Poverty Traps 101:
In a country focused on fighting poverty, it amazes me that laws perpetuating poverty remain overlooked by the central government. In Bolivia, debts are not eliminated with death. Unpaid loans are automatically transferred to next of kin. Remaining assets first go towards paying off debts, but if the size of the debt is greater than the assets, the mourned one’s kids are on the rope for all his unpaid dues. Bolivian law reads as such:
Article 1030 is a quintessential example of a “poverty trap,” where being impoverished is the principle cause for one’s inability to escape the chains of poverty. It’s like when a family living on a dollar a day can’t afford to buy the school uniforms required for kids to attend classes, causing poor children to sit at home without educations, leaving the next generation in the exact same situation. Ideas like the “American Dream” don’t exist for people stuck in poverty traps, because “an opportunity for a better life” is an equally foreign notion.
Poverty traps, both social and economic, are the main targets of the UN Millennium Goals to eliminate poverty. With these traps being publicized as much as they are by organizations like the UN, it is absurd that a country like Bolivia, which is so focused on supporting the lowest classes while attacking the privileged elite, would tolerate an archaic inheritance law. It makes me wonder if inheriting debts have been forced onto Bolivians for so long that the uneducated, the ones most likely affected by Article 1030, are unaware that alternatives even exist. For Evo Morales, there are such no excuses. Article 1030 represents a hurdle too large for poor, indebted families to overcome. Evo Morales needs to break up this law and put a stop to this cyclical poverty trap.
Article 1030:I understand that President Morales usually concentrates on macro issues, but I’m surprised that such an anti-imperialist, socialist leader like Evo neglected inheritance laws for his six years in power. Politicians originally drafted these laws mimicking Spanish colonial law when the country was first founded. They have yet to be modified or overturned.
As a result of outright acceptance, the estate of the deceased and the estate of the heir are combined and being one, headed by the latter. Therefore the rights and obligations of the deceased become that of the heir and he is responsible for the debts not only themselves but also by the legacy and burden of inheritance.
Article 1030 is a quintessential example of a “poverty trap,” where being impoverished is the principle cause for one’s inability to escape the chains of poverty. It’s like when a family living on a dollar a day can’t afford to buy the school uniforms required for kids to attend classes, causing poor children to sit at home without educations, leaving the next generation in the exact same situation. Ideas like the “American Dream” don’t exist for people stuck in poverty traps, because “an opportunity for a better life” is an equally foreign notion.
Poverty traps, both social and economic, are the main targets of the UN Millennium Goals to eliminate poverty. With these traps being publicized as much as they are by organizations like the UN, it is absurd that a country like Bolivia, which is so focused on supporting the lowest classes while attacking the privileged elite, would tolerate an archaic inheritance law. It makes me wonder if inheriting debts have been forced onto Bolivians for so long that the uneducated, the ones most likely affected by Article 1030, are unaware that alternatives even exist. For Evo Morales, there are such no excuses. Article 1030 represents a hurdle too large for poor, indebted families to overcome. Evo Morales needs to break up this law and put a stop to this cyclical poverty trap.
0 comments:
Post a Comment