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Forum Post: Military spending vs millions dying for lack of drinkable water

Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 21, 2011, 9:20 a.m. EST by Jackofhearts (36)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcuda89NiKM

Imho, it's shocking how much good we actually could do if congress would take their heads out of their arses. Or if human life wasn't a political game to our leaders.

14 Comments

14 Comments


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[-] 2 points by Jimboiam (812) 12 years ago

Lame. Of all those 3.7 million a year that are dying from lack of safe water, none of them are in America. i want a free America and corruption out of government, but not interested in solving the worlds problems before we do it.

[-] 1 points by jay1975 (428) 12 years ago

I hate it when people blame the US for the ills of the world and then want us to solve every one else's problems. We have enough problems of our own to deal with. Until our own house is in order, we should leave every one else alone and focus on our needs first.

[-] 1 points by Jackofhearts (36) 12 years ago

Jay, it doesn't bother you that we spend so much money to create weapons of war, even go as far as to advocate the use of chemical pesticides other than organic food worldwide, but when we could choose to be part of something good, and create a real positive change, we don't? Don't you feel bothered by that? Couldn't you see that that's like a fighter, who goes around picking fights, but then see's a woman being raped and says "hey that's none of my business, I have my own problems". I'm not saying we're the source of the world's problems at all, only that if we used even a fraction of what we spend on war, and violence to pursue a global good, it could have positive consequences we could easily save millions upon millions of lives, rather than taking them.

[-] 0 points by jay1975 (428) 12 years ago

I agree, our military expeditions around the world have gotten out of hand. I think the money and resources are best spent here to help our own people. As for organic food feeding the world, it doesn't seem possible since the population is growing too fast. We are already at over 7,000,000,000 people on the planet and are not looking to slow down anytime soon.

[-] 1 points by Jackofhearts (36) 12 years ago

Jay, I think you picked up on a subtle point I made in my video, everyone KNOWS it would be expensive to provide drinkable water to the billion people who don't have access to it, but considering our military spending, we could pretty much afford it 20x over, and save millions of lives, and while I see it as more than just worth doing it also subtly screams that we're overspending. Thanks for your thoughts. :)

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

Defense Spending

United States 698,105,000,000
People's Republic of China 114,300,000,000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

China's population growth is down to 0.5%

they've been trying to manage it for decades

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_pop_grow&idim=country:CHN&dl=en&hl=en&q=china+population+growth

[-] 1 points by GirlFriday (17435) 12 years ago

Great post and I agree.

[-] 1 points by Jackofhearts (36) 12 years ago

Or am I mistaken, and we can't see the value in a global good, that doesn't involve violence? Does anyone at all see the value in supporting a CHEAPER and BENEVOLENT foreign policy over war and bloodshed?

[-] 2 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

resources wouldn't be wasted

[-] 1 points by Jackofhearts (36) 12 years ago

@Jim, I have to say, it's ironic isn't it, we talk about the US being the police of the world, spending 2 billion a week in Afghanistan, supporting dictators, hiring assassins, and sending our military all over the world, but at the suggestion of doing something good, we balk because we need to fix our own problems?

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 12 years ago

it's patriotism or honor on some such proud to fight

[-] 0 points by Jackofhearts (36) 12 years ago

For the record, I posted before, but forgot my username/passwordl.