Viewing Thread:
"It's a f****** disgrace"

What sort of a society do we live in, really. 70,000, that's seventy thousand people have died. And what does our government offer them?

One. Million. Pounds.

Later they upped that to a 'whopping' £15 million, but in my opinion that's because they were shamed into it. Then there's the US who offer a 'collossal' £35 million. What really rubs it in though is Jack Straw and George Bush standing there and giving excuses why they can't give more. I really believe the western world has become completely morally bankrupt.

Bush : "Last year 40% of all aid given in the world was given by the US."

Who gives a crap who gave what when, you t***pot, do you really have a clue what the real world is about?? For gods sake, how much money have both nations plowed into that ridiculous war? I don't hear any complaints about budgets when that subject is raised. Not to mention the human loss of life.

It makes you ashamed to be British and affiliated with what is turning out to be an Empire of bullies, ignorant knuckledraggers and yes men. This New Year I'm hoping for a Nuclear Holocaust.

Rant Over. Time for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Munn, be grateful my powers have yet to come to fruition and I can't kill people via broadband using white-hot anger.

15(ish) percent of the price of everything I buy is tax.

munn wrote:

> Well, I would vote, but I can't.
> There's an age restriction.
>
> :-O

Bah.

So...how come you're complaining about the taxes you (don't) pay?

Light wrote:
> munn wrote:
> Stuff
>
> Well, how about getting off your backside and trying to make a
> difference, even if just by voting, rather than sitting there
> cramming pizza down your throat and muttering how you just
> knew it would all go wrong?

Well, I would vote, but I can't.
There's an age restriction.

:-O

Please don't take this next post as racist, or siding with the government, or what have you, but:

Our government is pretty deep in debt, as far as G8 countries go. However, we've been like this for quite a while. The government has done a good job of working in a negative budget. It hasn't raised taxes as much as it could have, but instead has chosen to slowly creep them up. Yes there have been poor expenditures in the last say 10 years, like initially the millenium bridge, the Diana memorial, etc. However these aren't huge losses and the rest of the country has been ticking over in a reasonable state. The stupidest thing is that we went to war and all the millions of pounds that went into it with us.

The countries we are helping aren't as "rich" (referring to individuals), or as smart or as developed as us. My fear and something I've noticed is that in the majority of cases when money has been handed over to the host nation, they aren't educated or devisive enough to use it effectively. The people too, for lack of money and knowledge just rebuild the same shoddy houses which will get swept away again.

So yes, by all means donate as much money as we can, but first of all consider some things:

We should be donating for the peoples' sakes, because they are the ones who are affected and deserve the charity, not the governments who in most cases unfairly keep all the money they generate internally.

Bare in mind that money is useless if people don't learn or use the money well. It is very possible that a lot of money will be wasted and almost certain that none of the inhabitants will "learn".

Finally, this may sound selfish now, but just from the gage I have of posters here; it's likely that after this passes us, alot of people would be moaning about an apparent lack of funds to our government.



Personally I still side with the majority of you and believe that our government is l;osing any morals it had and is becoming more and more corrupt. This said, if it wasn't corrupt and moral, it would've been proved by an instant high amount of cash donated, regardless of the factors I stated above. But it wasn't.



Rarely do I rant, but this looks as if I've gone all out.
:)

ßora† §agdiyeV wrote:

> Bush : "Last year 40% of all aid given in the world was given by
> the US."

i should think so too!!

Very_Metal: "last year, a large percentage of the people that NEEDED aid, needed it because of US actions, be it military action or because of their staunch refusal to aliviate 3rd world debt"

in any event, that is a pitiful amount of help to offer a country/countries that have suffered this kind of disaster, especially while having the audasity to harp on about 9/11 at every available opportunity, which was nothing in comparison... (except for the planning aspect of course)

Woah, nellies. As far as I'm aware the donations put forward by the international community form just the initial response. I heard that Colin Powell has said the US response will eventually run to billions of dollars, and presumably other countries will scale their efforts up accordingly.


spoonbeast wrote:
> i think the truth is the un restricts how much aid a country could
> give. I remember in my lessons that you can't give away more then 3%
> of your gnp.

Given that the GDP of the United States is $11 trillion dollars, I don't forsee that being a problem.

munn wrote:
> Stuff

Well, how about getting off your backside and trying to make a difference, even if just by voting, rather than sitting there cramming pizza down your throat and muttering how you just knew it would all go wrong?

i think the truth is the un restricts how much aid a country could give. I remember in my lessons that you can't give away more then 3% of your gnp.

Ok, I'm acually glad that the governments arent giving very much aid. Its not that I dont care its just that aid ISNT free. The country has to pay it back at huge rates of interest. It Often puts LEDC's into a lot more debt and doesnt acually help them. Where as the charity giving DOES help, thats the proper help that should and is being given. It may sound bad but acually its good for the countrys affected