The World in 2030

34 The World in 2030
were so poor that it was immediately grabbed and embezzled
by all who had any power at all – presidents, dictators,
ministers, bank managers, customs officials, diplomats,
contractors, even shippers. 62 Many such embezzlers may well
have had extended families living in poverty and to put the
general good of society above such personal considerations
would require the conscience of a saint.
Economist Professor Paul Collier, 63 Director for the
Study of African Economics at Oxford University writes in
his 2007 book ‘The Bottom Billion’:
All societies used to be poor. Most are now lifting
out of it; why are others stuck? The answer is traps.
Poverty is not intrinsically a trap, otherwise we would
all still be poor. Think, for a moment, of development
as chutes and ladders. In the modern world of
globalization there are some fabulous ladders; most
societies are using them. But there are also some
chutes, and some societies have hit them. The countries
at the bottom are an unlucky minority, but they
are stuck. 64
In this survey of what the world may be like in the year
2030 why should it matter so much to us in the developed
world that a billion people (and, potentially, many more by
2030) will be stuck in abject poverty? There are two reasons;
the first is the enormous financial cost to the developed
world that failing and fighting nations inflict, the second
is the almost certainty that such countries will increasingly
exact their revenge on us for their abject poverty through
international terrorism.