Why are we giving 3rd world countries supplies

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
no, there are no rotting bodies of starved kids around here (Kansas City area), they must all be in California

thanks for the warning

Its hard to starve to death when you've converted 10,000 cheetos into a 200lb lard coat that you wear at all times.

 

[DrVos]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: CPA
We have no one starving like they do in Africa. That said, I still think we give way too much in foreign aid for what we get in return.

We get contempt and hatred in return for our help at lot of times. Sure...they will take all the handouts they can get their hands on, but then when it comes down to it they express hatred and contempt towards our country. We aren't perfect, but we sure as hell try to help people and that's a hell of a lot more than a lot of countries do.

Reminds me of that thing that the Canadian wrote about the US donating all sorts of stuff to other countries struck by disaster but when things like Katrina hit us, nobody does much. We end up doing it all ourselves. For the most part - there are those who do send us aid but it's nothing like what we do.

Its not like the world ignores us in the our times of need. As is often the case, the hardest part of delivering aid to those truly in need is getting past the people in "charge." Case in point?
Our failure to use more than $850 million in foreign aid that was offered in the wake of Katrina

 

[whistleclient]

poor people in the US still have cell phones and cars. You have no idea what true poverty is until you visit a 3rd world nation.

 

[Jeff7]

Other questions to answer for yourself:
Why do you have a computer when there are people in this country who need that money? Why have any luxuries when there are those who have none?

Originally posted by: tangent1138

poor people in the US still have cell phones and cars. You have no idea what true poverty is until you visit a 3rd world nation.

Exactly. In this country, you at least have the option of stealing from a grocery store, or begging for the food that a restaurant is going to throw away. Third world countries don't even have that much.
It's unfortunate too that so much of the poverty is caused by corrupt government officials causing wars. In the good old days, like in the pre-upright-walking era, if two individuals hated each other, they'd fight, and maybe a few buddies would get involved. They fight, some die, and it's over.
Now we can really use our large brains, to the end that we may use powerful weapons to kill hundreds of other people, and suck up the resources of an entire region to continue to do so.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Better marginal returns. Well that's the idea anyway. It doesn't work in practice though because we give a large part of our aid to our own companies for them to do the work. If we gave that money to companies in the country we are trying to help, it would cut down on costs (their labor is cheaper and there are very little transportation costs) and provide more jobs for that country. But because our country only looks at results for input (amount of aid) rather than output (impact of aid) things aren't likely to change any time soon.

To be honest, these countries would probably be better off if they refused our aid all together.

 

[bonkers325]

because the US needs political peen