Dragonlich,
I'm not taking extreme examples. The average life expectancy in Africa is 35 years old.
I won't comment on your book because I haven't read it--but I'll ask around. If it's making a case for a "culture of poverty" don't cite it in an academic setting. Like I said, 30 years of literature has discounted much of what you stated. People still publish works that try to justify old ideas and the discourse of modernity.
I think we are all aware of the usefulness of natural resources. Your making an odd point that oil, diamonds, sugar, cocoa, rubber, trees (lumber and paper), cotton, iron, silver, gold, and etc. aren't really worth much ("what do they have to do with wealth"). I also already posted some other concepts that you have to follow through to understand why various places have had to change from subsistence agriculture to a staple crop that can be exported--it doesn't have anything to do with their ability to actually grow food.
duckduck, I wasn't discussing the poor "among us." I also didn't endorse the link I posted. I listed some concepts, encouraged others to do the research if they care to learn more about the facts, and then came back to provide a starting point to those who would be to lazy to do the legwork. The cite doesn't claim Canada doesn't have an economy--it just doesn't list one. It also doesn't list one for the US. Now, that doesn't detract from the reliabability of the economies that were listed.
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