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The MasterCard Commercial I’d Like To See |
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Cost per year to achieve basic health and nutrition for the entire world: $13 billion
Amount spent on perfumes each year: $12 billion
Clean water for all the world: $9 billion
Amount spent on cosmetics in the US: $8 billion
Basic education for the world’s children: $6 billion
Total amount the US spends on Christmas each year: $450 billion (or 16 years worth of food, water, and education for the world)
Initial cost of the US Government bailout of failing financial institutions: $700 billion (or 25 years worth of food, water, and education for the world)
Coming to grips with the alarming disconnects of our consumerist society: Priceless
Sources: www.globalissues.org, http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU
(cross posted at Discipline for Justice)
Great words
What are you doing with your allotment of food and water if you aren’t “consuming” it?
Current world population: 6,741,720,843 (estimated)
Cost per year to achieve basic health and nutrition for the entire world: $13 billion
Cost per person per year to achieve basic health and nutrition: $1.93 (rounding up)
Are you serious? That’s 1/189 cent per person per day. What sort of basic health are you talking here?
Very Basic
A small piece of a future Band-Aid? :]
Your joking right. Do the math on $700 billion divided by 6.5 billion people. Not really a whole lot of money per person. Where the hell are you coming up with your idiotic figures. Use your brain just a little and then worry about helping the world.
Notice that it says, “Cost to achieve.” It’s not about literally providing food and healthcare and water for all the people in the world. It’s about funding the development programs which will help ensure that the pororest places on the planet can provide these basic needs for their citizens.
2 trillion dollars is only enough for everyone to live for one year on a dollar a day - not live well for decades. The bailout is still a stupid waste, but please, saying stupid crap like this doesn’t help our cause.
As noted above, the figures refer to the cost of development programs, not of giving handouts of food, water, and medicine.
Then your examples are misleading. The actual costs to achieve these things is in the trillions.
Please cite you sources. Additionally these numbers may be clarified by explain whether this is addition to the current total spent on world health care by governments and individuals or an aggregate of the total sum required. Your comments seem to indicate the former.
but ken, if his figures were to the point (insteading of deliberately misleading) it wouldn’t guilt us into penitence! for as much as the left claims to hate religious folk, they sure are trying to shame us in every regard. this is because they hate capitalism and in essence, hate the core values of our country. this guilt trip to help support others stems from a desire to have everyone equal…everyone gets the same benefits. countries that create a successful system of governance and economics will prosper. countries that have failed to modernize themselves or further their country have no one to blame but themselves (or their neighbors in the case of waring states). to say that because we are a successful nation (yes i know we’re in a recession, but we’re comparing to third world nations here) that we should feel guilty and that we MUST take the labors of our hard work and give them to others is a page directly from socialist/communist dogma.
the world will NEVER see everyone equal. there will ALWAYS be the rich, the middle class, and the poor. until we find a way for every person in the world to contribute the same amount to the global community, you will not find equal rewards in this life. but keep on hoping for change, y’all. i hear utopias are going for a dime a dozen these days. *rolls eyes*
Are you kidding?
Christmas is a time for generosity and thankfulness. Reflecting on Jesus’ sacrifice etc. But you’re upset that this posting indicates that what you spend on perfume and cosmetics sets at the local pharmacy could pretty much save the world?
Incidentally, you should also mention how Americans exhibit compassion and generosity on the most useless and non-contributing people in the world: babies!! They NEVER contributed anything! and yet people constantly help them eat, drink and get medical care EVERY DAY. Some people just don’t get it… they’re supporting a socialist/communist agenda!
Stop being so defensive. It’s unattractive and only gives those that dislike or do not support the religious ‘folk’ yet another example of a close-minded, Bible thumper. Jesus would disapprove.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Jesus doesn’t exist my friend
Nobody’s claiming that global economic equality is attainable, or even a good idea. Nobody’s arguing that everyone should be equal. What the author is talking about here is fulfilling the standard (not basic, standard) human needs of EVERYONE.
Also, he’s not stating that America ’should’ provide these things. Simply that we ‘could’ and choose not to.
If you’d like to argue that someone somewhere isn’t deserving of food, water, shelter, education and adequate health, be my guest.
I love that the advertisement banner above this anti consumerist page is for capital one credit cards, that’s not sending mixed signals at all.
Firefox Adblock.
The cost of development programs? And there is a person on this planet who knows that such a small sum will lead to the solutions for these problems?
I don’t see many dictatorships, oligarchs, kingdoms, or communist countries doing much for the planet (let alone their own citizens). It’s fine to have issues with consumerism, but don’t ever forget - ever - that freedom and capitalism are the only reasons our society and our world can grow, prosper, develop new medicines, extend life expectancy, educate and empower our children, and protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Go ahead and complain about Americans buying junk. But it’s a decent trade-off with the money invested globally and domestically to address the concerns you raise. Without jumping to a critique of your politics, I sure hope you aren’t suggesting that the world would be beautiful and perfect if only we’d stop buying Elmo dolls for our kids at Christmas. As I suggested above, good luck finding any other system on this planet that has the resources and power to accomplish so much without the principles of freedom and capitalism.
it’s not our job to take care of the world. f*ck ‘em, we have enough of a problem with religitards.
$13bn - health & nutrition
$9bn - clean water
$6bn - education
=======
$28bn total
$104bn - Annual government assistance for developing countries
$95bn - Annual private assistance from the U.S. for developing countries
(couldn’t find a number for private assistance internationally)
=======
$200bn - lower limit of annual international aid for developing countries
$172bn - the amount by which international aid exceeds your “amount needed” annually
looks like ur catching a lot of heat for your post there Jimmy. I know nothing of the numbers you are quoting and if they are valid or not, i don’t care. I surely get the point tho my man.
I don’t understand how the cost to feed the world’s people is greater than the cost to educate the world’s children? Can you verify these numbers? Do you have links?
Those numbers look like the reunion of a thousand bulls with a ton of shit.
Thanks, this is really striking, so am putting it up at cabdrollery this afternoon. from Ruth
My point, above, is that the most “consumerist” of the “consumerist societies” that you are deriding annually donate the most money to the developing world. In fact, they give many many times the total GDP of the developing countries themselves. So, by accusing the developed world of being selfish and greedy by pointing out how much they spend on their pets is, in essence, a lie of omission.
He is saying we are wealthy and should spend it more wisely beloveds
Hasn’t anyone noticed that 450 billion dollars in the US alone on Christmas presents would be 1500 dollars for every man, woman and child in the country? That seems a bit on the high said, if not on the really high side. I would guess that it is more like a couple of hundred per person. So, around 60 billion is more like it. Although that is also a pretty big number when you think about it. 450 Billion, not a chance.
That’s for all of Christmas - not just presents - including parties, trees, decorations, etc. And $1500 per person as an average is believable when you consider that some people spend a whole lot more than that. Given the number of lights in their yard, I bet my neighbors spends $1500 on extra electricity.
My God, are they lighting up a couple blocks? Get real.
giving money to boycotted companies: priceless
Ummm interesting, I totally see your point but the figures are more metaphorical I would think. BTW JRH22-the reason all the other systems of government fail is because Western, capitalist countries economically and ofetn militarily undermine them. The world is not right anyone can see that, how can capitalism be good? How can any world with a social system that allows children to be totured, starved, enslaved, abused and murdered????
You are not doing the antipoverty cause any good spreading disinformation like this. That being said your point is still true, the relative amount spent on luxuries versus poverty is criminal.
And if we took all that money that was spent on Christmas, or perfume, or whatever, and redirected it to some other worthy cause, then we’d have millions out of work and in need of help in this country. Consumerism may not be a morally great way for our society to operate, but there are lots of business owners and people working in retail and shipping and marketing and accounting and….etc. that are able to provide for their families because of that consumerism. It’s nowhere near as black and white as idealists like you would like to make it. Never mind the fact that your statistics are complete BS.
$48,706,338,575 spent so far this year on “The War on Drugs”
thats more than enough to feed, get water, education, and health care for the entire world
Hey Kief, here’s eight bucks. Go feed yourself for a year.
Those who refuse to do math are doomed to talk nonsense.
Amen brother.
Excuse me,
I don’t want to beat a dead horse but uh…
*beat, beat*
This is totally misleading and absurd and I suggest you post your figures and cite all your sources at once. There is no reason to accept what you’re saying and a simple exercise in mathematics will show that your numbers are quite impossible and are totally untrue. Perhaps you are, as others say, referring to funding aid programs that might provide these things, in which case you are intentionally misleading everyone here. At the same time, funding those organizations and programs won’t solve the problems either. No, there is no end in sight for world poverty, thank you very much. Your cause gains nothing from your lies.
Not sure why my comment didn’t publish - but I assure everyone I did not make these numbers up. I went to reverify them this morning, and it seems that the page they were on at http://www.globalissues.org no longer exists. The perils of Internet research, I guess.
Nonetheless, the main point still stands. We are a consumerist society which spends a lot of money on our own luxuries while much of the world suffers in deep poverty. Many Americans do not know just how out of balance things are in the world, and how we have the capacity to change things. I offer this post as a way to help raise such awareness.
Jim.. just because your underlying message is valid.. that we need to do more, posting bogus figures about consumerism to make a point only hurts the cause.
We are inundated with so much BS from all sides now it is hard to figure out what is right and what is wrong. You are adding to the confusion.
Just because it sounds better to tell someone we could get 25 years worth of food, water, and education for the world for 700 Billion instead of a more realistic figure like 700 trillion doesn’t make it OK to mislead.
I don’t understand the need idealists have to distort figures, if it were so cheap to feed, clothes and care for everyone on the planet we would be doing it.. but it isn’t. This is being done on all fronts, massive misleading figures for everything from clean water to fighting global warming.
why lie?
One poster rightly pointed out that your figures that you quote that would help the world are ALREADY being donated by the US government.
And yet, we still have hungry thirsty, homeless and lacking health care.
You made a cop out with the “achive” comment and you know it and the point does NOT stand “Nonetheless”
You can’t say if I were 100 feet tall you could see the roof but then when someone points out the roof is 1000 feet up you say “Nonetheless, the main point still stands” , it just doesn’t fit.
Fess up to the mistake. Be honest.
This is how liberals get elected and still nothing gets done.
Conservatives tell you it will cost 700 trillion dollars and say we shouldn’t do it. (they are right AND wrong respectively)
Liberals tell you it cost 700 dollars and evil conservatives wont let us do it. (they are wrong AND right respectively)
Did you read the comment you replied to? I did not make up or distort those figures. I had a credible source, which I have listed, only the link no longer works since I did the research several months ago. If you feel so compelled, please contact the folks at globalissues.org and find out what happened to that page.
I don’t understand why so many people are getting so, um, defensive (and offensive) about this post. “Methinks thou dost protest too much.”
The point is a good one. It doesn’t hurt anyone’s cause to offer some perspective about how we prioritize our spending or distribute wealth on this planet.
Thanks for this post, Jim.
I’ve heard similar figures being cited by someone giving a talk to over a thousand people. I’m sure he must’ve verified his sources. And as I understood from the talk, this money isn’t going to help by just handing it to poor people. It has to be given to uncorrupted, educated people who’ll invest it into their NGOs and socio-economic programs that provide the development and help that the world needs.
Now, where do we find such people is the question. People honest, proactive and willing to DO things, instead of talk about them (like I’m doing at the moment ;))
Anyway, here, the point isn’t that we stop spending on gifts on Christmas and send the money to Africa.
The point is that the way the world works right now, what the majority does and how it thinks is oriented in the wrong way. The world is materialistic and influences us as such. Only few are aware and brave enough to realize this and even fewer (if any) know the full import of the consequences.
Firstly; a lot of ‘feeling guilty’ Americans posting on here trying to justify why they shouldnt feel guilty about the 100s of millions of people worldwide who live in sub-human conditions. Think it’s not you, then why did you stop at this page and post; so you’ll sleep better tonight?
Secondly, ” capitalism are the only reasons our society and our world can grow, prosper, develop new medicines, extend life expectancy, educate and empower our children, and protect those who cannot protect themselves”
A couple of facts;
Cuba [Despite the US throttling the country because they were bad boys a mere 60 years ago] has the best public health system in the world; everyone is looked after,the government pays. Australia is the highest ranked Western country behind it.
Some of the worst famines in history have occured whilst the capitalist system has been booming. [It's very easy to turn your back on your neighbour when you're doing well.] In kindergarten, after the Easter Egg hunt my teacher made the kids with a lot of eggs give some to the kids who hadn’t found any. The problem with capitalism is there’s no ‘teacher’ to oversee it. THERE IS GOOD IN OUR CAPITALIST SYSTEM BUT IT DARN WELL NEEDS IMPROVEMENT.
Systems like low interest business loans in 3rd world countries to help people stand on their own 2 feet, are the type of programs I think Jim is alluding to quoting “cost to achieve”
Look people can argue about dollars and cents, the facts are, and we all know about this, is there is a huge gap between rich and poor in our world to the extent that people die unnecesarily every hour. Let’s start re-dressing the balance, doing our best to help people help themselves in the most cost-effective way, and argue about the dollars & cents later.
AMEN
saves me the trouble of typing :p
Nice articles!! thumbs up!!
No, it’s 1/189 dollar per day. Just over 1/2 cent per day. Lurn 2 math.
How much of that money is “given” to them with the expectation that they pay it back with interest and when that proves to be impossible since their economy is based on real things like food rather than imaginary crap like credit cards and mortgage loan values? And how much of it is “given” to a military dictator to continue making sure that the people of the country bust ass down in diamond mines, or silicon mines or name your national resource while the workers never see even a sliver of the profits?
Wow! There must be a reason everyone is getting so defensive, just because the numbers were off doesn’t mean capitalist societies don’t abuse their power, but at the same time it’s impossible to associate the world’s economical issues with mass consumerism. Other global factors are also distinctly allowing the global economy to plummet. The easiest thing to do is to criticize something for its content, but it is possible to broaden the predicament, such as stating that the US is not the only country in the world that overindulges themselves in consumerism. I think most of the people here are ticked off because deep down inside they know they are contributing to this “global ailment” a little bit. And on another note I really do not think capitalism is the ideal solution for all political systems, capitalism has also displayed its flaws and weaknesses at times even though it is the most viable structure for our economically-oriented world. Its not the system that represents the people, its the people that represent the system.
Point taken. Why don’t the rest of you take your supreme analytical abilities to a place where they might do someone some good instead of bashing a blogger. Point is…we need to get our priorities in line…as far fetched a concept that may be to the average person.
the money spent on cosmetics and pet food is disposable income,which if it werent spent on that would be spent on something else.at any rate its income earned by people and as a rule,they reserve the right to spend it on what they want.maybe address why charity money doesnt filter down to the people who need it rather than taking a hit at your average working person,who right now has its own problems to think of.how about adding up the amount given through charities world wide for third world countries,over the last fifty years before you start acting like nothings been done to try and help these people
I made that video you asked for here,
you can view it on youtube where I uploaded it,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3LiPPxWqY
and I am also going to host it
on my LiveLeak profile as well.
http://www.liveleak.com/item?a=view&token=207_1229628716
Check out some of my other videos while you’re at it!
ekimdrachir2007@gmail.com / darkflame_studios@hotmail.com
Thank you, Mike. Well done, and the Greenspan clip at the end really drives the point home.
“Ummm interesting, I totally see your point but the figures are more metaphorical I would think. BTW JRH22-the reason all the other systems of government fail is because Western, capitalist countries economically and ofetn militarily undermine them. The world is not right anyone can see that, how can capitalism be good? How can any world with a social system that allows children to be totured, starved, enslaved, abused and murdered????”
find a different government that has done more to help thier people then the united states without hurting them in the process, i have a feeling you will have to dig VERY deep, and at the depths of the net, it is very unlikely you will find one. This website is ridiculous, the united states was meant to be a free market society and as time has passed we have become more and more socialist. this is now epitomized by the election of barrack hussein obama. jim moss your liberal rhetoric is getting tired and old.
You know you’ve arrived when people are coming up with new screen names just to insult you.
“Systems like low interest business loans in 3rd world countries to help people stand on their own 2 feet, are the type of programs I think Jim is alluding to quoting %u201Ccost to achieve%u201D”
these so called great programs are also one of the major reasons the banks are falling apart. giving low interest loans to people who cant pay them back is just plain stupid, maybe after you have earned an education and made some money yourself you might see this.
“If you are a republican when you are young you have no heart, if you are a democrat when you are old you have no money”
I’m not sure why this post isn’t viewable….
Matt-
You said:
“A couple of facts;
Cuba [Despite the US throttling the country because they were bad boys a mere 60 years ago] has the best public health system in the world; everyone is looked after,the government pays.”
However, according to the World Health Organization(WHO):
The difficulty in gaining access to certain medicines and treatments has led to healthcare playing an increasing role in Cuba’s burgeoning black market economy, sometimes termed “sociolismo”. According to former leading Cuban neurosurgeon and dissident Dr Hilda Molina, “The doctors in the hospitals are charging patients under the table for better or quicker service.” Prices for out-of-surgery X-rays have been quoted at $50 to $60.Such “under-the-table payments” reportedly date back to the 1970s, when Cubans used gifts and tips in order to get health benefits. The advent of the “dollar economy”, a temporary legalisation of the dollar which led some Cubans to receive dollars from their relatives outside of Cuba, meant that a class of Cubans were able to obtain medications and health services that would not be available to them otherwise.
So even in the Communist States there is disparity in the health care system.
I certainly would not call this “the Best Health Care System” in the world:
“Canadian newspaper National Post, based on interviews of Cubans, finds that in reality even the most common pharmaceutical items, such as Aspirin and antibiotics are conspicuously absent or only available on the black market. Surgeons lack basic supplies and must re-use latex gloves. Patients must buy their own sutures on the black market and provide bedsheets and food for extended hospital stays.”
You were not basing your statements on a Michael Moore fantasy film, were you?
Then,best of all you stated:
“Some of the worst famines in history have occured whilst the capitalist system has been booming.”
However, the Nobel Prize Welfare Economist, Amartya Sen has posited that no functioning democracy has suffered a famine in modern times. The largest famine EVER was in China in 1958-1961, which killed over 30 million people. Was that because of the capitalist system? Or was that because the “kindergarten teacher” (Chairman Mao) was taking all the eggs from those who had some in their basket?
I think this topic deserves a step back and an open minded examination. Fact: $48billion isn’t going to feed, water and educate 6.whatever billion people for a year. Heck, $48trillion probably can’t do it even taking into account the large percentage of people who don’t need assistance. Honestly. I don’t think money’s the answer at all.
But let’s look at why;
There’s something about human nature that spreads through every government, race, religion and moral teaching…the premise of caste.
“CASTE (k%u0101st):#
1. A social system or the principle of grading society based on castes.
2. The social position or status conferred by a system based on castes: lose caste by doing work beneath one’s station.”
source:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/caste
My point is, no matter the culture everyone wants to have a place. We seek to define ourselves by using others as a comparison. We as a race have become dependent on examining ourselves next to our neighbors, then determining our future actions according to how we wish to either emulate or disassociate them. Thankfully, we’ve developed an amazing tool that will instantly allow us to evaluate our social import in life.
Money.
So here’s our dilemma. Money is the thing that allows us to; work a little harder and get that new Blackberry, feed the family, acquire that 32″ big screen, get a babysitter, have electricity, drive a car to work, get a prescription, heck just about everything can be done with money.
But that’s also the problem. It appears that everything can ‘only’ be done with money. It’s like we, as a race, have lost the ability to accomplish anything big or small unless there is some sort of currency based funding behind it.
So, when you take into consideration the idea that any action, especially any based on a large scale, requires currency in order to function. And that people, of most if not all cultures, rely on currency’s ability to create a clear definition of theirs’ and others’ positions within their social networks. The idea that more money will become the solution to all these problems becomes irrelevant. The problem isn’t, why are people with money not sharing it? It’s, why is money the only solution to feeding the hungry. What did the hungry do before the advent modernized currency? Starve and Die. Sounds familiar.
So what do we do then?
Honestly, I have no idea. It’s hard not to see our current views of status…weak will always lose to the strong, rich will always feed the poor, dumb will always work for the smart…as the unchanging way of life. It has been the basis of all modernized civilizations, even most ancient civilizations throughout recorded history. It has been ingrained into our way of thinking for thousands of years.
Who am I to try and better something that is millennium in the making.
nice site
god bless
Let’s take all that money out of the mentioned industries.
New flood of poverty and homelessness, Priceless.
Why did you just go to perfume cosmetics and pet food, I mean how much money is wasted on video/ computer games, on sports, on cars ?
Great post but I must take issue with the first couplet. Are you suggesting people should not feed their pets?!
I agree we should do more however this is from wikipedia and while we are the wealthiest country in the world we are also the country that gives the most privately and Publicly. Also it is not up to the United States to solve the worlds issues. It is a collective effort of which many countries overlook. I agree the bailout is a big mistake but those banks directly & indirectly allow us to do the following. Without them financially secure nothing that revolves around money is secure.
Private Philanthropy as a percentage of GDP (2005)
According to the Charities Aid Foundation [1],
* 1. United States - 1.67%
* 2. United Kingdom - .73%
* 3. Canada - .72%
* 4. Australia - .69%
* 5. South Africa - .64%
* 6. Ireland - .47%
* 7. Netherlands - .45%
* 8. Singapore - .29%
* 9. New Zealand - .29%
* 10. Turkey - .23%
* 11. Germany - .22%
* 12. France - .14%
Official Development Assistance by country (2006)
To qualify as official development assistance (ODA), a contribution must contain three elements: 1.) be undertaken by the official sector (that is, a government or government agency); 2.) with promotion of economic development and welfare as the main objective; and 3.) at concessional financial terms (that is, with favorable loan terms.) Thus, ODA does not by definition include private donations.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development[2]
* 1. United States - $22.739 billion
* 2. United Kingdom - $12.607 billion
* 3. Japan - $11.608 billion
* 4. France - $10.448 billion
* 5. Germany - $10.351 billion
* 6. Netherlands - $5.452 billion
* 7. Sweden - $3.962 billion
* 8. Spain - $3.801 billion
* 9. Canada - $3.731 billion
* 10. Italy - $3.672 billion
* 11. Norway - $2.946 billion
* 12. Denmark - $2.234 billion
* 13. Australia - $2.128 billion
* 14. Belgium - $1.968 billion
* 15. Switzerland - $1.647 billion
* 16. Austria - $1.513 billion
* 17. Ireland - $997 million
* 18. Finland - $826 million
* 19. Portugal - $391 million
* 20. Greece - $384 million
* 21. Luxembourg - $291 million
* 22. New Zealand - $257 million
it’s not a matter of how much you give but how the money is spent.
if you look at the taxpayer money the us gives in aid, 1/6th or roughly $3 billion per year is given to israel and 2/3rds of that money is used to buy weapons from the us. genius plan really, business cloaked as aid programs, but when you buy weapons instead of building schools, improving infrastructure, literacy and so on it shouldn’t be called aid in my opinion but maybe that’s just so nobody notices.
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Jan_Feb_2001/0101015.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/weir04042008.html
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=753&CategoryId=4
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism - here’s the page with the figures that Jim Moss used. (Their source: The state of human development, United Nations Human Development Report 1998, Chapter 1, p.37)
Get your figures straight and then you can complain about the world. It just seems pathetic otherwise - sure, we need to do more to help the world, and I’m supportive of anything that helps, but just complaining about the world with made up statistics won’t help. Spend less energy talking crap and more energy doing something.
The way the majority of these posters are nattering at Jim’s mathematics rather than taking to heart the message that there is a world full of need around us that we could impact by making do with a little less and giving a little more is a sad, sad commentary on all the generations represented. Pointing to the largess of the American government, noting that there will always be wide variations in wealth and well-being, or pulling a long face and complaining about being guilted into doing something are sorry excuses for not having a functional moral compass.
Well done, Jim. Keep up the fight and know that you’re on the side of the angels.
I?m from Argentina (3rd World “person”). The problem is not how much money first world countries spend in helping others. The problem is that money is sent to the wrong places. Grab a WORLD MAP, look around, learn where countries are, read THEIR newspapers, get a real idea of what goes on there. Then you?ll realise that feeding corrupt governments keeps the machine rolling against those who have no roof, no education, no food…no chances of fighing for themselves. I say this because I have known many people who dont even know where our country is.
What i?m trying to say is, even if those numbers were not “real”, that amount of money, used in the correct way would for sure make a difference. And the IDEA (what matters) is that if those (I include myself) who CAN fight for this NOT SOCIALIST IDEA of the world being a nice place (with people living in a friendly environment, etc.) turn around and keep pretending everything is OK, we as humans are DOOMED.
I dont think some of you who are defending this are really seeing the whole picture. Yes, we spend exuberant amounts of money on luxuries, however, if we didnt spend on the luxuries then we woudlnt have the money to spend, get it. Think about it this way, If i spend 1000$ on Christmas that is 1000$ in another American(or Canadians hands, I am Canadian). If I decided NOT to spend that 1000$ in my home country, then the citizens of my home country are that much poorer. Yes! I get your point, we could spend more on poverty as a whole, however, if we spend money on propping up another country, we get none of it back. They cant buy our products, and they cant support our businesses. When we spend 1000’s on Christmas and the like we have just spent 1000’s on supporting our own economy. This is what allows us to have so much disposable income. Think about all the pet stores gone bankrupt if we stopped shopping for pet food. What about the retail workers who wouldnt have a job. How about the CAR manufacturers and those jobs. The fact is that the only people who can make these contributions without hurting our economy are the very very rich, who would have otherwise just horded the money and not spent it. It is not the average person buying food for our pets that can make a difference for someone somewhere else without hurting someone right here at home. Id say right now is probably the worst time to try and tell average people that they need spend money on third world countries. we are in a huge recession and feeding ourselves is a LITTLE bit more important, especially considering that every dollar we spend here at home, goes towards keeping one of our fellow citizens employed. If millions of people did what you seem to ask and gave up our luxuries and just gave money away to third world nations, our economies would take a proportional hit. The more people who do it, the more our economy suffers. The absolute last thing we need right now is for lets say 50 million people to spend 1000$ less per year here at home. That would be 50billion dollars of wages that no longer exists to pay ourselves, our friends and our families. I dont know about anyone else but putting millions of Americans and Canadians out of work to feed third world nations doesnt do anyone good, not here nor there.
Things are much much more complicated than anyone who falls for this article knows.
This is why I love the net.
A good story with no factual basis other then to paint a picture absolutly ripped apart on the internet. Nice work guys, seriously.
I liked it
wow, I’m going be a huge hypocrite, but the fact that everyone who’s made a post here has done so instead of something more productive is kinda sad. If you want to help other people, which I think is all that is being encouraged by the “article”, then go out and do some volunteer work or something, otherwise just keeping going about your lives like I’m sure you will anyways and stop wasting your time arguing over whether or not we should do what the “article” suggests. As the author stated in some of his own responses, these are the costs to create/support institutions that can provide these things, not to actually provide them on a daily basis. To simply give rice to poor and starving people doesn’t help solve the problem, it only makes them more dependent on aid. The US government pays our farmers to grow crops, then the government buys the crops, and gives them to starving people (for instance our “aid” in Africa, as an example). Our “support” makes them depend on our “aid”, instead of enabling their own by starting their own farming. So our farming is profiting from our aid, and not helping them to become self-sustaining. What the author is trying to say is that the $ he is suggesting would “solve” the problems, is the $ it would cost to start endeavors such as farms, water filtering, and schools; not to actually clean the water, give the food, and pay for the educations of the individuals on a daily basis. To do that latter only perpetuates the cycle, as opposed to gradually starting to make them self-sufficient and eventually solving the problem (hopefully indefinitely), as the prior suggests. Now if you want to help, its really easy to endorse such an endeavor as a school, or farming, I’m sure you can easily find out how to do so, and in the process do the world some good. For those of you who don’t care, that’s your prerogative, keeping living your lives the exact same as you already do, and would anyways, and stop trying to make people who mean well from trying to do some good in this world. Their donating money (to the right causes) isn’t going to make a significant difference anyways, because too few people care enough to make the sacrifice, so your precious economy isn’t going be any worse off anyways, so take a chill pill and go buy some pet food for all I care, even if you don’t have a pet. And for those of you who do want to make a difference, look around, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to support an effort like the kind I suggest, the organization “Invisible Children” is a good place to get started, if you’re looking to get started.
Turkish paintings, calligraphy
funny how people are still clinging to the capitalist ideology even now that it has shown how flawed it is. society has become so superficial and stupid that praying to an imaginary god is the only solution these idiots can come up with. if there is a god he’s not listening so now what?
Sean well said. one thing I would like to say is for these people that want to put our Money back into our economy, Try and list the products that you own that are made in America, Wow, short list huh. That is because most American businesses prosper off of the labor of third world countries. It is the American way to do as little work as possible and make as much money as possible. The Problem with this is we decided to completely ignore the consequences of these actions, by ignoring child labor, ignoring the cultural effect these factories have on these countries. Yes, it is giving these people jobs and making more money than they would have been able to make before, but the company has no stake in the community. So if that company shuts down everybody suffers. To give you an analogy think of the coal mining cities of America in the 50’s they supported the whole town owned the whole town. When it stopped producing the town died the area died. That is very similar to what can happen to towns in third world countries if one of our American factories decides to shut down. Except most of the factories that we build in these pull people away from the jobs like farming, and other jobs that will help there culture become sustainable. In turn our factories pull out all their resources, while also polluting the area around it. Most the reason we outsource is to get around the strict environmental regulations and high labor costs. I don’t feel the need to list sources because if you open your eyes in the smallest amount you would be able to see it. its right there for the viewing in almost every aspect of us culture. The problem is greed, and capitalism is a petri dish for Greed.
Absolutely fantastic post - really inspiring.
The arguments surrounding the statistics obscure the underlying message which is that these are first and foremost human problems - we do have the resources and know-how to solve them, eg, global agricultural production produces enough to feed the globe’s population even with today’s inefficiencies. What is missing is the breadth and depth of engagement with the problems. This means voters keen enough on ODA to support the policies and ensure the ODA programs are not politicized or self-serving. It means people doing what they can to tackle local prejudice and poverty. It means a media making money by reporting substantial issues such as the 99% of wars we do not hear about that demand global attention and willpower. And I’m sure every person reading this will have their own list in addition to these.
I don’t think Jim is suggesting we don’t feed our cats, I think he’s raising just this point. And the vociferous discussion he triggered is testament to the fact that people do care. And it is discussion like this that will overcome the many obstacles and frustrations that arise from that care, such as feeling like just 1 person in 6 billion (and feeling only 1 6 billionth responsible), feeling misled, feeling it is too complicated or too hard, and so on. Discussion like this is how we realise that we’re not alone, that we can discern the truth and that the problems are solved with many people’s actions in unison.
You’re argument is something like “It doesn’t matter if it makes sense because it tells a good story”
That’s how religious nutters think. When a person is presenting facts to illustrate an idea, it’s important to have correct facts………..something not present here
The most illustrative, amusing, and brutally human thing about this entire thread is the invective it has generated.
First of all, anyone who uses the term “liberal” in that snide, demeaning, holier-than-thou fashion so viciously loved by right-wing extremists should be ignored out of hand. They gave up on honest intellectual discourse long ago, probably before they were born. They have nothing to contribute–to the discussion or to society in general.
Second, I do agree Mr. Moss should have been a great deal more specific in citing sources, imagined methodologies, and basic, universally recognized (except by those in the previous paragraph) scientific principles. Simple cut-and-paste from a single unsubstantiated Internet source is an open invitation to ridicule. I’m willing to give him a partial pass due to his youth and idealism, albeit with a stern admonition not to be so lazy–for the remainder of his life!
Third, the basic premise that the wealthy don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone who isn’t wealthy is such a fundamental truth that observations to that effect predate written history. Certainly the Bible–an infinitely more dubious source than Mr. Moss’s missing link–makes many references to the phenomenon, and I notice the flatworms referred to in my second paragraph don’t seem to have a problem with “proof” of such claims. Then again, when it comes to that crowd and that book, things like proof, reality, facts, truth, and so on never seem to get much traction.
Bottom line: yes, humans are tiny-minded, self-serving, self-absorbed, and short-sighted to a criminal degree. Always have been. Which makes the notion that they are the highest form of life on the planet something way beyond laughable. Only problem is humans are also too smart for their own good, which is what has brought us to the edge of the abyss we dance along today.
Me? I’m rooting for the asteroids.
Too many humans already! If we wish to continue an existence on this planet, we should stop raping it of all it’s treasures. The best way to help “the 3rd world”, would be to impose a strict one child per family on the whole of the world, at least until we have stopped the over-population that we are plagued with currently. We keep people alive when we should let them die peacefully. We fight for their right to live, even when they will never be capable of making a worthwhile contribution.
No, I am not racist nor am I in any way religious or an animal rights campaigner, I am merely a realist/idealist. This world cannot sustain the human race as it is for much longer. We have made the planet what it is but it does not belong to the human race. Just because we are capable of harvesting all of it’s riches, should we? What about all of the species that cannot speak for themselves, should they not be spared the suffering that we are imposing on them by ruining their habitats.
By continuing to fund countries that cannot sustain their population, we are killing the whole planet.
I’m rooting for the asteroids too.
For everyone worried about the math, or the sources… please read it more closely.
There’s his sources.
And his last line tells the tale - it’s not about how much, it’s about the priorities involved.
Still, it wouldn’t take that much to do what’s right on this planet. Less than we just gave to the bankers that lost our money to start with.
huh, there’s nothing wrong with buying pet food, that’s a really bad example. they need food too.
I guess I don’t understand your worry here.
Through specialization, human beings can allot more time to leisure activities; we are no longer sentenced to spend every moment scrounging for our basic needs. We have become fairly decent at this as of late. Some countries have it down so well that expendable income is possible.
Is it wrong to work together in order to get more?
If we do work more efficiently than another country, should we feel bad?
Should we regress to a life of hard labor on farmland in order to equalize quality life across the world?
I noticed, as I generally do when it comes to sociological debates, that you’ve identified a potential issue. What you have failed to do, as most sociologists also do, is prove that it is a problem and/or suggest a solution.
And, just out of curiosity, how much of your expendable income went to help the rest of the world? How much went into your leisure activities?
Hippies.
This is such a sweet and naive pile of shit. You haven’t factored in the complete boom in an already unsustainable third world population that you’d create, leading to an even bigger consumption of non-renewable resources and an even bigger pile of shit down the line.
Mark my words laddy, survival of the fittest and natural culls is the name of the game, it’s nature’s way.
though i can see you point, but the priceless part should really be
“Being independent from the care of other countries…priceless” Do it yourself motherF***ers
Fecundity and longevity combined with lack of self-sufficiency make for a sad, hungry, world. A major Nuclear holocaust, an epidemic outbreak or major geological tragedy may re-set mankind’s time clock, but to continue the way we are will only end in starvation, cannibalism, shocking sick behavior for each individual and a bad end for all of us! Humanity has lighted many fission-fires, the beginning of the end for themselves, and as oil rises in price expect more fission-fires and waste products loose in the world. The legacy of the U.S.S.R. in this respect is not widely realized and may present an irreversible situation upon examination! They have left radiating waste piles dangerously close to rivers and oceans, ready to seep out and destroy huge areas of the world’s oceans, leaving mankind in fear of radiation poisoning, and no one wants to even acknowledge the facts! China opens reactors prolifically, as fast as they can, and will have huge amounts of wastes to deal with shortly! The U.S. caught in an energy squeeze, may have to start building reactors just to compete with Asians. Electric cars will outstrip natural means of producing electricity and in the end reactors will be built to satiate the American appetite for mobility! Unless a sudden, basic change in human behavior, triggered perhaps by a biological or chemical factor intervenes, mankind, regardless of nationality is on a track to total destruction against nature and survival of even the fittest is unlikely due to the nature of the poisons involved. Our behavior must change or we will all die! Fear This!
This is classic, lefty nonsense where logic and critical thinking fail to something that sounds good and will certainly echo well among the mindless followers of busy-bodies.
Basic Health and nutrition for the entire world at $2/person? Is that some kind of joke?
Clean water for $1.40/person per year? what?
Basic education for the 2 billion children of the world at $3/kid? America alone spends over $700 billion per year on eduction and yet you claim that 1% of that could educate all of the children in the world?
No need to think if it sounds good, right?