Bill Gates: 'By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world'

[JDPriestly]

64. Lots of optimism, but he lives in socialist Sweden.

Here, we have our Kochs and Christies and others whose free market economic philosophies lead to cuts in food stamps and lower standards of living for the poorest among us and those whose jobs have been shipped overseas. Further, the optimism does not deal adequately with the problems of a deteriorating environament and increasing scarcity of raw materials, resources.

Sounds good. But I'm skeptical.

China is advancing, but it sells junk-products and is smothering the earth with its pollution. Meanwhile, the Gates of the world are very rich and feel very smug about applying their solutions to the problems of the world. But they do not see the poverty in their own countries and the growing disparity of wealth and impoverishment of many people in their own countries.

Educating women and encouraging birth control have to be encouraged in every country. But even educated women and birth control cannot lift people out of poverty if you have great disparity of wealth. The aggregate numbers look prosperous but the reality is not when you have the great disparity in wealth that you have in the US.

Many children in our country have computers and are linked into the world. But many, many are not, and yet we are viewed as one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We are so sure of ourselves, so confident that we do not look around us to recognize the injustices. The big problem that may spoil this man's dream is the economic injustice. It is very prevalent in China as well as in the US. Europeans are far more egalitarian than we are.