Oct 15 2008
Blog Action Day 2008- Poverty
Poverty is an issue that not only affects the United States, but the entire world, especially third world countries like Africa, you can see some statistics at:http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/#5
The above is only in regard to poverty in the United States.
Excerpt/paragraph from Wikipedia about aiding poverty
Development aid
Most developed nations give development aid to developing countries. The UN target for development aid is 0.7% of GDP; currently only a few nations achieve this. Some think tanks and NGOs have argued, however, that Western monetary aid often only serves to increase poverty and social inequality, either because it is conditioned with the implementation of harmful economic policies in the recipient countries [112], or because it’s tied with the importing of products from the donor country over cheaper alternatives,[113] or because foreign aid is seen to be serving the interests of the donor more than the recipient.[114] Critics also argue that some of the foreign aid is stolen by corrupt governments and officials, and that higher aid levels erode the quality of governance. Policy becomes much more oriented toward what will get more aid money than it does towards meeting the needs of the people.[115] Victor Bout, one of the worlds most notorious arms dealers, told the New York Times how he saw firsthand in Angola, Congo and elsewhere “how Western donations to impoverished countries lead to the destruction of social and ecological balance, mutual resentment and eventually war.”[116] “Once countries give money, they control you.” he says.
Supporters argue that these problems may be solved with better auditing of how the aid is used.[115] Aid from non-governmental organizations may be more effective than governmental aid; this may be because it is better at reaching the poor and better controlled at the grassroots level.[117] As a point of comparison, the annual world military spending is over $1 trillion.[118]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty#Direct_aid
Aid that is contingent on economic policy or in exchange for anything else will NOT work. I believe in order to end poverty we must give the aid with no strings attached and we have to makesure it goes directly into the hands of the impoverished.
There are things we can do to help:
< Food Drives
< Donate to reputable charities/organizations(UNICEF, etc)
< ebay Auctions- You can configure your ebay listings to take a percentage of your total sale price and donate it to a charity of your choice
<REMEMBER TO CHOOSE THE CHARITIES CAREFULLY>
Take a look @
http://www.poverty-action.org/index.php
I have an idea in my head recently that if the world annually gave 1% of its taxes collected to fighting hunger we’d see an end to poverty, I can’t say whether or not this is a feasible arrangement, but maybe…
Kentucky Fried Chicken and others are doing their part ————-> http://www.fromhungertohope.com/about/
Be a part of the movement, do something, no matter how small, we can end World Hunger by achieving an Universal Participation!
If we weren’t impressed we should still buy it in the hope that MGM makes more and better ones. Sure some seasons aren’t to everyones liking, but don’t forget that TPTB brought us many great seasons
