We can't afford to help our own

[dizzturbedNUfan]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100304/pl_nm/us_usa_congress_elderly

 

I love how a lot of people in this country think it's fun and cute to donate money to all of these countries having problems. But when it comes to helping our own we just turn our shoulder and figure it will work itself out. I am proud to say that I haven't sent one dime of my money to any third world turds dealing with earthquakes, floods or any of the other thousands of problems they are dealing with. Any money that I have for donations goes straight to the local food banks and shelters. How come when people I know get their homes and communities destroyed by tornadoes they don't ever receive checks from Haiti or Chile to help rebuild? Hell, even one from our Government for that matter. The amount of money that was sent from this country to Haiti was just absolutely stupid. I bet there are a lot of people that just lost their jobs that would have been grateful for a couple hundred bucks to pay the heat bill this winter.

 

Whatever! I'm done with my rant. I'm just tired of people that think that saving a child in Haiti gets them to the front of the line when they meet their maker.

[Manhattan]

I agree, but I wouldn't go as far as calling the people of Haiti "third world turds". There are a lot of Haitians where I live and I think they're all really cool people. Good music from Haiti.

[dizzturbedNUfan]

Ok, I'll take back my turd comment. A life long friend of mine is on disability after he got hit by a drunk driver. He gets no help from the state for health insurance, which cost him 585 a month. The state says that he should be able to live off of $1250 a month, so after paying for his own insurance he gets what, 650 to pay rent and buy groceries. They actually told him that if he had some crack babies then he could qualify for the medicare. I was just a little irritated earlier.

[Landlord]

I understand the point you are trying to make and it's valid, but you're being a bit of an extremist.

 

 

I do, however, agree.

[walksalone]

What I despise is when they show the commercials of these impoverished kids in other countries...

 

in the words of Sam Kinison, "the film crew couldn't give this kid a sandwich?"

 

What about the kids in this country? Just becuase they don't live where a typhoon wipes out everything, a desert that hasn't seen water in months, or speak spit and click, does that mean that these kids are forgotten???

 

We gotta take care of our own first.

[carlfense]

Ok, I'll take back my turd comment. A life long friend of mine is on disability after he got hit by a drunk driver. He gets no help from the state for health insurance, which cost him 585 a month. The state says that he should be able to live off of $1250 a month, so after paying for his own insurance he gets what, 650 to pay rent and buy groceries. They actually told him that if he had some crack babies then he could qualify for the medicare. I was just a little irritated earlier.

. . . not to pry . . . but if the drunk driver was at fault why didn't your friend sue the hell out of him? I know if I was disabled after getting hit by a drunk driver I wouldn't just be relying on state aid.

[dizzturbedNUfan]

Ok, I'll take back my turd comment. A life long friend of mine is on disability after he got hit by a drunk driver. He gets no help from the state for health insurance, which cost him 585 a month. The state says that he should be able to live off of $1250 a month, so after paying for his own insurance he gets what, 650 to pay rent and buy groceries. They actually told him that if he had some crack babies then he could qualify for the medicare. I was just a little irritated earlier.

. . . not to pry . . . but if the drunk driver was at fault why didn't your friend sue the hell out of him? I know if I was disabled after getting hit by a drunk driver I wouldn't just be relying on state aid.

I don't know everything that went on in the year following the accident. It was the same year I got divorced and I didn't talk to him much. I do know the driver was an uninsured illegal alien (which I'm sure we could start another thread on) and there wasn't a whole lot of avenue's to go down.

[carlfense]

Ok, I'll take back my turd comment. A life long friend of mine is on disability after he got hit by a drunk driver. He gets no help from the state for health insurance, which cost him 585 a month. The state says that he should be able to live off of $1250 a month, so after paying for his own insurance he gets what, 650 to pay rent and buy groceries. They actually told him that if he had some crack babies then he could qualify for the medicare. I was just a little irritated earlier.

. . . not to pry . . . but if the drunk driver was at fault why didn't your friend sue the hell out of him? I know if I was disabled after getting hit by a drunk driver I wouldn't just be relying on state aid.

I don't know everything that went on in the year following the accident. It was the same year I got divorced and I didn't talk to him much. I do know the driver was an uninsured illegal alien (which I'm sure we could start another thread on) and there wasn't a whole lot of avenue's to go down.

I see. Judgment proof defendant.

[zoogs]

You ask if Haiti ever sends us checks to rebuild. They don't - but do the homeless Americans at the local food shelter? They are no different in that they cannot give back. And, we'll never be able to 100% cover for all of our own. It just will not happen. We can take all the aid we give out to foreign countries, redirect it here and still have people without money or shelter. So if we do that, the motivation isn't really just a "we'll take care of our own first", but rather a positive effort to find reasons not to help other countries.

 

All countries, even the wealthy ones, will have their own problems and their own suffering citizens. But America is overall well-to-do, incredibly so in comparison to Haiti. So when Haiti or Chile gets ravaged by natural disasters, who are we to stand by? Are we even human if we have as much (or more) resources than anybody in the world, both individually and collectively, and then do nothing just because those affected aren't Americans?

 

When Katrina struck, wasn't there an outpouring of aid from within? So I don't agree at all with the "homes and communities destroyed by tornadoes" sentiment. It's not a question of nationality but a question of scale. Tornados tearing up neighborhoods causes a lot of devastation, but it's order of magnitudes different from say, a hurricane wrecking an entire city.

 

I get where you are coming from, but I don't agree with it at all.

 

What I despise is when they show the commercials of these impoverished kids in other countries...

 

in the words of Sam Kinison, "the film crew couldn't give this kid a sandwich?"

 

Tough call, I always wondered about that first. Perhaps they do, but obviously it wouldn't be part of the commercial. Same deal with journalists who cover disaster areas - they don't help as much as viewers watching the video think they can. At the same time, they are helping a lot by being there and being journalists and putting the story out. I think one of the ABC guys was explaining the journalists' POV on this on the Daily Show a while back - pretty insightful, since I was always in the "why are you standing there talking instead of helping distribute food" camp. It's still important work, and I'm sure once they are off camera and have time they chip in a little, too.

[huskertim]

I can only speak for myself, I give to the combined fed agency fund every paycheck and devide it between the Open door mission in Omaha and the Christian Childrens Fund (international aid). I like the idea of helping locally but I also understand that that Ndugu didn't ask to be born into s##t either. Also, my money probably goes alot further overseas given that $50 is like a fortune in sub saharan Africa.

[walksalone]

 

 

What I despise is when they show the commercials of these impoverished kids in other countries...

 

in the words of Sam Kinison, "the film crew couldn't give this kid a sandwich?"

 

Tough call, I always wondered about that first. Perhaps they do, but obviously it wouldn't be part of the commercial. Same deal with journalists who cover disaster areas - they don't help as much as viewers watching the video think they can. At the same time, they are helping a lot by being there and being journalists and putting the story out. I think one of the ABC guys was explaining the journalists' POV on this on the Daily Show a while back - pretty insightful, since I was always in the "why are you standing there talking instead of helping distribute food" camp. It's still important work, and I'm sure once they are off camera and have time they chip in a little, too.

 

"DON'T FEED HIM YET, HE DOESN'T LOOK HUNGRY ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

We're feeding too many kids that don't live here in america. If that makes me sound like a heartless bastard, so be it.

 

Not too mention, what about the homeless vets that have fought for our country? What about them?

[T_O_Bull]

This one is hard and I agree that we should look after our own and that is part of what my company does. I would say that about 30/40% of my clients are quite simply working the system for every thing they can get. That said, I have often wondered what would happed if we simply channeled the daily expenditure on foreign aid for one day a week back into helping those who are in need right here in the USA, and that means that all of our vets who have put their lives on the line, get a ticket to the front of the line.

T_O_B

[huskertim]

IMO the problem isn't one of sending aid overseas of spending it on our own indigent. To me the old adage "feed a man a fish and he eats today, teach a man to fish and he eats forever" applies. We as a nation can best help our poor by incentivizeing domestic industry. On this topic people like to talk about education, like everyone needs to be an engineer, lawyer, or doctor. The truth is, we still need ditch diggers and shoe makers and most of the homeless in this country are a lot better qualified for a prodution/service job than for a corporate management position. Problem is, if we subsidize industries to offset a high cost of living in the US, then are our global markets close up to us as they would do the same. No simple solution presents itself, but I think we could make a good start by changing our tax structure (perhaps a VAT), controlling life needs costs (health care, food, houseing) and directing a cultural shift away from the worship of wealth and back to pride in hard work that was so common just 1-2 generations ago. Oh, and shoot all the politicians and lawyers (J/k ..... kind of).