Interesting topic for sure.
I think many people equate poverty or "need" with a lack of material resources.
Currently in the US even the poorest of the poor have access to luxuries even the richest kings and robber Barons couldn't have even fantasized about 150 years ago.
The perception of "wealth" seems to be very much subjective. I, as a middle income American might seem like a Rockefeller, or Carnegie in terms of wealth compared to somebody from a rural village in Uganda who feels blessed to have a tin roof over their head and one goat.
I think the mind control tactics and systems of enslavement, (political, monetary/debt, education, institutionalized religion, etc.) have far more to do with human suffering than lack of resources in the current state of this world
Yup, comparatively, things are way better now than in the past, but then comparatively to others in the present, some have it worst than others. But just some poor have more access to tvs, cable, movies and other "luxuries", doesn't mean their lives are well off. I suppose if they didn't spend the money on superfluous things like that, and lives within their means of survival, they could find contentment. But ppl have desires and wants, and when they aren't attained they feel like their lives are miserable. The systems that keep us down are often why ppl seek to do things like escape into drugs, alcohol, entertainment, gaming, trips or just escape the boredom of the daily grind. Failure to attain desires that make us "feel-good" bring the dull boring feeling. Finding contentment seems to be hard for modern people :/
Lack of meaning and purpose in one's life is a small slice of hell that even those with the most opulent lifestyles can experience.
If I could offer guidance towards true meaning, purpose and the ability to attain wealth as a resource that would be my answer.
However that is far more complex than the standard western answer of tossing money at problems that have much deeper roots.