"From poverty to power"

Oxfam have come up with yet another report that conflates all the wrong issues and comes up with the wrong solutions.

According to the summary in The Metro;

Urgent action is needed to prevent millions of people being dragged into poverty because of rising fuel and food prices, Oxfam warned yesterday. Poor countries must slash their carbon footprint and invest in greener energies, while giving their people more of a voice, the charity said.

'Unless we act quickly, the gap between the haves and the have-nots will grow uncontrollably,' said Duncan Green, author of From Poverty To Power, 'We face either catastrophic climate change or serious economic decline. Either way, the poorest will be hit first and hit hardest.'

Every year, 30 million children are born facing a lifetime of poverty, poor nutrition and sickness.

Leaving aside all that crap about 'greener energies' (which are far more expensive than traditional sources!!); leaving aside the crap about the 'gap' (making rich people poorer does not make poor people richer); leaving aside the crap about 'catastrophic climate change' (global temperatures peaked a few years ago and are now going down again); how about this for a simple solution:

Simply invite those people who are reckless enough to have 30 million babies each year, regardless of the fact that that they 'are born facing a lifetime of poverty, poor nutrition and sickness' to ... er ... stop having babies?

The same logic applies to welfare claimants in the UK, of course. Heck knows why the welfare system encourages it.