as there are few trade opportunities, too many diseases spilling over the borders and last but not least migrants that would fill any emptied slum quickly.
Look at Sierra Leone - they were just a normal African country till the Liberian Civil War factions had burned their land's resources and moved on to the next one just like the mercenaries lived off Germany in the 17th century's 30 years war.