Comments on: How You can get Rich from Exploiting the Poor!

By: Steve N. Lee

Steve N. Lee — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:51:57 +0000

Hi Lissa,

Of course you’re right - those specific billions of dollars aren’t to kill people in Iraq but to try to establish a stable society.

But my posts should never be read on face value - the underlying idea is that we spend far more money on killing people (military) than we do on helping people (aid). I dread to think what the more enlightened generations to come will make of that - assuming we don’t wipe ourselves out before we evolve to such a state.

I’m sorry to hear you are struggling yourself. The British government has just dealt a major blow to the poorest people here by abolishing the lowest level of tax. Millions are worse off - and it’s the poorest of course, not those dripping in Gucci as they step from their Porsches.

Thanks for contributing, Lissa. Hope we see you back here with more intelligent observations.

Steve

By: Lissa

Lissa — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:54:14 +0000

Sorry, Steve! You’re only half right. All of your ideas for world changing are right on the mark, but you’ve missed the mark on the Iraq situation. Far from being about “killing people,” it was, and still is, about helping to restore to normalcy, a population of which 55% were under the age of 15, and which had suffered for years under conditions of state-promoted terror and death at the hands of one of history’s most tyrannical families. With all that has been written of atrocities allowed to be wrought against children, the weak and the elderly of the past, could we, CAN we really stand by as newly freed, but still needy, young and aged persons of the present are left to fend for themselves in conditions often only beginning to feature the most basic elements of order and sanitation. As a disabled person with insufficient income to support the very basic needs of my own child, I must still raise my voice and encourage Americans to continue supporting the world’s children in Iraq!!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:38:35 +0000

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day - teach a man to fish and you feed him for life!
I would actually prefer to continue:…teach a man to make a fishing rod and you give him the means for a life without being dependend on aid.
You know thats what we are trying to do in westafrica - and we will stop poverty!

Love your blog, Steve!

By: Steve N. Lee

Steve N. Lee — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:03:32 +0000

Intelligent remarks, whether positive or negative, are always welcome, Tomec. Yes, international aid is an incredible amount, but if it doesn’t get to the right people, then it’s wasted. The idea here is that the money actually gets into the hands of the poorest people on the planet who can then claw their own way out without further help from us. It’s the old give a man a fish/teach a man to fish principle. The bank actually doing this now, achieves just what it says - lends people tiny amounts of money by our standards which are yet huge enough to them for it to be life-changing. The difference is the bank charges interest. How much easier would it be if the money was given freely?

Thanks, Susan. Good point, but it’s not how much we all have but the gap between those who have a lot and those who have very little that matters.

Good points, Rhiannon, but by helping those in extreme poverty we will ultimately be helping ourselves. It’s simply a case of wanting something now or wanting even more later.

Thanks for such valuable contributions,
Steve

By: Denise

Denise — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:54:23 +0000

God, I LOVE your articles! Couldn’t have said it better myself! Just when I think I’m alone in thinking this way…here you come along & post an article about it!

By: Tomek

Tomek — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:22:48 +0000

Actually, I beg to differ on this one. I don’t believe that you can lift 1 billion people out of poverty “forever” with $70 billion. International aid to Africa is more than that (yearly), and it doesn’t seem to do much. I think that the best hope for the poor in this world actually lies in globalization. Globalization has already lifted half of humanity from poverty in less than 2 generations, and for the first time we are looking at a world where there is more people living in developed countries than non-developed ones. This means two things: 1- inflation will appear as we run out of cheap labor and resources (basically the resources that we have not been able to share because of our lack of generosity, inflation will make us share them with other countries, whether we agree with it or not) 2- globalization will accelerate and lift the remaining countries out of poverty even faster than before, because cheap labor will be even more attractive for businesses as we are running out of it. So I think that free trade has and will do more to help the poor, than any form of charity. Just my 2 cents.. Cheers!

By: yushun

yushun — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:33:45 +0000

Great article!Thank you!
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By: Rhiannon

Rhiannon — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:37:56 +0000

Great Post!!!! its a 10…I am sorry to say the government that run this country would rather fund a war, act hypocritical and send it overseas..which benefits those with stocks in certain industries. They would be much better off to take care of the many elderly, disable, families struggling to stay together…the list is so long of things that could really benefit those who are in need in the USA. I am a firm believer that you take care of your own ‘yard’ before you race over to your neighbors yard and tell them how to ‘fix’ it up. The day no American citizen has to make a choice between food, medication, heat or air, then we can in all good faith help others. I have empathy for all who suffer. But as an American, I feel the taxpayers really expect their dollars to be used to help right the wrongs in the United States first and foremost. Of course, thats just my opinion.
Great write up, Steve.
Hugs!

By: Susan L

Susan L — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:28:06 +0000

Good read. Thanks Steve. There will always be those that have and those that have not.

By: Steve N. Lee

Steve N. Lee — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:49:46 +0000

Thanks, Robyn. Yes, it’s strange that those with the power to actually change the world - today - don’t seem to ever want to use that power. Give them seven bucks to live on for a week and somehow I think they might change their tune. But then, like they’d ever accept a challenge like that.

Why can’t it happen in deed, Avril? Well, except for all the greed, power, corruption… Sad, yes.

You’re completely right, Kim - it’s criminal that there are so many kings and yet so many billions of paupers. Why do people want so much ’stuff’ in their lives? I know they believe it will make them happy, but when they don’t find life as satisfying as they’d imagined, then why don’t they ever, just for one moment, consider that buying all the crap they do might have something to do with it and that giving for a change might actually give them the fulfilment they are craving so?

Ania, my partner, is with you on the old giving to charity question, Lee. She wanted to donate something to those poor people in Burma but didn’t simply because she was sure it would end up in some jerk’s pocket, not in the mouth of someone who hadn’t eaten for days. What’s the world coming to when you’re afraid to give because you fear you’re adding to the problem instead of helping?

Don’t worry, Marena, intelligent comments are ALWAYS welcome, even if they veer off track a little, though I don’t think yours does. It’s a valid point - the pope sitting on his piles of gold preaching hid ‘do unto others’ crap.

Sandra - you’re guess is as good as mine. When it’s so blatantly obvious that a little every year does hardly anything, why not have an all out offensive on poverty, one big push, to end it in one fell swoop? The logistics would be horrendous, but the benefits, for everyone,
would be incredible.

Thanks, Gorilly Girl, Yes, it’s very sad. What’s even sadder is what future generations will make of us for doing this to our own kind.

Arlette, yes FairTrade is a start, but it doesn’t help enough people quickly enough. Plus, the store’s own brand of coffee in my local supermarket is half the price of FairTrade, so you can guess which many people buy. But that’s only a fraction of what we could do, should do, isn’t it? If only there was a simply solution staring us in the face…

Thanks. Patricia. I’m sure I’m not the first to say such things, and unfortunately, I definitely won’t be the last, but you have to try, don’t you, even though you know you’re beating your head against a wall.

DianeMarie, I’m sure there are millions of people who echo your sentiments. It’s such a shame that in the coming elections they don’t appear to have anyone to voice their concerns on the world’s stage for whom they could vote. And big business is hardly going to monitor itself and shave off a little profit to pay a decent price for its out-sourcing/imports - how could all those execs ever afford BMWs, exotic vacations, beach homes… My, they’d have to live like the rest of us. Can you imagine?! The shame future generations would throw at us for allowing our ‘leaders’ to live in such sqalor! Hell, I feel like going and buying some designer clothes right now to ensure that doesn’t happen!

Thanks, you guys. Great comments, great contribution, as usual.
Steve