Why does America help the starving in Africa instead of the starving here?

Question

I am wondering, because we have many homeless people here who need help. And their are also other contries, like India and others where their are many impoverished people. I have absoluetly nothing againest Africa, i just am wondering why we always help them.....

Answer 1

Nobody is starving in the USA. Homeless people are drug addicts and alcoholics whose families and friends have given up trying to help. There are missions and government programs that will help them if they want to be helped. Most choose to continue living as they do.

Answer 2

I was under the impression that we don't really help the homeless here or the people in Africa.

Answer 3

In America, we have resources.  In many countries, they don't have the means or the resources to farm or have the opportunities to earn money for their families.

Our government gives people money to sit on their ****'s.  Welfare.

Answer 4

"We" help people all over the world.

Answer 5

The idea is simple.  In America people have the opportunity to help themselves.  In other countries so many people do not have opportunities at all.

Answer 6

Americans help people in many countries.

We also help help people locally through federal, state, local and private support.  We have the richest poor people in the world. As to the homeless, there are people who refuse to live inside and they hate society. Is it your right to force them when they don't want to go?  It it difficult to help the mentally ill, who can refuse medication or other treatment, and often find themselves on the street when they are psychotic.  I think its cruel to leave the mentally ill on the streets to beg and booze and then put them in jail when they get in trouble rather than hospitalizing them to find out if there is a good medication to help them. Then when they are stabilized they would be on disability and have a place to live in the community.

Africa has great problems, including the harsh environment and the ravages of AIDS leaving a generation of orphans.

Answer 7

i no, its like, hungry people are people to, as if i woold let some person go hungry hear befor some weirdo in anutha countrie, i totally get you, we should, like, start a group that feds them and you know, like dresses dem less stinky fresh...

But really..., they're hungry people all over since the beginning of time and until the end of time. Life sucks, get a helmet.

Answer 8

I don't mean to sound cocky, but relative to Africa, it's almost impossible to starve in America, unless you want to or your parents neglect you. There is always food of some sort here; there is always a way to get around -- shelters, found objects or food, a helping hand. In Africa, there is nothing to find that you might be able to exchange for money, and who would pay for anything you might find? There are also few people with a helping hand to reach out to.

Answer 9

There is starving everywhere in the world. No one can stop that. Each country should help there own homeless and poor people. But helping others is a good thing. :)

~God Bless

Answer 10

The fact of the matter is that very few people are actually starving in the US.

John Stossel did a pretty well known segment on the subject back in 97' that you should definately take a look at entitled - "Freeloaders"  - at least part of it's on Youtube if you want to check it out.

A pretty small percentage of even those who go to soup kitchens are actually homeless (most have an appartment of stay in some form of housing) and have the same types of possessions that the rest of americans do.

We have a pretty messed up concept of what poverty really is in the United States.

As with other countries the only thing that's going to solve their starvation problems is less internal governement corruption and more individual liberty.

People in countries such as India aren't in such dire circumstances  because of overpopulation or a lack of resources - but because of their socialist government. Just take a look at the strides made in countrys such as Hong Kong - which are much more populated per square mile and have few resources - a h**l hole 50 years ago and now they have surpassed almost every european country  in average individual income - all because of a simple flat tax and almost no regulation on business.

Answer 11

The USA pays less then any other nation of the big 18 industrial leaders, compared to GDP per Capita. Most of the money is in return for political and industrial favors given to corrupt government officials and never trickles down to the people. Pakistan alone has received over 20 Billion Dollar since Bush came to power, supporting a corrupt, useless President, who let Al Queda prosper in his country. Bush spread our tax money around to gain good will from third world countries in the UN, having them turn against the USA the next day, see Chile, Argentine, Brazil. He is just an idiot.

Answer 12

Because it is your government foreign policy to help other countries. There are agencies of your government to look into dometic problems, Government assistance is a two way affair. The problem should be brought out squarely and those who needs help should advance and be recognized. This is how government works.

Answer 13

It's the trend, didn't you know?  Adopt kids from overseas, but give them American names; or collect them like souvenirs from all over the world.  It's ridiculous.  We shouldn't be judging how others live, or spending our resources, without first making sure our own people can thrive.  Then, of course, help others.

EDIT:: and to those who don't think it's possible to starve in America, have you visited Appalachia (sp?) ... or for that matter, any low income, blue collar, coal mining town.. or are you judging from your air conditioned, nicely furnished home with a well-stocked fridge?

Answer 14

This is because there is absolute poverty (as in Africa) and relative poverty. Half of the world's citizens live off less than two dollars a day and most in Africa live off less that one dollar a day. A homeless individual in America or any other developed country can get much more than $1 panhandling on the street for about 5 minutes whereas most people in Africa work their fingers to the bone for less than this. Also, where developed countries such as America have at least some type of social safety net for the homeless countries in Africa do not. Its all a matter of relativity.

Answer 15

Most Americans are compassionate people. They help all over the world including here in American.

Answer 16

We help both but the conservatives only complain about their tax money helping our own.  I can't figure it out.

Answer 17

because u2 hasn't put on a concert for them yet.

Answer 18

there is already help for poor Americans, no one starves here, so why not help the poor elsewhere also.   check the facts before you jump to conclusions

Answer 19

It's all a public relations scam in order to make America seem like a really cool nation, not considering how many people here are going without.

Answer 20

if they can't feed themselves let them starve to death. obviously there are too many of them for african land to handle

Answer 21

Because if you are living in the wealthiest country in the world (the US), and you are poor and/or homeless, then there is a 99% chance you are there by choice, or by at least a series of your own bad choices.  And most bad choices can be undone with grit, determination, hard work and a plan.  Unfortunately with our broken welfare-state system in place many people choose to be lazy rather than to work for what they want.

For our planet to survive, people have to start taking responsibility for their own actions and choices and stop blaming others and/or looking to others to save them from their situation.

Got hooked on drugs?  Got knocked up 3 times by 3 different guys and didn't consider adoption or abortion?  Keep having kids when you are making minimum wage?  Those are all choices people make every day, and they are bad choices, and people need to figure out on their own how to live with the consequences of their bad choices.

In other countries, such as Africa & India, the options are not nearly as prevalent as they are here, and thus you have a lot more people truly in "real" need.

That being said, there's nothing wrong with taking care of our country first, and our people, but handouts to the indigent and lazy don't work.

Put a 6 month limit on food stamps and welfare, maybe ease the tax burden for those who make less than 20,000, or 30,000 if you're supporting a family, and raise the minimum wage to a truly liveable wage like $10.00/hr and then you'll get my attention.

Answer 22

if they don't they will die and that's the bottomline.

America is to obesity as africa is to starvation.

u need to read more on Africa and all third world countries aroud the world.

Answer 23

It is in-fashion.

Answer 24

well cuz we have places wehere the homless can go and eat but kids and ppl in africa can help them selfs

Answer 25

There are many more NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that focus on problems abroad. These typicaly have more funding and more celebrity backing (think Bono or American Idol)  and subsequently get much more media attention.

This extra media attention is what makes it seem like the American government does more for those in Afirca than those domestically. In truth, though, the government spents billions of dollars each year on welfare, which supports many people in need, from single parents living in a tough urban environment to the rural small-farmer who is trying to deal with drought. There are also NGOs that help hungry Americans, evidenced by the many thousands of homeless shelters that operate every day or the concerted relief efforts that operate when disaster strikes.

Answer 26

Because it makes us look good in the eyes of the rest of the world. While we actually do nothing for our own people, we have donations, programs, funding centers, non profit organizations, and other things to help out all over the world but our own people don't even have healthcare here.

Answer 27

We're in denial and don't want to see what's in front of us.  We want the problem to be somewhere else.

Answer 28

Because the USA says there the leaders of the world and u gotta back that up

Answer 29

Because we have our priorities mixed up.

Answer 30

There is NOBODY starving in the USA, if there are, SHOW THEM. The liberal media would love to put them on the news to embarass Bush.

There will always be poor people, as long as there are those who are incapable of helping themselves, or too lazy to help themselves. The poor get plenty of help in the USA, it is called welfare.

Answer 31

We have a program called Welfare. We also offer food stamps. I've taught children on Welfare who also got food stamps and free breakfast and free lunch at school. My husband is from one of the poorest countries in Africa. I've lived in Asia and Eastern Europe. The poorest students I taught in one of the poorest parts of America have a much higher standard of living than teachers in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. (I'm not so sure anymore about the standard of living in Eastern Europe but 15 years ago when I moved from one of the poorest parts of America to Eastern Europe, my students had a much higher standard of living than teachers in Eastern Europe did at that time.) We also help poor people in Asia and Eastern Europe and the South Pacific and South and Central America.

You cannot understand the difference until you have lived among both groups of people. By the way, in Africa and in China, education is not free. Neither is medical care even for the poorest people. There are homeless people in Asia. I never saw any homeless people in Africa as far as I know.