We can't solve poverty in this country. Is it reasonable to think we can fix it world-wide first?

Question

There is poverty and hunger in this country, as well as other countries world-wide. If these countries cannot solve their own problems with it, how can it be solved by expanding it to countries outside of their own? Can we justify letting people in their own countries go without, with a grand gesture of trying to help everyone world-wide? I'm sure the rationality is to pool resources and hope everyone benefits, but we've seen that before, and in the end it just doesn't work. Sustaining people with food has always been a 'band-aid,' but the cure seems to still be elusive.

Answer 1

My Dad used to say " Charity begins at home", and how true is that.

We should attend to our own problems at home and ensure the people who pay the taxes are looked after in everyway possible for their dollar.

I do have empathy for neighbouring nations in times of crisis though but money is not always the answer. We CAN help in other ways.

Do you remember Bob Hawke saying that he would banish poverty...... we're still waiting for that one Bob.

Answer 2

""There is poverty and hunger in this country, as well as other countries world-wide. If these countries cannot solve their own problems with it, how can it be solved by expanding it to countries outside of their own? Can we justify letting people in their own countries go without, with a grand gesture of trying to help everyone world-wide? I'm sure the rationality is to pool resources and hope everyone benefits, but we've seen that before, and in the end it just doesn't work. Sustaining people with food has always been a 'band-aid,' but the cure seems to still be elusive.""

bunches of questions here and I will try to answer what I think that I can

Other countries have their own structures of government and us so called helping them does not help them really because they don't learn how to fight for themselves and to make things different. For those that are wealthy and doing good this is a joke, "There is poverty and hunger in this country", but it is not really funny and no one wants to look at the poverty and hunger that we really have in this country.

We need to help this country that we live in first, we need to find the answer and that is only going to be done with a real grassroots effort, not those in positions of power or authority over what is being done.

Poverty programs are built in such a way as to keep people poor and trapped in the oppression and that is part of the reason why it does not change. One must stay poor to get any of the real help that they might need in this country, that is not right there are no other incentive programs in this country that are seen in this way.

We need incentive programs for the poor that don't just take it away once a person starts to get a little more then someone says that they should. When people can get enough to take care of themselves most will give back, many poor people are some of the most generous that I have ever known in spirit because they understand they have been there. We need to stop some of the labeling that we are doing.

Answer 3

The answer is one loud, resounding NO.

That is one of the long standing problems in America. Time and again, we have taken on the global problems as our own. It is not to say that they shouldn't be addressed and considered but in the end, Home still comes first.

Looking at the National Deficit once again, We are living well outside our means as a nation. There is something seriously wrong here.

Looking at the state of our country, we are the equivalent of a welfare family. To top it all off, we are buying meals for all the other families while our own children sit homeless and starve. Politics are messing up things just as badly as the churches, kings and barons ever did.

As far as help or change? Pray there is a God and that he cares.

Answer 4

There is nothing elusive about the cure for hunger. Hunger is almost always policy-engineered. Since around 1870, the world consistently produces more food than it consumes. If you look at where and when in the world hunger happens, you will see that it usually happens during a civil war (as in, for example, Ethiopia, where farmers are driven off their fertile lands and langiush in the desert) or in a country where government interferes in land ownership, agriculture and/or food wholesale, while simultaneously restricting food imports (as in, for example, India, where the government retains the monopoly on rice wholesale).

As to "justifying letting people in their own countries go without", you really should read up on how big foreign aid really is and where it goes. In 2005, the U.S. spent $27.2 billion on foreign aid, of which $6.9 billion went to Iraq and $1.1 billion to Afghanistan (so if the U.S. government chose not to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, the figure would have been under $20 billion). Also in 2005, the U.S. government spent $31.1 billion on food stamps, over $300 billion on Medicare, and over $400 billion on defense. So if you are really concerned about hunger in the U.S., there are larger targets than foreign aid out there...

Answer 5

You can't eliminate problems like poverty, unemployment, homelessness and so forth. The idea however is to get the percentage of the population who is for example unemployed so low that the country is able to sustain those who aren't "pulling their weight". But programs in the more developed countries do exist to still help those who are starving, homeless and unemployed. Getting to those countries in for example Africa is a completely different issue. Because those are war torn areas and it's the war that makes it almost impossible for aid to assist those in need. Every country's situation is unique and help, as is the case in almost all situations, needs to come from within before aid from more developed countries can be truly effective.

Answer 6

There is no cure. Not one that anyone is willing to do anyway because it would cost too much money. Any government effort is merely posturing to make people feel better about not being impoverished. If a government or corporation can say that they're making a effort, even if they're lying, the people that support that government or corporation will feel better about themselves. Its like "Oh, I feel bad that I can't help the homeless, but I'm voting for American Idol and they're donating money so I'm doing my part."

Bottom line: Until we stop posing and actually take some action, nothing will be solved in this or any country.

Answer 7

to be perfectly honest i feel that if we as the United States of America can't fix our own problems first, then we shouldn't try to fix everyone elses. we have in poverty (well not so much as 3rd world countries) for the better part of my life anyways (19 years) and i have only seen 2 or 4 years as to which we were progressing out of poverty and that was when Bill Clinton was president, But ever since one of the damn Bush boys were in presidentcy we would experience wars, national debts greater than 2 trillion and poverty across our nation. now im not trying to say were a bunch of unfed, unclothed, and homeless people but mainly what im saying is that every time a Bush has to run this country hes has to stick his fat up someone elses **** (to be parently advised). so until we can find a way to fix our problems, we need to stay here in the usa and out of the other countries. nuff said! to answer your question my thought may not be the best but they are effective, GET THE HELL OUT OF THE COUNTRY YOUR LIVING IN AND MOVE SOMEWHERE YOU CAN HUNT ANIMALS, CAUSE IF YOU STAY THERE YOUR GOING TO DIE. if i seem mean please tell me. oh and maverick dude (sorry if i get it wrong) but there is no god to save us, there never was its one big control stick for government wave at us, and tell us what we can and cant do (according to our religions) that is ecxactly why i have no religion, i pray to no one except my lost family members.

Answer 8

The big problem is that a large part of the world believes that all the worlds problems are a clear case of "haves vs. have nots" and the problem can be resolved by throwing money at the at it. If it were as true as they believe, then the billions and billions that have gone toward fixing the inner cities and the whole continent of Africa would have worked long ago. In fact, the streets of both should be paved with gold by now.

Answer 9

It would help to have a flat tax rate, you know, everyone just pays 7% of their income or something? We pretty much got murdered on our taxes this year ($2500), and there are some really rich CEO's who only payed around $500. It's a lot fairer, and the government would get more money without breaking the backs of the middle and lower classes.

Of course, that's not the whole solution, but every step forward gets us closer to our goal, right?

Answer 10

Short Answer:
Of course the unscientific elected totalitarians of public-interest tsardom can't solve our nation's problems--they helped to create them.
So s you not why would extending their dictatorship over others around the world do anything but postpone their wider failure briefly, at best?
I wrote a parable years ago that said,

Old Chinese Proverb 13
First put your own war chest in order.
Then begin to attempt to give orders to the world.

Boy are we smart. To bad our so-called leaders are not.