Poorly Structured
How Systems Manufacture Scarcity
Welcome to part three of our series on the Lie of Poverty.
In the first two parts of this series (Part 1: Introduction to The Lie of Poverty Series, Part 2: The Spiritual Origin of Abundance), we explored the spiritual truth of abundance. We claimed the metaphysical foundation that says Divine Source is infinite and that our work is to align with that truth. This wisdom forms the backbone of New Thought, a spiritual philosophy rooted in the science of positive thinking, mindfulness, and intentionality. And let’s be clear—it works. Science and psychology have offered up the research and data that supports the power of mindfulness, attention and intention. Which might lead one to believe that all we need to do is have the right mindset about prosperity in order to have it in our lives, right?
Not so fast, here’s where it gets real:
We don’t live in a world where abundance flows freely for all. We live in a world where systems, legal, economic, political, have all been designed to manufacture scarcity, lack and competition. The system sucks (literally drains life out of us). It is designed to keep us trapped in a state of exhaustion, fear of falling behind and questioning our own authentic power and voice.
Scarcity Is Not Accidental—It’s Engineered
The lie of poverty is not just about personal belief; it is institutionalized in the very structures that govern our lives.
According to recent reports, Americans are earning more than ever, but still falling behind. The report states that just over 60% of Americans struggle to make ends meet and can’t achieve a basic quality of life standard. That’s a funny way of saying - the majority of us! Why? Because the cost of living continues to rise while wages stagnate. Housing, healthcare, childcare, and education have all become disproportionately expensive relative to income, creating a trap for millions who technically earn enough but still can’t thrive. (source)
We are told to “work hard and play by the rules”, but the truth is the rules themselves have been rigged.
This is not about laziness or poor choices. This is about:
Wage suppression
Corporate profiteering
Lack of affordable housing
Tax policies that reward the wealthy
Systemic racial wealth gaps
The gutting of the social safety net
“Poverty is a result of choices—not the bad choices of the poor, but the choices of those in power.” - Matthew Desmond, Poverty, by America
Matthew Desmond boldly calls it out - Poverty is indeed a choice! A choice made by those in power, not the ones experiencing it. Let that sink in for a moment. He elaborates that this isn’t an abstract concept—but a purposeful design shaped through policy, economic incentives, and social structures. He highlights three main mechanisms by which poverty is created and sustained:
Labor, housing, and financial markets are rigged to exploit the poor—constrained by low wages, high rents, and predatory fees.
The government subsidizes affluence (e.g., mortgage interest deductions, employee health benefits) much more than it supports the poor.
Zoning laws and segregation build barriers—keeping opportunity locked behind high-income enclaves.
You see, poverty isn’t rooted in individual failings, it’s the direct result of choices made by those in power, benefiting from systems that extract from the vulnerable. As he bluntly puts it:
“Poverty persists because some wish and will it.” - Matthew Desmond, Poverty, by America
Scarcity Thinking Becomes Scarcity Systems
Most of us have heard that our thoughts create our experience, whether through formal spiritual education or the many popular forms of pop psychology and “internet gurus.” It’s a popular and empowering idea that has been around for a long time. It is true at the individual level, but even as individuals we live inside the context of a collective experience and collective or shared reality. Here is what the is often over looked in personal-empowerment spirituality: collective thoughts creates systems. And when fear, competition, and separation are the dominant thoughts, what gets built are systems that hoard, exploit, and exclude.
This is the dark side of manifestation culture: we created a society where abundance exists (and we exist in a universe where abundance is natural), but it is unequally distributed, hoarded at the top while the many live in lack.
And then we spiritualize this inequality with toxic teachings like:
“You attract what you are”
“If you’re poor, you’re out of alignment”
“They just have a poverty mindset”
No. Thats just spiritual gaslighting!
People are poor because housing is unaffordable. Because wages are criminally low. Because opportunity is gatekept.
That’s not a mindset problem. That’s a system problem. Systemic issues require systemic solutions, not mere individual affirmations.
“Taking the effects of systemic problems and laying the blame at the feet of personal consciousness is spiritual gaslighting. Systemic problems and injustices require systemic solutions, not the pithy prose of personal responsibility that absolves us of our call to act.” - David Alexander, Freedom From Discord
The Spiritual Cost of Scarcity Systems
Scarcity systems don’t just harm wallets, they harm souls.
They create anxiety, depression, and disconnection. They divide us into “earners” and “takers.” They breed resentment and shame. And they make people believe that lack is their fault rather than the result of injustice.
In spiritual terms: scarcity systems sever us from our knowing of Oneness. They distort our capacity to give, receive, and trust.
So what does a Liberation Lens teach us?
A Liberation Lens says: Justice is a spiritual practice.
A Liberation Lens says: Systems built on separation must be dismantled through collective consciousness and collective action.
A Liberation Lens says: It is not enough to affirm abundance—we must also advocate for equity.
Reclaiming the Commons
We must imagine a society where abundance is shared. Where public goods—housing, healthcare, education—are considered spiritual imperatives. Where prosperity is not privatized but made collective.
This is not utopia. It is alignment.
As we claim abundance as a spiritual truth, we must also work to remove the systemic blocks to its expression in the world.
Let’s be clear:
There is enough food.
There is enough money.
There is enough energy, wisdom, and compassion.
What’s missing is not supply—it’s distribution. More accurately, the will to distribute what the universe has provided. A recent study showed that the richest 1% has raised their collective wealth by $34 Trillion in 10 years. That’s enough to eliminate world poverty 22 times over. (source)
So the question remains not about supply - but what are we going to create with the overflow available? Just as the poor don’t create their poverty, the rich don’t create their own wealth - despite how much they’d love us to believe they do. Poverty and wealth alike are products of belief-made-structure, systems sustained by our shared agreements and participation.
These systems are reinforced everyday. Right now in congress a debate is underway over the current administrations so called “Big Beautiful Bill” (that’s literally the name of it). As William Barber II reminds us, budgets are moral documents, and this budget holds within it the beliefs and ideas held by those in power about who we are and who is deserving of resources and who does not.
This bill seeks to impose new work reporting requirements for Medicaid enrollees. Which is expected to result in at least 8.6 million losing their health insurance, without actually promoting any employment programs. This is projected to result in 13.7 million people losing their health care.
The bill pushes SNAP benefit costs onto states for
the first time since the program’s creation during the Great Depression. This is expected to force states to cut back on the assistance hungry Americans can receive, narrow eligibility for assistance, or end their food aid programs entirely. This is projected to result in 11 million people losing food security assistance.
Meanwhile the bill seeks to add over a trillion dollars in defense spending, 45 billion for building new immigration detention centers, 27 billion for ICE operations, and 51 billion to expand border wall construction.
Does this sound like the consciousness of the richest nation on earth, or an empire in fear of losing control? Does it sound like the sharing of greater good for “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?”
You can read more about the dire consequences of this budget here. Again, budgets are moral documents that reflect the consciousness operating behind them.
“Those who put wealth into useful work that contributes to the welfare of the masses are the salvation of the country.” - Charles Fillmore
A Call Through the Liberation Lens
To challenge these scarcity systems, we must:
Expose them: Understand how housing, tax, and labor systems impose scarcity.
Challenge them: Advocate for policies like living wages, affordable housing, and universal childcare.
Rebuild them: Support local efforts—cooperatives, mutual aid, public transit, and community gardens.
Support them: Use personal abundance to back justice organizations and movements.
Our prosperity becomes meaningful only when it dismantles the systems that hoard wealth and withhold opportunity.
“Tell me what kind of thoughts you are holding about yourself and your neighbors, and I can tell you just what you may expect in the way of health, finances, and harmony in your home.” - Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity
In the end, the power to change this reality still resides in you and me. We still have the power to co-create our reality - we just have to start doing it with ALL of us in mind. When we can start envisioning a world that truly works for everyone, we’ll become more powerful and prosperous that we could ever imagine. Why? Because all the creative energy of the universe will sing, such that even the rocks will cry out!
Next up: Part 4: The Ethics of Circulation—how spiritual laws guide just, generative giving and receiving.
Reflection Questions
Where have you internalized scarcity systems as personal failure?
What public structures in your community create barriers to abundance for others?
How might you participate in movements that shift systems toward equity and shared prosperity?
Resources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-living-income-quality-of-life/
https://slc-atlanta.org/ministries-and-programs/40-days-of-prosperity--13
As always, your support makes this work possible - and as always I am committed to equity and liberation, so my work is always free. Nonetheless acts of economic solidarity that help break the trance of scarcity are greatly appreciated. Together, we can demonstrate that abundance is the nature of reality. Thank you for your support.
Rev. David Alexander D.D. is the spiritual director of the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta, author of Freedom from Discord: The Promise of New Thought Liberation Theology and Recovery from the Lie of Whiteness. David writes a monthly column, Philosophy In Action in Science of Mind Magazine.
Excellent breakdown. Please continue to cry loud and spare not! So much individualism made people overlook and ignore how systems worked against them (maybe not them personally), against the divine plan of abundance and enough-ness.
I'd heard on an NPR program that 65% of those on medicaid have jobs already. I don't see this changing with the new work requirements because all the others have reasons why they cannot work. The work requirement is more subterfuge. Seeking to claim a success that was already present. Shameful!