what bugs me about USA aiding other countrys during disaster.

" Ok, yes, its very sad when other countrys have big Natural Disasters and many people die. Yes its a Tragedy. And it seems like everytime something like this happens, we (the USA) have to but in and start helping people and aiding countrys. This is nice and all, but what bugs me about it is that THAT money and Resoruces could be used on, oh I dont know, Maybe Rebuilding New Orleans? You know, one of OUR citys. But no, we give more of a shit about some country that probaly dosent give two shits about us.   This is why were in Debt all the damn time, and why some stuff dosent get done here. We keep playing Mamma and Pappa to these countrys that should be able to take care of themselves. but because there not capable and Competant enough, they cant.  Same thing with sending Aids Help to Africa. Heres a Idea! Instead of sending Aids Vaccines and Medicine, how about you send some Condoms! I just hate when we care more about Other countrys and people than our selfs.    Anyway, you may disagree, but its just my two cents. I aint no Politican man. "

" Ok, yes, its very sad when other countrys have big Natural Disasters and many people die. Yes its a Tragedy. And it seems like everytime something like this happens, we (the USA) have to but in and start helping people and aiding countrys. This is nice and all, but what bugs me about it is that THAT money and Resoruces could be used on, oh I dont know, Maybe Rebuilding New Orleans? You know, one of OUR citys. But no, we give more of a shit about some country that probaly dosent give two shits about us.   This is why were in Debt all the damn time, and why some stuff dosent get done here. We keep playing Mamma and Pappa to these countrys that should be able to take care of themselves. but because there not capable and Competant enough, they cant.  Same thing with sending Aids Help to Africa. Heres a Idea! Instead of sending Aids Vaccines and Medicine, how about you send some Condoms! I just hate when we care more about Other countrys and people than our selfs.    Anyway, you may disagree, but its just my two cents. I aint no Politican man. "

Are you human?

" A) No, your in debt all the time because you spend a few billion on invading a few countries each decade.  B) When your neighbors roof is on fire and you have a hose, you shouldnt give a shit about the price of water.  "

" What a ridiculous post. You act like you're the only country who sends aid,  but in fact, we all chip in.   Most of these missions aren't led by the US anyway, they are led by the UN.   What incredible ignorance. "

I don't like gratuitous spending, but the US debt is 14 trillion and our economy is worth a little more than that; and you are worried about a billion or so in Federal Aid? You are absolutly right, they should be able to pony up a few hundred million for New Orleans, but the cause of our debt is not federal aid. It's not war either. It waste and fraud with a little medicare on top.

Spend a trillion to save some banks, or spend a billion and aid thousands?

"We keep playing Mamma and Pappa to these countrys that should be able to take care of themselves. but because there not capable and Competant enough, they cant "

We're all people. It doesn't matter what country we're arbitrarily born in. 
 
New Orleans is currently in no where near as bad of shape as Haiti. Does the government suck there? Maybe. If the government weren't as bad, would they be more capable of taking care of themselves? Maybe. Should the innocent citizens of a country be left to suffer when other countries have the ability to help? No.

" @SeriouslyNow said:

" I love when people talk about countries like Russia, China and North Korea as if they're some mythical land shrouded in mystery where an evil tyrant rules with an Iron Fist and drinks the blood of their first born children who are parented by peons.  Things are different in those countries, sure, just not in the way that you THINK they are.  Meanwhile, enjoy your slave made game consoles, fashion, DVDs and so and thank the maker that you don't actually have to live in those places, which are only marginally different from your own, where you might well be slave labour.  Just sayin.. "

I highly doubt sony, microsoft and nintendo use slave labor to make their consoles. I'm pretty sure that would lead to some bad PR. "

"We keep playing Mamma and Pappa to these countrys"

" This type of argument is argued in Political Science classes across the nation.  From what I understand of what you are saying, on the very basic level, the argument is whether North America should be a sort of World Police, because they are one of the strongest nations in the world. "

Many countries help, not just the US. Even small, poor countries do what they can. And your country has bigger problems than aiding others. You can be sure that if this disaster didn't happen, that money would certainly not go into rebuilding New Orleans...

" Ok, yes, its very sad when other countrys have big Natural Disasters and many people die. Yes its a Tragedy. And it seems like everytime something like this happens, we (the USA) have to but in and start helping people and aiding countrys. This is nice and all, but what bugs me about it is that THAT money and Resoruces could be used on, oh I dont know, Maybe Rebuilding New Orleans? You know, one of OUR citys. But no, we give more of a shit about some country that probaly dosent give two shits about us.   This is why were in Debt all the damn time, and why some stuff dosent get done here. We keep playing Mamma and Pappa to these countrys that should be able to take care of themselves. but because there not capable and Competant enough, they cant.  Same thing with sending Aids Help to Africa. Heres a Idea! Instead of sending Aids Vaccines and Medicine, how about you send some Condoms! I just hate when we care more about Other countrys and people than our selfs.    Anyway, you may disagree, but its just my two cents. I aint no Politican man.   EDIT: Ok, Maybe my Ideas of it did sound selfish, Again, Sorry. Im not a Selfish or bad person. This is jsut what I was feeling as of last night. After listening to some news storys,and reading about it more, I realized that its a good thing were doing, and I essentially retract all the statements I said before.     "

" No, really, it's cute when discussions of international politics are being had by moronic kids who cannot spell.  It's like Crossfire meets Romper Room. "

God, kids type like shit nowadays.  How the fuck can someone push the space bar in the middle of a word?  Or switch up the order of the letters?  "This si jsut"? 

" Spending a lot of money for international aid >>>> the international reaction if you don't. "

Yeah, fuck poor people. They should know better than to keep their broke asses in small island or coastal countries that consistently get rocked by the earth, wind, and waves. Quit bleeding America dry you freeloaders, get a fucking job!
 
 
 
/sarcasm

" We keep playing Mamma and Pappa to these countrys that should be able to take care of themselves. but because there not capable and Competant enough, they cant.     "

Anyone with critical thinking skills could surmise that foreign aid and disaster relief are not only a drop in the bucket, but also an actual worthy use of American taxpayer money.  We could argue all day about other deficit spending, but foreign aid isn't an issue, I'd rather see my money go to that than any number of other places our government uses it.  

" @Fullmetal216 said:

" @j_drace said:

" @TheGreatGuero said:

" We gotta work together in this world, man. Seeing other countries, even enemy countries, working together to save innocent lives is always a wonderful thing. I still think it's the right thing to do, even if it does end up hurting us in the end. We can't be consumed by our greed and petty differences. "

@devosion: That is true, however there is no enemy.  It's merely an illusion made by leaders and propaganda.  The people in other countries are no different than any of us here.

I am going to have to disagree with this. There are many countries where things are different. For example, in North Korea, if you are a peasant, you will work and give the majority of what little money you have to your radical dictator who will use that money to try and make nuclear missiles. If you disagree with this, you can talk to the military who will be sure to shoot you on sight. "

@Fullmetal216: It is a threat, but then again why are we allowed to have nuclear weapons and when someone else tries to make them it's a big deal.  We can't have everything for ourselves and police the rest of the world. "

" @j_drace said:

" @Fullmetal216 said:

" @j_drace said:

" @TheGreatGuero said:

" We gotta work together in this world, man. Seeing other countries, even enemy countries, working together to save innocent lives is always a wonderful thing. I still think it's the right thing to do, even if it does end up hurting us in the end. We can't be consumed by our greed and petty differences. "

@devosion: That is true, however there is no enemy.  It's merely an illusion made by leaders and propaganda.  The people in other countries are no different than any of us here.

I am going to have to disagree with this. There are many countries where things are different. For example, in North Korea, if you are a peasant, you will work and give the majority of what little money you have to your radical dictator who will use that money to try and make nuclear missiles. If you disagree with this, you can talk to the military who will be sure to shoot you on sight. "

@Fullmetal216: It is a threat, but then again why are we allowed to have nuclear weapons and when someone else tries to make them it's a big deal.  We can't have everything for ourselves and police the rest of the world. "

Yes we can, because we are better, and always have been better. As Americans, due to the basic ideas which our government are based on, our possibilities are endless. Which makes us better, if we don't want a country to have nukes which threaten us, what's stopping us? We need to put ourselves first, because people who don't end up on the bottom. We also have open immigration, if you have any value to our society, you can join us, nobodies stopping you. So anybody who likes American ideals, the only fair ideals in the world, should become American, simple. And people who don't want life, liberty, and property, can start their own countries/organizations, although they're doomed to fail, but we shouldn't stop them from trying as long as it doesn't harm/threaten us. "

Wow. Make a thread about the US and it goes completely off the rails on page one, with every asshole and his brother trying to butt in with unsolicited opinions about unrelated shit like banking regulations and nuclear weapons. 
 
The thread is about foreign aid. Can't your ADD addled minds wrap your head around this concept? Stay on topic for once.
 
Anyway: no one gave a shit about Haiti last week. And it was a hellhole then. Now it's just more of a hellhole. I think it's natural for people to want to pitch in to mitigate the effects of natural disasters, since they seem them as essentially random events that could happen to anyone. That's not strictly true, but it's true enough. On the same token no one wants to throw money away trying to reform Haiti into some kind of functioning society, because they see Haiti's political instability and shit economy as (to some degree) the fault of the locals.
 
The world looks to the United States in these situations because the US has the power to move large amounts of men and material around the globe in the least amount of time. The USN has two of the most advanced hospital ships in operation, the Mercy and Comfort. In the absence of these resources I don't think the world would look to us in times of disaster.

When an earthquake strikes it disrupts all sorts of facilities. In Haiti a large number of essential buildings such as hospitals, police stations and aid agencies like the UN Embassy have been reduced to nothing but rubble. If other countries can lend a hand by sending out troops to maintain order, medical and other skilled staff that are needed then it can only help clean up the mess and resolve the situation quicker than if these people were left to fend for themselves.
 
If anything I'd imagine America can sympathise with Haiti in that after what happened to New Orleans they would understand the sheer necessity to send help in any form they can.

I do agree. We're spending tons of money on aiding other countries while they're are people starving in America, people in America without jobs, and things in America that need more funding. If we stopped spending on stuff like that, we could probably solve at least one minor problem, such as our educational system. Or even health care, if you support that kind of thing.
 
I mean, yes, it is tragic. Especially considering that a lot of countries that face disaster don't have the funds to fix it. But it's not like we'd get any help from anybody in another country if there was a tragedy here.

" @Fullmetal216 said:

" @SeriouslyNow said:

" I love when people talk about countries like Russia, China and North Korea as if they're some mythical land shrouded in mystery where an evil tyrant rules with an Iron Fist and drinks the blood of their first born children who are parented by peons.  Things are different in those countries, sure, just not in the way that you THINK they are.  Meanwhile, enjoy your slave made game consoles, fashion, DVDs and so and thank the maker that you don't actually have to live in those places, which are only marginally different from your own, where you might well be slave labour.  Just sayin.. "

I highly doubt sony, microsoft and nintendo use slave labor to make their consoles. I'm pretty sure that would lead to some bad PR. "

@Fullmetal216: They in fact do use slave labor.  For instance Microsoft has a contract with a chinese company to develop the 360 cases and maybe a few internal parts.  Microsoft does not regulate how the Chinese company will operate.  Every big company uses slave labor.    This topic is pointless because most of the people posting on it fail to see the bigger picture.      "

" @Raven_Sword: Oh please. One of the major reasons you are in such a high debt is because you're too busy blowing up other countries because of your "War on Terror" farce/shenanigans. Yeah that's right, I called shenanigans. If anything I find it extremely telling of a countries character when they are spending more money on an institution whose primary role is to kill/maim rather than on institutions who protect and observe the sanctity of human life (yes my country also falls into this category). "

every country is giving 
 
pull your load

 yes  every country is giving ..but ? is to who
  Hurricane Katrina. An article in the April 29, 2007 Washington Post claimed that of the $854 million offered by foreign countries,  to the US Government,  $40 million of the funds had been spent "for disaster victims or reconstruction" 
(less than 5%)  as of the date of publication. Additionally, a large portion of the $854 million in aid offered went uncollected including $400 million in oil , ....so who got est-200 millions that was not spent  for disaster victims... well my opinion our government got it. no they did not get all of it, some was not received but what was received and not spent on the victims, Hurricane Katrina victims probably would have been helped more...
 in 2008 Haiti hurricane. Australia pledged $10 million, Americans gave more than $300 billion to charity, Most of that money came  from private individuals ......  my ? is why were Haitis  poor still living in sheds up until the earthquake and there government was in a palace and nice homes with all that money donated to them after the hurricane....  well my opinion there government kept it for themselves...
 and yes the same thing will probable happen this time around but that is the chance that is taken.....
I just read and watched something interesting at.....Haiti (Earthquake Fire Famine or Flood).wmv
Quote from the video creator (There's money for the rich and none for the rest And everything of value is reserved for the West .) While showing pictures only of the USA with there catastrophes and poverty stricken people.
why is the U.S  being blamed for an earthquake,and flood and all. I think it is great that people help out. but its not right to blame the U.S for disasters that happen to them ....

Not about countries or diplomatic status. People are suffering. We can help those people. So we do help.

Well the difference is that what the government gives isn't exactly charity since it's mostly borrowed and then we end up paying that sum back. The reality is that it isn't necessary for the government to get since private charities, and regular individuals always end up giving far more in aid and commodities then the government could. For instance private donations were for the victims of Katrina were something like 3 times or more what the government gave. People are generous and decent enough on their own.

I suggest anyone interested in the amount of aid being given to check out this highly informative infographic