Why will our goverment sell 20 billion in arms but won't help the homeless here in the US?

Question

We are giving so much money to overs for war, Selling arms to countries, etc yet we have homeless, starving people here who need our help. Why has the country turned a blind eye to our own people. People in the goverment claim god but are not honoring him. I'm looking for real answers. Is it wrong to help our neighbor? Instead of spending billions on war would it not be better to help our country?

I live in Arkansas. Our unemployment last time I checked was 4% not bad huh? Guess what 2/3 of the state is below poverty level they pay taxes but they are hurting. People say some are to lazy to work. It's cheaper to have medicare & medcaid then it is to buy insurance working at taco bell. I agree some are lazy but what about the ones that are not? Would you rather spend your tax money on other countries like Iraq or helping New Orleans? Jobs are leaving this country at an alarming rate. Fast food, and grocery chains need help but do they pay a family an honest living?

Answer 1

I feel the same way you do...

It appals me to see people in this room saying there is no such thing as a truly needy American. Not everybody who is not working is out of work because they're a drug addict, or because they're lazy... and I wish people would wake up and realize that.

Have any of the people who say that realized that there are some handicapped people who truly cannot get up and go to work each morning? How about people who got injured while on the job and are recuperating while their insurance company silently lets them go?

We have a major problem with jobs screwing over their employees when they become unable to work... they either shirk their benefits or fire them completely.

I actually know someone who lost their job shortly after 9/11... they have not been able to find another job in their field since. It has nothing to do with them not searching... they are. But employers would rather hire 2 20-year-olds now than one 40-year-old. The person I know is in his 50's, possibly early 60's now. He's taken a low-paying job as a salesclerk in a store, rather than just live off the government. Luckily he's one of the people who has his house paid off already. But COBRA is squeezing his family dry, and at times they struggle to buy groceries.

Since he has gone and found work, though it's not a job with the skills he acquired when he was younger... does that make him lazy?

Answer 2

How are we (the government) going to pay for feeding the homeless? Maybe selling 20 billion in arms might go to feed a few hungry mouths.

Seriously though.

You want the government to be some altruistic body that cares for EVERY single one of its citizens. Do YOU REALLY think this is possible? Are these homeless employable? Probably......most of them are. Some of these people make choices to be where they are now. Some don't want to do for themselves, and want a hand-out. Some think that life owes them something. Some just want to stay drunk or stoned or high to keep their real pain from staring them right in the face. Some could win a $1,000,000 lottery and spend it all on frivolous things and be homeless once more a few years later. The poor will be with us always. There should be programs to help the poor and homeless, but usually when we see government programs, we like to see results from it. You give people something to eat and a bed to sleep on when it is freezing outside.....yeah, great. What are these people doing with their lives, that would make taxpayers think that the federally subsidized social program needs to be continued or expanded. Answer me that???

Answer 3

The government doesn't actually sell the arms. They just give the approval for the arms-manufacturing companies to sell their products to foreign countries.

They regulate the business, not profit from it. When you hear of the U.S. selling F-16 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, they are allowing the Saudis to purchase those jets from Lockheed or whoever makes them. Same with tanks, artillery, small arms, etc.

This also has the benefit of keeping the manufacturers in business to supply our government with their products. If they were forced to go out of business because the our government had all the weapons it needed for our military and no other countries were allowed to buy their products, where then would the U.S. obtain it's weapons?

And please, don't be so naive as to say then we wouldn't need them and all wars would go away. The world doesn't work that way and anyone with common sense would realize that.

Answer 4

I agree with part of what you are saying. I don't really agree about the homeless. There are shelters everywhere for them and I do not think we owe them a house. Some are mentally disabled, the others could work if they wanted to. I think welfare is for people that need a boost to make it, not live off of it.

Answer 5

The government CREATED much of the homeless though welfare programs. Partially by reducing the incentive to earn a living on your own, and partially by reducing the incentive for private charities to help the TRULY needy.

Answer 6

Good question. Not only do they spend money on war but also on the space program and usless research. I would much rather see our tax dollars spent on food and homes.
Education for all who want it. There has to be a way to acheive this. It is so senseless for our fellow Americans to be hungry and living on the streets.It gets my blood boiling every time I think about it.

Answer 7

Satan's attorny, you suck. I was homeless once because no one would hire me because I was and looked poor. I never once got a helping hand, now I'm in the upper middle class and damn proud of it. This is because someone finally helped, and I've been giving hundreds to homeless since.

Answer 8

Your arguement might hold water if we were BUYING those weapons. But selling those weapons gives the government more money to spend.

Answer 9

The homeless are homeless because of their own life's choices. If they really wanted help, they would get a job and stop living on the streets. I have no sympathy for them.

Answer 10

another dolla another day?