Inequalities in the World

Recently the U.N. chief said the world is "at the breaking point" due to inequalities. Antonio Guterres said this at the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. I believe in the past Mr. Guterres has said similar things.

I have a theory on why most of the developed world doesn't see this as an issue. It has to with the belief--not always expressed--that people in this world generally get what they deserve. This thinking allows helping others when catastrophes strike, but, in general, if someone is poor, or with few job possibilities, or seems to have few options to better their situation, then they no doubt brought that upon themselves.

I can understand this reasoning, but one of the problems I have with it is that this type of thinking says the world is essentially "as it should be." People get what they deserve, so if a billion people, let's say, are starving tonight, that's how it "should" be.

It reminds me of Leibniz's "this is the best of all possible worlds." Voltaire thought this ridiculous. I guess I am with Voltaire.

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