Fighting poverty begins at home and in the church, or do these celebs know that?

Answer 1

Why u havin a go at Bono?
One is a great org, and many millions responded to it!!!
Give it a rest!

Answer 2

Fighting poverty starts with personal choices, education and honest wages for honest work.

Personal choice because one has to choose to work. One also has to choose how best to spend and save the money earned. Too many luxuries are held out as being necessities (TV, cable, etc.).

Education because the better educated one is, the better paying jobs one is eligible for. Education is a national/state/local investment at the K-12 level and a personal investment at higher levels.

Employers also need to pay a living wage. Keep the jobs in America and pay Americans to do them. It is a shame when the government has to set a minimum wage because employers will not pay a living wage voluntarily.

By a living wage I mean a wage that allows a family of 4 with one wage earner to live above the official poverty level. In 2004 that is $18,850. Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. For one year that is only $10,712 assuming a 40 work week and either no vacation or a paid vacation at the same rate.

This means that both adults will have to work, or the single wage earner has to work two jobs if only minimum wage jobs are available.

This is certainly doable by many families. As long as no one has a serious illness. Minimum wage jobs typically do not have much if any health insurance coverage. Private health insurance premiums are high ($250-$600 per month for a hypothetical family of 4 living in Lexington, Ky -- a 25 yr old male, a 23 yr old female, 3 yr old son, 2 yr old daughter, non-smokers). Many minimum wage jobs do not provide paid sick days.

I do not know which celebs you are talking about, so I cannot say what they do and do not know.

For the family of four, they are averaging $1570.83 a month. Take out the social security tax. Figure average food, rent, transportation, medical and child care costs. How much is left over?

Then do the same for the single wage earner at minimum wage averaging $892.67 per month.

Personal choice has a lot to do with overcoming poverty. Personal circumstances have a lot to do with keeping someone in poverty as well (sickness, injury, etc). It is easy to say this family can get assistance from the church or other family members, but for how long?

You don't have to agree with what the celebs are saying, just think about real world circumstances, because not everyone is as fortunate as you are.

Answer 3

I think celebrities know that involvement and participation begin at home and in the churches, but you have to remember that celebrities are not really experts on the issues. They are figureheads inspiring young people to get involved. It is the social economists and the health care philanthropists and the nongovernmental agencies such as church based philanthropies that encourage celebrities to inspire young people to want to help.

I don't give a whole lot of credence to celebrities either, but Bono and Angelina Jolie and George Clooney are good examples of people who encourage and finance the publicity behind encouraging young people to get involved and see if there is something they CAN do to end poverty and make a difference.

We are, at this point in history, very much like how we were back in the early 60's when we were fighting a low grade "police action" war and there were too many old geezers in politics who had run out of fresh ideas. It is kind of the challenge that not only Bono or Bill Gates pose, but everyone who wants to see young people go out there and make a difference. I think that history is telling us that it is time to go and time to make a future for young people that means more than just the idle entertainment that has made Bono, George Clooney and Angelina Jolie rich enough that they think they have more credibility than they actually do.

Answer 4

Haven't you noticed that most celebs don't know what home is? How many "signifigant others" have they had? How long does their commitment last? They really have no grasp of family and home. And if they were in anything but the "make up the rules as we go along" church they might be able to think logically.
You aren't really expecting societies problems to be solved by people who make their living pretending to be someone else, are you?.

Answer 5

Why should fighting poverty have anything to do with any church? Maybe those guys don't trust the church-run organizations to help out without charging an admission price of accepting their brand of religion. Also, they do help out at home, but it's not greatly publicized.

Answer 6

I would guess they know that ... celeb's are really smart contrary to popular beliefs.

However, I would guess that they are missing the family structure and the religious (most seem to be into spirituality but reject religion) structure ... Additionally, since they have the power to voice what they've learned to billions of people they are on a different begging point than normal peasants.

Answer 7

"fighting poverty begins at home"?????? I don't have poverty at home... now what?????

and the church has had 2000 years to fight poverty..... 2000 years...

your answers are a complete and total failure. time for your mindset to step aside

Answer 8

No, Dustin. They don't want to know that. They are humanists and think that they can solve problems by themselves. I think that is sad.