This past weekend, my mom visited me and we went to see a movie she suggested called, “The Impossible.” This movie is based on the true story of one family’s mission to survive the 2004 tsunami that struck the coast of South East Asia. The cinematography was excellent and really brought to light exactly how horrifying that experience was.
Many times, living in Indiana, we are far removed from the natural disasters that can affect the rest of our country and the world. It’s easy to forget about those being affected by natural disasters, when we are nice and comfy sitting in our own home. In 2010, the United States gave $52.7 billion dollars in assistance to other countries. The top ten countries that received aid were: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Iraq, Egypt, Haiti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Columbia and Kenya.
Supporters of this aid feel the United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster, or live in a free country. It’s one of the things that makes our country so great. Opponents of this aid, feel the money could better help those struggling right here at home. A few weeks ago, we watched a video on the government’s inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina. This morning on the radio, I heard how thousands of victims of Hurricane Sandy are still without heat in what has been a devastatingly cold winter.
So, my question to you this week is, “Do you think the United States should provide economic assistance to foreign countries in need? Is it our responsibility as a wealthy and free nation, or does it take money away from Americans in need?” Answers are due no later than Sunday, February 3rd, 2013.
Is this a trick question? Rich American's already take money away money from American's in need. Giving to other countries for the most part is probably the least we can do in the light of how obscenely wide the gulf between the American poor and the American rich. And not every issue involves laziness. Our system is designed specifically to make sure that the lower percent is always behind on bills and forced to choose between food and keeping financially stable.
ReplyDeleteFor the general public it is hard to justify where to use the money when you don't know where money has gone to in the first place. I would like to see more home aid and less foreign aid. But before any of this can happen the CIC and it's staff shouldn't be the ones to decide where it should end up.
ReplyDeleteIt comes down to two ways of thinking...think about yourself or think about others first. I believe no answer is wrong, but I do have a greater belief that you need to take care of yourself first. President Obama is not taking care of himself (America). He needs to establish stability in OUR country before thinking he can aid the world. If you have ever been on a plane you know that the steward always mentions securing your oxygen mask first, before helping others. You would be more helpful to securing your mask first, than to get everyone elses on and choke to death...I believe the money that we are sending over should be used to help our NATIONAL DEBT, which no one seems to think twice about...We need to work on America, because this country is starting to fall to pieces.
ReplyDeleteI try my best to donate to the Red Cross when a disaster happens, whether it be in the states or not. I believe that yes the government should always put our people and the states first in any natural disaster, but I also think helping others is what makes world peace a little more stronger. I believe that if we left these other countries in the dark, karma would come around and strike us twice as hard. These countries may be poverty, but they are still important to some people.
ReplyDelete- Sarah Brown
I guess it really just all comes down on your values and morals that you live by. I have always cared more about others than myself, so putting other countries that need the money more than we do ahead, is fine by me. They deserve a chance to rebuild their towns and make their society better than what it was before it went down in a hurricane, tornado, etc.
I'd say the best course of actions is to keep the money where it is. Natural disasters have been happening for millions of years. It's nature's way of balancing things out. I'd also point out natural selection in those cases as well. The strong survive, the rest fall by the wayside. Of course that's an extremely cynical answer, but i'm and extremely cynical person. I just hear a lot about overpopulation on the earth and how it's only going to rise and rise. Trying to save everybody on the Earth is just not economically intelligent. It's also impossible to save the whole world, life will continue to move on just as before
ReplyDelete-Kiernan Stillabower
I don't know what i completely think on this one. There are many variable at play. I mostly agree with what Sarah and Gwen said though. We could put the money in our own nation since we do have an outstanding debt that will slowly tear us apart, but also helping other nations (for whatever reason even if not the best). And still looking at a selfish standpoint, we would also have karma reap havoc on us in essence. Its really a toss up, help the people about to lose their homes, or help those that have no homes. But as Americans its always easier to want to help ourselves...
ReplyDelete-Sean Brown
A lot of great points have been made above. I'm really torn on this question. I think it's best to care about our citizens in need before other countries. Unless there's a country that's about to break in half or sink into the ocean, then we should worry about our people and our economy first. We can help foreign countries a little when we can, but I don't think we should provide full economic assistance when we can barely take care of our economy and citizens.
ReplyDeleteOf course we need to extend our arm to those who have fallen on the ground. I also believe that when it's our own people in danger or in need of assistance, they come first. It was terrible how poorly the government dealt with Katrina. That kind of made you look at the situation going on thinking, "What the hell is our government on?" We had a ton of people stuck in some terrible reality, when the government was giving money to the middle east.
ReplyDeleteThat is not cool. When it's our money being given to the government and our tax payer dollars and cents being spent outside of the country, instead of helping our own victims, the people are bound to lose a lot of faith in the government.
It's not always our government being complete asses. That "Stop Kony" guy was a complete joke. He makes a moving video that gets us all feeling bad for these African children being turned into ruthless little weapons, asks for donations to help bring down Kony, and wins the hearts of all Americans who saw the video. What does he do with the money? He went out and got "White Girl Wasted".He spent most of the money donated on who knows what drugs and ends up in San Diego completely naked and caught on tape "jackin' it". What the hell? My money was lost to THAT guy? I can tell all my friends I gave HIM money for a good cause? Good Cause? I think that Stop Kony campaign was a sham.
I like when we help other countries, but it just seems like the government is trying to kiss ass when they put their own people on the back burner. I feel like we're some kind of dirty salesman trying to get other countries to accept democracy. It always seems the government is robbing us blind for something.
I'm sorry, I really hate our government and I can't wait for all those old backwards bastards to be picked off by natural selection. I'm not saying the next generation can do any better. I'm saying I need to get the hell out of this place.
From my perception, now this may be different today than it was in the past. Is that a lot of other countries hate the United States and the countries that we claim to be helping didn't ask or even want our help. After 911 and the war in Iraq I lost faith in our system, if we didn't go over there for weapons of mass destruction, what did we go there for? I find it hard to believe that after it was all said and done that we found it in the goodness of our hearts to help build up the people we so heavily identified as terrorists. I think the US ultimately does things to make itself look good, and our efforts to build up other countries is motivated by that more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteU.S. foreign aid has a variety of goals. Among them, lifting people out of poverty, promoting democracy and economic stability worldwide, and bolstering strategic alliances. According to the government’s user-friendly Web site, www.foreignassistance.gov, Uncle Sam doles out “more than $58 billion a year in foreign assistance through more than 20 agencies.” More than half of that, roughly $37 billion, is managed by the State Department and USAID.
ReplyDeleteYou may be surprised to learn that most countries outside of Western Europe, Canada and Australia get foreign aid from the U.S. This year the requested amount for Russia was $68.7 million. For China, it’s $12.9 million. A whopping $647.7 million has been allocated for Nigeria. Even $20 million is set aside for communist Cuba. They don’t include money that finds its way into these countries through U.S. regional foreign assistance offices or offices that deal with specific issues like health or agriculture.
And so my answer to the above question would be that i am on the fence with each side. After viewing and having ssaw this calculations, i am at awww and very shocked and for a moment quite angry but on another note i do not know any the perimeters, guidelines and stipulations that go into process when they calculate funds and decide on who get what! there are three sides to every story and we do not know the stories behind these other countries, their needs and why they request such large amounts of funding. I am all about helping the next individual, especially someone in need, but where do you draw the line. make sure our home base is in a good place before jump ship to help the next...just saying.
Rather than going into a long discussion about how things need to be, I shall make this short and sweet. Mind you however, it is always good to help others. But there's one thing I've always been told throughout.
ReplyDelete"In order to help others, you must first help yourself."
- Micah Kistler
I remember in high school when the huge disaster struck Japan. I was president of my Japanese club at the time, so I was asked to make the announcement on the morning news. My voice trembling as I named off the already found dead. I asked for donations and we raised quite a bit. I myself sent my own, out of pocket money, to the Red Cross. I didn't want my school taking any percent of it, if they were. I wanted that money to go into the hands of the person that needed it the most... even though that number/piece of paper, could not help those trapped beneath the debris. I still hoped it would help save someone, in some way.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I don't know enough to comment on how much the United states helps other countries. My thoughts would be they think it is out of their control, and don't see benefits financially. If they aren't, they need to start, as well as the other countries need to help us in our times of need. There are these borders draw in the sand that separate our nations. These imaginary lines make us think that we are almost untouchable to one another. We need to try to break this fear of connection.
Mariah Shoaff
I don't feel like it is our responsibility necessarily to support other countries just because they ask but if something dangerous to their country does happen I feel like if we are sided with them then we should assist as the best we can. I know that we still have Americans that need support but a lot of them are in need of help because they put themselves in that position where they need support. So I feel as though we already have soup kitchens and places for the homeless and things like that. It's their responsibility to go and seek help from the places that are more than willing to give them the support.
ReplyDelete-Ashlee Adams
I think that we should help those who are in an alliance with the U.S. We have the money and the support system. Also to help more in our own country because there are still a lot of poverty, issues, and disasters going on in the U.S. Its not our responsibility but its a bonus and also the other countries will return the favor if something would to ever happen with the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI believe we have a right to be helped by the government before we extend a hand to another country. I understand that it helps give us a better image, but if there are still people without heat in the wake of Sandy, something that happened months ago, I think that should be priority to fix.
ReplyDeleteHelping other people is absolutely something we should do. The question of who to help i think is a difficult one though. Helping in times of natural disasters is a given, i think we should absolutely help in those cases. When we're not talking about disasters though, i think it should come down to whether those people truly want to be helped. We help those who help themselves. We can throw money at people who are less fortunate, but unless they truly understand that they need to work hard to achieve their dreams, we truly cannot help them. In that regard i think its the same for other countries and for our own. However, i also think that helping those on our own soil first only strengthens our ability to help other countries.
ReplyDeleteI think differently I feel we should always do whats within our power to help others in need whether it be domestic or foreign. We should continue to hep other countries, ones in which are lucky to have the luxury Americans take for granted.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to understand those who complain that the United States should helps its inhabitants only.... these ones I'm directing this to are the ones living off the government, whove done nothing to contribute but complain when their check dosnt arrive first of the month. These countries who often struggle to become better are significantly less privileged than we are. Who are we to refuse to help others? Whats that say about us? About America? Are we really going to be that country that turns its back on the world? Being a part of the United Nations the US is committed to international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. If that means helping others in when need then I say yes.
I feel that we as a country we need to take care of our own people first before we decide to take care of everyone else in the world. If we are the land of the free and are offering the American Dream, hoping that those from other countries come to us to stay, how can we provide them that dream if we are not going to take care of them? Is the American Dream to be stranded by the government in time of greatest need? To starve and be cold with no roof over one's head because it was taken by natural disaster? I would hope not. If we can not even make sure that our own people are always safe (reasonably) then why should we help other countries that are in need? I feel that it is sending a wrong image.
ReplyDeleteHonestly,I think that we need to stay out of things and worry about ourselves first.We owe china so much money that is dumb. Why dont we get ourselves out of our recession then start to worry about the rest of the world.I understand that it seems like we are the country to come to if you have problems or what not but we need to show the world that we are the best before we clam to fame it.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely think America should help foreign countries that are in need. I think anyone with the means to help, regardless of the political backlash, should do whatever they can to help. As a country, I do think that we should take care of our own poor first, but poor in America is not like poor in 3rd world countries. We are a very very rich country in terms of personal wealth, and I think that is where some of the misconception comes from when people say we are a poor country.
ReplyDeleteI think people saying we shouldn't help other nations are greedy. I think they need to realize the blessings they have to live in a free nation and not suffer in poor like a lot of nations in this world. We need to learn it is a privilaege to have the things we do and to actually want that for other people. Not just ourselves. I think the United States should help other countries in times of need for maybe one day we will need the same help. I'm a big beleiver in Karma, and if we dont give back we won't receive or flourish as a nation. We look like jerks (which half the time, that is the case).
ReplyDeletei think we shouldd help other countries if they need assistance especially if were getting something from them. America really doesnt make anthing ,so how can we ASK from other countries and not return the same Help to others. I think its selfish if we only think about ourselves. If yu have it your suppose to giveith.
ReplyDeleteI view America as a big brother to the world, one that looks out for its fellow nations to provied care and protection. Yes i belive we should help those in need of it.
ReplyDelete