Poverty isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of cash | Rutger Bregman

Translator: Klavdija Černilogar Dwyer Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

I'd like to start with a simple question:

Naj začnem s preprostim vprašanjem:

Why do the poor make so many poor decisions?

Zakaj revni ljudje sprejemajo toliko slabih odločitev?

I know it's a harsh question,

Vem, to je grobo vprašanje.

but take a look at the data.

ampak poglejte si podatke.

The poor borrow more, save less,

Revni si več sposojajo, manj prihranijo,

smoke more, exercise less, drink more

več kadijo, manj se ukvarjajo s športom, več pijejo

and eat less healthfully.

in jedo manj zdravo.

Why?

Zakaj?

Well, the standard explanation

Standardno razlago

was once summed up by the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

je nekoč ponudila britanska premierka Margaret Thatcher.

And she called poverty "a personality defect."

Revščino je poimenovala "osebnostna okvara".

(Laughter)

(smeh)

A lack of character, basically.

V bistvu, slab karakter.

Now, I'm sure not many of you would be so blunt.

Vem, da mnogi med vami ne bi bili tako neposredni.

But the idea that there's something wrong with the poor themselves

Ampak prepričanje, da je z revnimi nekaj narobe,

is not restricted to Mrs. Thatcher.

ni samo mnenje gospe Thatcher.

Some of you may believe that the poor should be held responsible

Kdo med vami morda verjame, da bi revni morali odgovarjati

for their own mistakes.

za svoje napake.

And others may argue that we should help them to make better decisions.

Nekdo drug, da bi jim bilo treba pomagati pri sprejemanju pravih odločitev.

But the underlying assumption is the same:

A temeljna predpostavka je ista:

there's something wrong with them.

z njimi je nekaj narobe.

If we could just change them,

Če bi jih le lahko spremenili,

if we could just teach them how to live their lives,

jih naučili, kako živeti,

if they would only listen.

če bi nas le poslušali.

And to be honest,

Če sem iskren,

this was what I thought for a long time.

sem tudi jaz dolgo tako mislil.

It was only a few years ago that I discovered

Šele pred nekaj leti sem odkril,

that everything I thought I knew about poverty was wrong.

da je vse, kar sem mislil, da vem o revščini, zgrešeno.

It all started when I accidentally stumbled upon a paper

Začelo se je, ko sem naletel na članek

by a few American psychologists.

nekaj ameriških psihologov.

They had traveled 8,000 miles, all the way to India,

Potovali so 8000 milj daleč v Indijo,

for a fascinating study.

da bi naredili izjemno raziskavo.

And it was an experiment with sugarcane farmers.

To je bil poskus s pridelovalci sladkornega trsa.

You should know that these farmers collect about 60 percent

Ti kmetje pridelajo do okoli 60 odstotkov

of their annual income all at once,

svojega letnega prihodka naenkrat,

right after the harvest.

takoj po žetvi.

This means that they're relatively poor one part of the year

Se pravi, da so del leta relativno revni,

and rich the other.

del pa relativno bogati.

The researchers asked them to do an IQ test before and after the harvest.

Raziskovalci so pred in po žetvi napravili test inteligence pri kmetih.

What they subsequently discovered completely blew my mind.

Kar so odkrili, me je vrglo iz tira.

The farmers scored much worse on the test before the harvest.

Kmetje so imeli pred žetvijo dosti slabše rezultate.

The effects of living in poverty, it turns out,

Učinki življenja v revščini se, kot kaže,

correspond to losing 14 points of IQ.

izrazijo z izgubo 14 točk inteligenčnega kvocienta.

Now, to give you an idea,

Naj ponazorim.

that's comparable to losing a night's sleep

To je primerljivo z neprespano nočjo

or the effects of alcoholism.

ali z učinki alkoholizma.

A few months later, I heard that Eldar Shafir,

Čez nekaj mesecev sem slišal, da Eldar Shafir,

a professor at Princeton University and one of the authors of this study,

profesor s Princetona ter eden od avtorjev študije,

was coming over to Holland, where I live.

prihaja na Nizozemsko, kjer živim.

So we met up in Amsterdam

Srečala sva se v Amsterdamu,

to talk about his revolutionary new theory of poverty.

da bi govorila njegovi novi revolucionarni teoriji revščine.

And I can sum it up in just two words:

Če jo na kratko povzamem:

scarcity mentality.

mentaliteta pomanjkanja.

It turns out that people behave differently

Ljudje se obnašajo drugače,

when they perceive a thing to be scarce.

ko zaznavajo pomanjkanje nečesa.

And what that thing is doesn't much matter --

Ni važno, kaj je ta stvar,

whether it's not enough time, money or food.

lahko je pomanjkanje časa, denarja ali hrane.

You all know this feeling,

Vsi poznate ta občutek,

when you've got too much to do,

ko imate preveč dela

or when you've put off breaking for lunch

ali ne naredite odmora za kosilo

and your blood sugar takes a dive.

in vam krvni sladkor pade.

This narrows your focus to your immediate lack --

To vašo pozornost zoži na trenutno pomanjkanje,

to the sandwich you've got to have now,

na sendvič, ki ga morate dobiti takoj,

the meeting that's starting in five minutes

na sestanek, ki se začne čez pet minut,

or the bills that have to be paid tomorrow.

na račune, ki jih je treba plačati do jutri.

So the long-term perspective goes out the window.

Dolgoročni vidik pade v vodo.

You could compare it to a new computer

To lahko primerjamo z novim računalnikom,

that's running 10 heavy programs at once.

ki izvaja 10 zapletenih programov hkrati.

It gets slower and slower, making errors.

Postaja vse bolj počasen in dela napake.

Eventually, it freezes --

Na koncu zmrzne...

not because it's a bad computer,

pa ne zato, ker je zanič računalnik,

but because it has too much to do at once.

ampak zato, ker ima preveč dela naenkrat.

The poor have the same problem.

Revni imajo enako težavo.

They're not making dumb decisions because they are dumb,

Slabih odločitev ne sprejemajo zato, ker so neumni,

but because they're living in a context

ampak zato, ker živijo v kontekstu,

in which anyone would make dumb decisions.

v katerem bi vsak sprejemal slabe odločitve.

So suddenly I understood

Nenadoma sem razumel,

why so many of our anti-poverty programs don't work.

zakaj toliko programov proti revščini ne deluje.

Investments in education, for example, are often completely ineffective.

Vlaganje v izobraževanje, denimo, je pogosto brez učinka.

Poverty is not a lack of knowledge.

Revščina ni pomanjkanje znanja.

A recent analysis of 201 studies

Nedavna analiza 201 študije

on the effectiveness of money-management training

o učinku usposabljanja za upravljanje z denarjem

came to the conclusion that it has almost no effect at all.

je pokazala, da nima skoraj nobenega učinka.

Now, don't get me wrong --

Ne razumite me narobe ...

this is not to say the poor don't learn anything --

ne pravim, da se revni ničesar ne naučijo ...

they can come out wiser for sure.

zagotovo usposabljanje koristi.

But it's not enough.

A ni dovolj.

Or as Professor Shafir told me,

Ali kot je dejal profesor Shafir:

"It's like teaching someone to swim

"To je, kot bi učil nekoga plavati,

and then throwing them in a stormy sea."

in ga potem vrgel v nevihtno morje."

I still remember sitting there,

Spomnim se, da sem obsedel,

perplexed.

zmeden.

And it struck me

Bil sem prevzet:

that we could have figured this all out decades ago.

to bi lahko dognali že pred desetletji.

I mean, these psychologists didn't need any complicated brain scans;

Ti psihologi niso potrebovali zapletenih meritev možganov,

they only had to measure the farmer's IQ,

samo izmerili so IQ teh kmetovalcev.

and IQ tests were invented more than 100 years ago.

In IQ teste smo izumili pred več kot sto leti.

Actually, I realized I had read about the psychology of poverty before.

Spomnil sem se, da sem o psihologiji revščine bral že poprej.

George Orwell, one of the greatest writers who ever lived,

George Orwell, eden najboljših pisateljev vseh časov,

experienced poverty firsthand in the 1920s.

je sam izkusil revščino v 20-ih letih 20. stoletja.

"The essence of poverty," he wrote back then,

"Bistvo revščine," je takrat zapisal,

is that it "annihilates the future."

je v tem, da "uniči prihodnost."

And he marveled at, quote,

Zdelo se mu je izjemno, citiram:

"How people take it for granted they have the right to preach at you

"Kako se ljudem lahko zdi samoumevno, da vam imajo pravico pridigati

and pray over you

in moliti za vas,

as soon as your income falls below a certain level."

takoj ko vaš dohodek pade pod določeno raven."

Now, those words are every bit as resonant today.

Te besede danes še kako odmevajo.

The big question is, of course:

Veliko vprašanje tukaj je, seveda:

What can be done?

Kaj lahko storimo?

Modern economists have a few solutions up their sleeves.

Sodobni ekonomisti imajo na voljo nekaj rešitev.

We could help the poor with their paperwork

Revnim bi lahko pomagali pri birokraciji

or send them a text message to remind them to pay their bills.

in jih z SMS-i opominjali, naj plačajo račune.

This type of solution is hugely popular with modern politicians,

To je hudo popularna rešitev za današnje politike,

mostly because,

predvsem zato,

well, they cost next to nothing.

ker je pač skoraj zastonj.

These solutions are, I think, a symbol of this era

Take rešitve so po moje znamenje današnjega časa,

in which we so often treat the symptoms,

v katerem tako pogosto zdravimo simptome,

but ignore the underlying cause.

ignoriramo pa temeljne vzroke.

So I wonder:

Zato se sprašujem:

Why don't we just change the context in which the poor live?

Zakaj ne spremenimo konteksta, v katerem živijo revni?

Or, going back to our computer analogy:

Ali če se vrnem k računalniškemu primeru:

Why keep tinkering around with the software

Zakaj se ubadati s programsko opremo,

when we can easily solve the problem by installing some extra memory instead?

ko pa lahko problem rešimo z namestitvijo več spominskega prostora?

At that point, Professor Shafir responded with a blank look.

Na to se je profesor Shafir odzval z brezizraznim pogledom.

And after a few seconds, he said,

Čez par trenutkov je dejal:

"Oh, I get it.

"Aha, razumem.

You mean you want to just hand out more money to the poor

Hočete torej revnim dati več denarja,

to eradicate poverty.

in tako odpraviti revščino.

Uh, sure, that'd be great.

Ja, seveda, to bi bilo super.

But I'm afraid that brand of left-wing politics

A bojim se, da tako levičarskih politikov,

you've got in Amsterdam --

kot jih imate v Amsterdamu,

it doesn't exist in the States."

v ZDA nimamo."

But is this really an old-fashioned, leftist idea?

Toda ali je to res zastarela levičarska zamisel?

I remembered reading about an old plan --

Nekoč sem bral o starem načrtu-

something that has been proposed by some of history's leading thinkers.

nekaj, kar so nekoč predlagali vodilni misleci.

The philosopher Thomas More first hinted at it in his book, "Utopia,"

Filozof Thomas More je to prvi nakazal v svoji knjigi Utopija,

more than 500 years ago.

pred več kot 500 leti.

And its proponents have spanned the spectrum from the left to the right,

Drugi zagovorniki ideje segajo tako na levo kot desno stran spektra,

from the civil rights campaigner, Martin Luther King,

denimo borec za državljanske pravice Martin Luther King

to the economist Milton Friedman.

ali ekonomist Milton Friedman.

And it's an incredibly simple idea:

In zamisel je neverjetno enostavna:

basic income guarantee.

zagotovljen temeljni dohodek.

What it is?

Kaj je to?

Well, that's easy.

To je preprosto.

It's a monthly grant, enough to pay for your basic needs:

Gre za mesečna sredstva, ki pokrijejo osnovne potrebe:

food, shelter, education.

hrano, bivališče, izobraževanje.

It's completely unconditional,

Je povsem brezpogojna

so no one's going to tell you what you have to do for it,

in nihče ne bo zahteval, da zanjo kaj naredite,

and no one's going to tell you what you have to do with it.

nihče vam ne bo ukazoval, kaj naj z njo napravite.

The basic income is not a favor, but a right.

Temeljni dohodek ni usluga, je pravica.

There's absolutely no stigma attached.

Ne nosi nobene stigme.

So as I learned about the true nature of poverty,

Ko sem spoznal pravo naravo revščine,

I couldn't stop wondering:

sem se vprašal:

Is this the idea we've all been waiting for?

Je to ideja, na katero smo čakali?

Could it really be that simple?

Je res lahko tako preprosto?

And in the three years that followed,

Potem sem naslednja tri leta

I read everything I could find about basic income.

prebral vse, kar sem našel o temeljnem dohodku.

I researched the dozens of experiments

Raziskal sem na ducate poskusov,

that have been conducted all over the globe,

ki so jih naredili po svetu,

and it didn't take long before I stumbled upon a story of a town

in kmalu sem naletel na zgodbo o kraju,

that had done it -- had actually eradicated poverty.

ki mu je uspelo dejansko odpraviti revščino.

But then ...

Toda potem ...

nearly everyone forgot about it.

so na to skoraj vsi pozabili.

This story starts in Dauphin, Canada.

Zgodba se začne v Dauphinu v Kanadi.

In 1974, everybody in this small town was guaranteed a basic income,

Leta 1974 so vsi v tem majhnem kraju imeli zagotovljen temeljni dohodek,

ensuring that no one fell below the poverty line.

zato nihče ni živel pod pragom revščine.

At the start of the experiment,

Na začetku poskusa

an army of researchers descended on the town.

je v mesto prišla vojska raziskovalcev.

For four years, all went well.

Štiri leta je vse potekalo odlično.

But then a new government was voted into power,

Nato so v Kanadi izvolili novo vlado,

and the new Canadian cabinet saw little point to the expensive experiment.

ki ni videla smisla v dragem poskusu.

So when it became clear there was no money left to analyze the results,

Postalo je jasno, da ni denarja za analizo rezultatov,

the researchers decided to pack their files away in some 2,000 boxes.

in raziskovalci so dokumente pospravili v okoli 2000 škatel.

Twenty-five years went by,

Minilo je 25 let,

and then Evelyn Forget, a Canadian professor,

dokler ni kanadska profesorica Evelyn Forget

found the records.

teh škatel našla.

For three years, she subjected the data to all manner of statistical analysis,

Tri leta je s podatki opravljala vse vrste statističnih analiz

and no matter what she tried,

in naj se je še tako trudila,

the results were the same every time:

je bil rezultat vedno isti:

the experiment had been a resounding success.

poskus je bil prepričljivo uspešen.

Evelyn Forget discovered

Evelyn Forget je odkrila,

that the people in Dauphin had not only become richer

da so prebivalci Dauphina postali bogatejši,

but also smarter and healthier.

pametnejši in bolj zdravi.

The school performance of kids improved substantially.

Šolski uspeh otrok se je zelo povečal.

The hospitalization rate decreased by as much as 8.5 percent.

Delež bolnikov v bolnišnici se je zmanjšal za 8,5 odstotka.

Domestic violence incidents were down,

Nasilje v družini je upadlo,

as were mental health complaints.

prav tako težave z duševnim zdravjem.

And people didn't quit their jobs.

In ljudje niso pustili svojih služb.

The only ones who worked a little less were new mothers and students --

Malo manj so delali edino mlade matere in študenti,

who stayed in school longer.

ti zadnji so se dlje šolali.

Similar results have since been found

Podobne rezultate najdemo

in countless other experiments around the globe,

v številnih poskusih po svetu,

from the US to India.

od ZDA do Indije.

So ...

Se pravi ...

here's what I've learned.

naučil sem se tega:

When it comes to poverty,

ko gre za revščino,

we, the rich, should stop pretending we know best.

bi se mi, bogati, morali nehati delati, da vse vemo.

We should stop sending shoes and teddy bears to the poor,

Revnim ne pošiljajmo čevljev in medvedkov,

to people we have never met.

saj jih sploh ne poznamo.

And we should get rid of the vast industry of paternalistic bureaucrats

In znebimo se veleindustrije paternalističnih birokratov.

when we could simply hand over their salaries

Zakaj ne bi njihovih plač dali revnim,

to the poor they're supposed to help.

tistim, ki rabijo pomoč.

(Applause)

(aplavz)

Because, I mean, the great thing about money

Veste, dobra stran denarja je v tem,

is that people can use it to buy things they need

da ga ljudje lahko porabijo za nakup potrebščin,

instead of things that self-appointed experts think they need.

ne za stvari, ki so potrebne po mnenju samozvanih strokovnjakov.

Just imagine how many brilliant scientists and entrepreneurs and writers,

Pomislite, koliko odličnih znanstvenikov in podjetnikov in piscev,

like George Orwell,

kot je bil George Orwell,

are now withering away in scarcity.

trpi v pomanjkanju.

Imagine how much energy and talent we would unleash

Pomislite, koliko energije in talenta bi sprostili,

if we got rid of poverty once and for all.

če bi se enkrat za vselej rešili revščine.

I believe that a basic income would work like venture capital for the people.

Menim, da bi temeljni dohodek deloval kot tvegani kapital za ljudi.

And we can't afford not to do it,

Ne moremo si privoščiti, da ga ne uvedemo,

because poverty is hugely expensive.

saj je revščina noro draga.

Just look at the cost of child poverty in the US, for example.

Poglejte strošek revščine otrok v ZDA.

It's estimated at 500 billion dollars each year,

Ocenjen je na 500 milijard dolarjev letno,

in terms of higher health care spending, higher dropout rates,

od višjih stroškov za zdravstvo do več šolskega osipa

and more crime.

ter več kriminala.

Now, this is an incredible waste of human potential.

To je neverjetna izguba človeškega potenciala.

But let's talk about the elephant in the room.

A spregovorimo še o tistem očitnem.

How could we ever afford a basic income guarantee?

Kako si lahko sploh privoščimo zagotovljen temeljni dohodek?

Well, it's actually a lot cheaper than you may think.

No, pravzaprav je dosti ceneje, kot si mislite.

What they did in Dauphin is finance it with a negative income tax.

V Dauphinu so ga financirali z negativnim davkom na dohodek.

This means that your income is topped up

Ljudje so torej dobili dodatni dohodek,

as soon as you fall below the poverty line.

ko so padli pod mejo revščine.

And in that scenario,

Po tem scenariju,

according to our economists' best estimates,

bi po ocenah ekonomistov,

for a net cost of 175 billion --

s stroškom 175 milijard dolarjev,

a quarter of US military spending, one percent of GDP --

kar je četrtina izdatkov za vojsko v ZDA in en odstotek BDP,

you could lift all impoverished Americans above the poverty line.

vse revne Američane dvignili nad mejo revščine.

You could actually eradicate poverty.

Revščino bi lahko odpravili.

Now, that should be our goal.

To bi moral biti naš cilj.

(Applause)

(aplavz)

The time for small thoughts and little nudges is past.

Čas za majhne ideje in mini spodbude je minil.

I really believe that the time has come for radical new ideas,

Res verjamem, da je prišel čas za radikalne nove ideje

and basic income is so much more than just another policy.

in da je temeljni dohodek veliko več kot le še en ukrep.

It is also a complete rethink of what work actually is.

Zahteva tudi popoln obrat v razumevanju dela.

And in that sense,

In v tem smislu

it will not only free the poor,

ne bo odrešil samo revnih,

but also the rest of us.

ampak vse nas.

Nowadays, millions of people feel

Milijonom ljudi se danes zdi,

that their jobs have little meaning or significance.

da ima njihovo delo malo smisla in pomena.

A recent poll among 230,000 employees

Nedavna anketa med 230.000 uslužbenci

in 142 countries

v 142 državah

found that only 13 percent of workers actually like their job.

je pokazala, da jih le 13 odstotkov dejansko uživa v svoji službi.

And another poll found that as much as 37 percent of British workers

V drugi anketi je 37% britanskih delavcev dejalo,

have a job that they think doesn't even need to exist.

da je njihovo delovno mesto pravzaprav nepotrebno.

It's like Brad Pitt says in "Fight Club,"

Kot pravi Brad Pitt v filmu Klub golih pesti:

"Too often we're working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need."

""Prevečkrat imamo službe, ki jih sovražimo, zato da kupimo drek, ki ga ne rabimo."

(Laughter)

(smeh)

Now, don't get me wrong --

Ne razumite me narobe,

I'm not talking about the teachers and the garbagemen

ne govorim o učiteljih in smetarjih

and the care workers here.

in negovalcih.

If they stopped working,

Če oni nehajo delati,

we'd be in trouble.

smo v težavah.

I'm talking about all those well-paid professionals with excellent résumés

Govorim o dobro plačanih profesionalcih z odličnimi življenjepisi,

who earn their money doing ...

ki služijo denar z...

strategic transactor peer-to-peer meetings

strateškimi sestanki s kolegi,

while brainstorming the value add-on of disruptive co-creation

ter razpravami o dodani vrednosti disruptivnega soustvarjanja

in the network society.

v omreženi družbi.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

(Applause)

(aplavz)

Or something like that.

Ali nekaj takega.

Just imagine again how much talent we're wasting,

Pomislite, koliko talenta mečemo stran,

simply because we tell our kids they'll have to "earn a living."

enostavno s tem, da otrokom govorimo, da morajo "zaslužiti za življenje".

Or think of what a math whiz working at Facebook lamented a few years ago:

Ali pa, kot je matematični genij s Facebooka pred leti dejal:

"The best minds of my generation

"Najboljši umi moje generacije

are thinking about how to make people click ads."

razmišljajo o tem, kako ljudi zvabiti, da kliknejo na reklamo."

I'm a historian.

Zgodovinar sem.

And if history teaches us anything,

In če nas zgodovina česa uči,

it is that things could be different.

nas uči tega, da so stvari lahko drugačne.

There is nothing inevitable

Nič neizogibnega ni v tem,

about the way we structured our society and economy right now.

kako oblikujemo družbo in gospodarstvo.

Ideas can and do change the world.

Ideje lahko spreminjajo svet in tudi ga.

And I think that especially in the past few years,

In predvsem v zadnjih letih je po moje

it has become abundantly clear

postalo kristalno jasno,

that we cannot stick to the status quo --

da ne moremo ostati pri statusu quo,

that we need new ideas.

da potrebujemo nove ideje.

I know that many of you may feel pessimistic

Vem, mnogi ste pesimistični

about a future of rising inequality,

zaradi naraščajoče neenakosti,

xenophobia

ksenofobije,

and climate change.

podnebnih sprememb.

But it's not enough to know what we're against.

A ni dovolj, da vemo, da smo proti.

We also need to be for something.

Moramo biti tudi za nekaj.

Martin Luther King didn't say, "I have a nightmare."

Martin Luther King ni rekel: "Imam nočno moro."

(Laughter)

(smeh)

He had a dream.

Imel je sanje.

(Applause)

(aplavz)

So ...

Torej ...

here's my dream:

tole so moje sanje:

I believe in a future

Verjamem v prihodnost,

where the value of your work is not determined

kjer vrednost dela ni določena

by the size of your paycheck,

z višino plače,

but by the amount of happiness you spread

ampak s količino sreče, ki jo delite,

and the amount of meaning you give.

ter s smislom, ki ga dajete.

I believe in a future

Verjamem v prihodnost,

where the point of education is not to prepare you for another useless job

kjer se ne izobražujemo za še eno nekoristno službo,

but for a life well-lived.

ampak za dobro življenje.

I believe in a future

Verjamem v prihodnost,

where an existence without poverty is not a privilege

kjer odsotnost revščine ni privilegij,

but a right we all deserve.

temveč pravica za vse.

So here we are.

Tako torej.

Here we are.

Tako.

We've got the research, we've got the evidence

Imamo raziskave, imamo dokaze

and we've got the means.

in imamo sredstva.

Now, more than 500 years after Thomas More first wrote about a basic income,

Več kot 500 let po tem, ko je Thomas More pisal o temeljnem dohodku,

and 100 years after George Orwell discovered the true nature of poverty,

in sto let po tem, ko je George Orwell odkril pravo naravo revščine,

we all need to change our worldview,

moramo spremeniti svoj pogled na svet,

because poverty is not a lack of character.

saj revščina ni znak slabega karakterja.

Poverty is a lack of cash.

Revščina je pomanjkanje denarja.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(aplavz)