Quote:
Originally Posted by Kangrui
So should we have not accepted international aid from countries after Katrina? After all, we are THE richest country in the world. And why do you care about PRIVATE donations?
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In summary, International aid to the US is a myth, we are NOT the richest country in the world, and what wealth we have in the US is primarily owned by a very few super-rich families.
After living through three separate direct hits of Category 3 and 4 hurricanes in Florida, and after being near Homestead when Hurricane Andrew literally leveled everything, I can attest that neither I nor anybody I knew got a penny from international assistance (actually, not a penny from our government either, but that's par for the course). If other governments sent aid to the US, it certainly didn't get to the Americans living in those areas.
Our government couldn't even bother to provide token consumer protection for hurricane victims, as businesses gouged without mercy for everything that was still for sale (gas at $20 a gallon, cash only, no receipts given). In fact, the local governments (Martin and Palm Beach Counties) added insult to injury by later imposing massive fines on anyone who was forced to fix their roofs themselves instead of living with half a roof for the 2 years it took for legitimate roofing companies to appear again (property insurance won't cover damage incurred in your house if you fail to fix a destroyed roof).
As to private donations, nobody is objecting to those. I do have a major problem with US Federal Government money being given away or spent Japan, since my family forks over about $40,000 of our income to Washington's every year. Consequently, their insane overspending is condemning us to about 20 extra years of 80-hour weeks that we get nothing (but age and stress-related health problems) for, and we don't appreciate being made slaves to a government that calls itself free.
America is NOT the "richest country in the world" because GDP is not a reflection of wealth or prosperity. What is GDP? It's "a World War II-era tool for judging military-industrial potential...the statistic is designed to measure the sum total within the borders of the United States of consumer spending, business investment, government purchases and foreign trade..." So massive government spending is counted as a measure of wealth--instead of LOSS of wealth by those who earned that money and had it confiscated through taxes.
More cites: "total output can grow at a brisk rate while much of the population believes it is losing ground. A lot of the reported growth of the last 20 or 30 years has come from Americans working longer and harder rather than smarter."
"Counting the Wealth of Nations," by Robert D. Hershey, Jr. In other words, the fact that businesses are requiring many salaried workers nowadays to work 80 hours a week, instead of the 40 hour workweek standard in previous' generations (for the same level of pay), is hardly indicative of greater prosperity. Just the opposite.
And things are not improving: with "the government takeover of healthcare as it has education, the result will be the same: GDP numbers will grow, but the quality of healthcare will go down while the cost goes up."
Should We Believe the GDP? And "The economic top one percent of the population now owns over 70% of all financial assets, an all time record."
The Richest 1% Have Captured America's Wealth -- What's It Going to Take to Get It Back? | Economy | AlterNet
We have a national debt of over $14 trillion and continue to add a trillion and a half a year (and that doesn't even count the Social Security obligations of the Baby Boom, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who knows what other hidden debts the brilliant politicians are hiding). The federal debt is "expected to increase to nearly 100% of GDP by 2020 and remain at that level thereafter."
United States public debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Even worse, "The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the United States will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy, according to government estimates."
Federal, state and local debt hits post-WWII levels
The Federal government has spent so much money that "Interest was the fourth largest single budgeted disbursement category, after defense, Social Security, and Medicare."
United States public debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This is beyond traitorous, beyond criminal, and beyond belief why the entire working class isn't simply saying "It's not worth it," and quitting. Hopefully kids growing up now and future generations will not be as mindlessly complacent and willing to accept being treated like dirt, as my generation was. We grew up with no self-esteem, and business as well as government took full advantage of us (except for those who went into government work, which turned out to be our generation's winning lottery ticket).
By all means, give your own earnings away if you so choose. But don't feel bad if you don't, since if you're a taxpayer, your politicians will be using your money to support this and other of their favorite charities. The Federal government even has an Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Here's the short list available from the first page of Google: Naval and military support with over $35 million allocated for Operation "Tomodachi"
Factbox: Aid and rescue offers for Japan quake | Reuters, assistance via the CIA, United States Agency for International Development ($740,600 spent so far) the American Red Cross (which receives Federal and State money, per the New York Times), even local government employees like the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team and the Los Angeles County Search and Rescue Team (150 personnel and 12 canines).
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