almost 3000 people died in the september 11th terrorist attacks.
10 000 africans die every single day of AIDS, TB, and malaria.
the us spent as much in iraq for 2 weeks of fighting (about $2.5 billion) as it does for an entire year of economic development assistance in africa
the first two years of the war in iraq cost $60 billion / year, which is the same amount of money needed for the us to reach the globally agreed-upon amount of 0.7% of gnp for foreign aid. but instead it is sitting somewhere around 0.15%.
i got these humbling facts from The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs, which i am reading for my dissertation.
no one can say that the rich world cannot afford to provide more to the people dying in africa. and yet we don't. and that makes me mad.
6 comments:
another one...
the us spent 30 more times on the military than on foreign assistance in 2004.
that is the difference between $450 billion military spending compared to $15 billion spent on foreign assistance.
not to mention all the Iraqis dead. how many twin tower deaths over have occurred in Iraq since the uS InVasion? heaps. all for what?
usa-holes indeed.
i don't know the facts, but canada is nowhere near the 0.7% either and we've gone down in our amount of foreign aid in recent years. so the us are the obvious bad guys, but what are the rest of us doing?
It drives me to hear facts like that, it's insane what we do and don't do with our money. But.
It comes back to what can I do? A letter? An email? I do feel it is empowering just to have the knowledge however, and I thank you for sharing.
It drives me to hear facts like that, it's insane what we do and don't do with our money. But.
It comes back to what can I do? A letter? An email? I do feel it is empowering just to have the knowledge however, and I thank you for sharing.
i always say the least you can do is vote. check out what the candidates and their parties have to say about foreign aid then make a decision. then stay informed, then act when you have the chance to act, then write letters to mps when you need to write letters to mps.
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