Americans keep giving money to poor 3rd world countries. Has it really helped them?

Question

They are still poor. They still have too many kids that they can't afford and they still complain that we just don't give enough. Who else thinks this is getting old?

Answer 1

Give a man a fish and he eats for only a day. Teach a man to fish ... and he'll spend the rest of his life in a boat drinking beer.

Answer 2

I don't normally quote the Bible in the Y!A politics section, but Jesus said, in response to His apostles criticizing a woman for pouring expensive perfume on Jesus, and telling Him that the money for the perfume would have been better spent on the poor, "The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."

This statement is primarily interpreted to mean that there will always be poor people in the world, so we shouldn't spend our time and money trying to eradicate poverty worldwide, but instead we should each just give what we can to the poor and pray to God to do the rest.

There are many different groups of people in the world that need other people's help, and likewise, there is a similarly large number of groups of gifts and abilities that people have with which to help people, and each person should try to match his or her gifts and abilities with the group of people best helped by those gifts and abilities, even if it is a relatively small group of people, e.g. people in wheelchairs.

Money we give to charities for the poor does not even go to the poor, and when it does, it may help them to survive better, but it won't get them out of the poverty cycle.

In my opinion, the only 2 factors that can drastically decrease the number of poor in the world are a Democratic government and a capitalist economy, both of which must start at the top, with the leadership of big business and big government, which in effect must make themselves small for the common poor person to get out of poverty, a sacrifice the "Bigs" in 3rd world countries are never willing to make.

Answer 3

We actually spend more money on Welfare then we do on foreign aid. So we are trying to help ourselves out first, then the rest of the world.

By helping the people of a wartorn nation, we do actually win their "hearts and minds." Yes, we're there to help others but we're also there for diplomatic alliances, strategic placement of troops, and possible economic advantages.

In 2000, the Unites States ranked 21st in Economic Aid as a percentage of the Gross National Product. We were behind Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and of course, Canada.

It's more left up to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to assist developing third world nations.

We're not giving away the bank here guys.

Answer 4

Money isn't the answer. It never gets to the people who actually need it. I personally think our generosity goes to feed the wealthy who don't need it. There's so much red tape and so many hands to go through that it never gets to the people we want it to go to.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I 100% beleive as human beings that we naturally want to help. There's just too many fingers in the till...............red tape stops our help. I've personally stopped "donating". I want to help directly. Do you realize the most help that got through to the Katrina victims was our own PERSONAL help? Heck they're still waiting on the government......there's help........if you fill out the right form at the right time....with the right color of ink.....Katrina victims never got any real help till the actual citizens helped them. Damn...they got better and quicker help in the sunomi across the world than the citizens of our country got. I'm in my 50's. We were feeding the starving kids in China and Africa back then........we were helping the people in India. More of our money goes to helping others than it does to here.

We have a genocide going on in Africa. I don't know the exact history and I can't say there wasn't abuse along the way.......all I know is white people had farms and grew crops and people were fed....then they burned and murdered the white farmers and got their land back. Now people are starving and dying and the land is just sitting there while they are killing people who aren't "black" enough..........I don't know the answer. I wasn't there. Just like here.......I never owned a slave.....my ancestors never took land from anybody. .....it's 100's of years later and we're still paying the price for something we had nothing to do with. Who actually won between the Hatfields and McCoys anyway? For those who don't "get it".........it was a generational battle in which people never knew why they were fighting....they just knew to keep hating.

Answer 5

in case you check out the DFID internet site, you will discover precisely how lots they spend on foreign places help, to whom it is going to, and what precisely that's spent on. then you definately can pick in case you think of that's well worth it or not. Secondly, a brilliant number of help given is politically inspired - to international locations that could as a result be nicely disposed to the united kingdom sooner or later: India and Nigeria as an occasion. finally, as has already been talked approximately, foreign places help makes up a tiny proportion of the finished uk budget. If the quantity spent on help could handle each and all of the united kingdom's problems, then i could be prepared for that to ensue, yet all of us comprehend that's not the case. not changing Trident could be a extra robust funds spinner in step with threat?

Answer 6

I think we would be doing them the biggest favor if our dumbass companies paid them reasonable wages to mine our diamonds and sew our clothes and assemble our electronics.

We really don't "give" them that much. Don't flatter yourself. For every dollar we give them in aid, we extract 10 in natural resources and labor. Much of what we give their governments never gets where it's supposed to go, which is to the people.
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To Crazybird:

I'm not sure what you've read about the genocide in Darfur, but there are pretty much no "white farmers" involved, as you say. There are, in fact, no white people anywhere, since they're either too scared to go in and provide aid or are kept out by al-Bashir's government (Al-Bashir, by the way, is a pretty neat guy; check this stuff out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Al-Bashir ). No one is killing people who "aren't black enough." The people getting killed - the victims of the genocide - are native black African farmers and herders, who have historically owned the land and whose needs are ignored by the government. The ones doing the killing are pro-government Arab and black Muslims who support Sudan's becoming a fundamentalist Islamic state. Atrocities have been committed on both sides.

P.P.S. Blacks could not even attend schools with whites or date white girls without getting beaten and killed until 50 years ago. Just because we eradicated slavery does not mean we eradicated racism. It's pretty apparent that racism is still alive and well.

Answer 7

No,What they need is a government that helps them instead of victimize them. Infrastructure and opportunity are much better than hand outs. Help them find ways to help themselves and you have not only made a friend but have made proud individuals. The moral/religious structure of these people have to be changed or at least brought into the modern era. Social practices that are deep seated are not always best removed but adapted to shape more constructive practices.

Answer 8

As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer I can say we have taught them how to fish as well as given them fish.

The whole issues of developing nations goes beyond them being poor and complaining. In many places US policy has kept them poor, for example think of all the US sponsored coups that put corrupt people in power. Zaire was economically usurped by its US appointed dictator.

More money is being spent on the war in Iraq. We spend a relatively low percentage of our budget on foreign aid as well. 0.01%

Answer 9

US supports to third world country is conditional,as follows:
1-the government eligible for support must be ruled by a dictator.
2-our support usually goes to non-democratic country.
3-9 Billion Dollar alone goes to Israel only to smear America's reputation.

Answer 10

Is it right to let millions starve because their governments are corrupt and don't take care of their citizens? I think not. No one reading this will ever know what its like to live in complete poverty. Is it right to tell people how many child they can have? Do you think those parents don't love their kids like American parents do? Americans have more respect for life than any other country...thats why we spend millions to feed starving people. Americans who think like you need to be knocked down a few pegs...

Answer 11

I pay my dollar for my salvation,,,invest in helping the poor,that's it ,,,I don't think its old,its necessary for Americans to do that.I personally want to do more ,but a dollar a day is my limit,until i win the lottery,then ,if my stocks dont tank and the rapture does not get me,,i can send more green backs to the soup bowl,,and pray in church for my salvation ,regardless of my sinssss. freepress,,people will you at least give her a thumbs up,as you break bread with her for aswers,,good god ,i give you one great question.