I just read an article that Americans gave $1.2 BILLION dollars toward the relief efforts in Haiti. The article stated that over 50% of all Americans donated money to Haiti. WOW. Please understand that what I am about ready to write below does not mean that I don't believe we should donate money to foreign countries in their times of need, it is just a perspective. Americans immediately mobilized and sent money in the wake of the Haitian earthquake. I was very impressed to see how Americans came together and gave toward a common goal. Do you all believe hungry children in terrible poverty is a terrible thing in such a "rich" country as ours? I looked up the child poverty statistics for the states of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. In those three states there are currently 850,000 children that live in homes below the federal poverty rate. Now, if Americans gave that same $1.2 Billion dollars to those states to cover food costs for those 850,000 children in poverty that would mean each child would receive approximately $1,500 a year to help them out nutritionally. So, each child would receive around $4 a day to eat. Now that might not seem like much, but that would cover every single school breakfast and lunch, and possibly a small meal for dinner if the parents purchased the correct food...for an entire YEAR. So all 850,000 children living in poverty in 3 states could have their food costs covered for an entire year for the same $1.2 Billion dollars that we so readily gave to Haiti. Thoughts???
That's my perspective on it. I fail to understand why we don't take care of our own first before playing the rich helping neighbor. When every kid in the US is fed, clothed, and sheltered I wouldn't have a problem helping others. Until then..... screw that.
It truly, truly is a difficult issue. We've discussed it a lot at work and it's easy to say "take care of our own" but could we really go to Haiti and see a five year old with broken limbs and two deceased parents and say, "No, you're not getting any help here, I'm taking care of folks back home." I read where about 80% of Haiti lives on less than $2/day; to live in such extreme poverty and then have a disaster as such strike is, I think, unfathomable without seeing it with your own eyes (thus, unfathomable to me). I guess it's the price we pay for living in the world's foremost country. Children and adults alike in our country and others are staving, sick and dying each day, but who do we help? How much do we help each? For me, it's not a decision that can be made be the masses but more of a decision that must be made by each individual.
Not to belittle the problems in Haiti......... But I feel it is wrong for the USA to send money anywhere when it doesnt take care of its own or fix its own problems. Look how great a job they did with Katrina relief.............dropped th eball on that one didnt they. Its wrong for the govt to send money that we simply do not have. I wonder where the !.3 billion came from?? Did we borrow it from China too???
It's not as "GLAMOROUS" to donate to our OWN people though...... If AMERICANS were as generous towards each other as they are other causes, we could solve a LOT of our problems.
Katrina? US Gov't? Please. How would you administer this? Give the money to their parents? Good luck with that. Kinda like depending on the leaders of state (Katrina?) to take care of their own with Gov't $$??? Do we not learn anything from history? Every time I see someone begging.....I'd give my last $$ to make sure they weren't cold or hungry. But....just give them money? Pipe dream.
The way the govt handled Katrina was shamefull. If that didnt show us what the Govt was made of nothing ever will. Im not refering to what went on in New Orleans. I spent 2 weeks in Southern Miss after Katrina. Most of these people lost everything,yet would offer us what ever they had while we were there as gestures of gratitude . These were for the most part honest hard working tax paying people. When they needed it most their Govt. forgot about them.
I used giving money to our own as an example of something I would deem very worthwhile as compared to giving money to Haiti, if we had an option. No, I would not give the money to their parents, I would pay the school system to feed them two solid meals a day....IF we were forced to choose between sending the money overseas or using the money to take care of people in our own country.
Honestly, I don't have a problem with giving money to other countries that truly need it.....in this case Haiti. There is one major difference in our country than in many other countries. Here, there is the opportunity for everyone, every single person, to make something of themselves and rise out of poverty. In many countries, there is zero opportunity....none.
I gave money to a charity in Haiti after the quake. I gave them money before the quake. I 'give' money to 'needy' children in the USA in the form of my tax dollars. Medicaid, WIC, Food Stamps, free and low cost school lunches, grants, section 8, public housing, EIC.... If anybody starves in the US, it's because they're not taking advantage of the resources available to them. (tho' I do donate to several children's charities here in the US too. Benefit4Kids, St Judes... etc.)
I think there are several children in this country who never stand a chance. I think my problem with sending money to other countries is that the USA simply doesnt have the money to be doing so
We view ourselves more harshly than other countries. People make active choices to fail or succeed, in OTHER countries as well. The people in Haiti have chosen to overpopulate their island, not work to create a working economy with other countries, and have million of women being used as sex slaves. Why should I feel more sorry for their country's plight as compared to the plight of many of our own children? I AM NOT saying we should have not given to Haiti (as stated in my first post), I am saying our country makes some seriously flawed decisions in who to to give money to while ignoring our own, and I do not like it.
Here is another breakdown I just thought of a minute ago... 1.2 billion 1,200,000,000 divided by 50,000 of our most at risk home owners, the one's who have lost their jobs, the one's who have supported this country via their tax dollars for decades=$2,400 to help pay a month's mortgage. Just one months mortgage--they are basically getting back the tax dollars they have given over decades....do you know how much that would do for some families? OR we can give it to Haiti and then have people on this very thread state that Americans are basically lazy and other people in other countries have NO chance (not true) and would rather give them our money than give it to our own countrymen and women. Once the money is give to the Haitians, the money stays in Haiti. The Haitians are not going to buy American goods and services and therefore give us our money back.
As far a our own, it is hard to tell who is needy and who is a scammer. Last year their was a guy that stood at the intersection of a shopping mall with a sign that said, " Lost everything to fire Please help" I gave the guy a couple of bucks and said good luck. Two weeks later front page of the paper is an article about the same guy and how he was a convicted sex offender pan handling, had already been chased out of one town. I drove by that afternoon and I yelled at the guy and called him a few names, he said you want your money back and I said you keep the money I just want you out of this area you sick bastard. Their were two women that were talking to him at the time, they ended up being reporters, the next day in another article about him they said,"and one man in a late model pickup truck stopped and yelled, and when offered to return his money he just said no I just want you to go away." It was a very clean version of what I yelled at the guy.
