This will likely be moved to the Politics Forum, but I just saw where the Hope for Haiti show raised $60M for the folks in Hait. I have also read about the millions of dollars professional athletes and celebrities have indivdiually donated to Haiti.

My question is, when are they going to hold the telethon for the United States? I am not trying to belittle the disaster that is Haiti, I am merely pointing out that $60M could have gone a long way to help out the defecit in this country, built up some infra-structure and could put a lot of food in people's bellies in this country.

Hell, they could just hold Hope for Ohio and it would go a long way.

How selfish of you!!!!




*this post, laced with sarcasm*

What happened in Haiti was horrible. My heart is out to the families who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

There are many, many people in the country that are not only poor, but go to bed without food to eat or a roof over their heads.

I would love to see something similiar done for the people of the United States to see how much could be raised.

LOL not gonna happen, 'cause the poor in this country are just lazy freeloaders.

\sarcasm

Yea...the poor in this country are lazy. Everywhere else they need our help

The poor in this country would be the farking ruling class in Haiti. Apples an oranges.

This country has no clue whatsoever what real poverty looks like. None.

fish82 wrote: The poor in this country would be the farking ruling class in Haiti. Apples an oranges.

This country has no clue whatsoever what real poverty looks like. None.

You have no clue if your last statement was serious.

I really was not wanting this thread to go this direction (but I suspected it would). Honestly, I thought the whole production was the most self-indulgent piece of crap I have ever witnessed in a while. All of the celebrities were up there acting like they gave two chunks, while at the same time they would probably be repulsed if some poor person from Appalachia were to come up to them and asked them for a quarter to be put cheese on a whopper.

Btw, I agree with Fish. My family did not have a pot to pee in growing up, but we were by far much better off than the folks who live in places like Haiti.

Eric Taylor wrote:

fish82 wrote: The poor in this country would be the farking ruling class in Haiti. Apples an oranges.

This country has no clue whatsoever what real poverty looks like. None.

You have no clue if your last statement was serious.

Poverty in US is defined as yearly income less than $19,971. The average yearly income in Haiti is under $400 (USD).

They are people in this country that are equal to or worse off poverty wise than those in Haiti.

I donated to some causes aimed at helping Haiti, but there is something about that production on friday that really irked me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it didn't seem right to me.

This will likely be moved to the Politics Forum, but I just saw where the Hope for Haiti show raised $60M for the folks in Hait. I have also read about the millions of dollars professional athletes and celebrities have indivdiually donated to Haiti.

My question is, when are they going to hold the telethon for the United States? I am not trying to belittle the disaster that is Haiti, I am merely pointing out that $60M could have gone a long way to help out the defecit in this country, built up some infra-structure and could put a lot of food in people's bellies in this country.

Hell, they could just hold Hope for Ohio and it would go a long way.

First of all, comparing the natural disaster in Haiti to the poverty problems here in the US are not compareable. There are things done EVERYDAY here in the US to help the less fortunate. There's no benefit you could put on that would raise enough money to even begin to touch the poverty problems here in the US. Do you have any idea how much money the US spends on welfare every year?? It's about 600 BILLION dollars, and your telling me we don't do enough to help the less fortunate. The US is the greatest, most powerful country in the world, and has a responsibility to help out those who need it. Thinking that we shouldn't help Haiti is narrow-minded at best.

I'd like to know how much each of the celebs put toward the relief effort; honestly, they could make a ton of money if they each set aside 5% of their yearly earnings for the cause. Does anyone have a link with that info?

Little Danny wrote: I really was not wanting this thread to go this direction (but I suspected it would). Honestly, I thought the whole production was the most self-indulgent piece of crap I have ever witnessed in a while. All of the celebrities were up there acting like they gave two chunks, while at the same time they would probably be repulsed if some poor person from Appalachia were to come up to them and asked them for a quarter to be put cheese on a whopper.

QFT

Eric- have you ever been to Haiti or any third world nation? There is no way if you have you would opine there are people in the US worse off than in Haiti.

se-alum wrote:

This will likely be moved to the Politics Forum, but I just saw where the Hope for Haiti show raised $60M for the folks in Hait. I have also read about the millions of dollars professional athletes and celebrities have indivdiually donated to Haiti.

My question is, when are they going to hold the telethon for the United States? I am not trying to belittle the disaster that is Haiti, I am merely pointing out that $60M could have gone a long way to help out the defecit in this country, built up some infra-structure and could put a lot of food in people's bellies in this country.

Hell, they could just hold Hope for Ohio and it would go a long way.

First of all, comparing the natural disaster in Haiti to the poverty problems here in the US are not compareable. There are things done EVERYDAY here in the US to help the less fortunate. There's no benefit you could put on that would raise enough money to even begin to touch the poverty problems here in the US. Do you have any idea how much money the US spends on welfare every year?? It's about 600 BILLION dollars, and your telling me we don't do enough to help the less fortunate. The US is the greatest, most powerful country in the world, and has a responsibility to help out those who need it. Thinking that we shouldn't help Haiti is narrow-minded at best.

So Welfare should be enough?

I can take you anytime you want into parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia and show you people are hanging on the by a thread and still struggle.

People in this country need more than what they are getting.

With that said, what happened was horrible, but the government needs to wake up and see there are problems here in this country with people that need addressed.

Little Danny wrote: Eric- have you ever been to Haiti or any third world nation? There is no way if you have you would opine there are people in the US worse off than in Haiti.

I have not, but I know for a fact there are thousands and thousands of people who cant survive here and struggle just to barely stay above water.

Eric Taylor wrote:

se-alum wrote:

This will likely be moved to the Politics Forum, but I just saw where the Hope for Haiti show raised $60M for the folks in Hait. I have also read about the millions of dollars professional athletes and celebrities have indivdiually donated to Haiti.

My question is, when are they going to hold the telethon for the United States? I am not trying to belittle the disaster that is Haiti, I am merely pointing out that $60M could have gone a long way to help out the defecit in this country, built up some infra-structure and could put a lot of food in people's bellies in this country.

Hell, they could just hold Hope for Ohio and it would go a long way.

First of all, comparing the natural disaster in Haiti to the poverty problems here in the US are not compareable. There are things done EVERYDAY here in the US to help the less fortunate. There's no benefit you could put on that would raise enough money to even begin to touch the poverty problems here in the US. Do you have any idea how much money the US spends on welfare every year?? It's about 600 BILLION dollars, and your telling me we don't do enough to help the less fortunate. The US is the greatest, most powerful country in the world, and has a responsibility to help out those who need it. Thinking that we shouldn't help Haiti is narrow-minded at best.

So Welfare should be enough?

I can take you anytime you want into parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia and show you people are hanging on the by a thread and still struggle.

People in this country need more than what they are getting.

With that said, what happened was horrible, but the government needs to wake up and see there are problems here in this country with people that need addressed.

I agree to a point and disagree to another. First of all, I agree the people in that region are poor as hell. They always have been (yes long before GWB). My mother's family is from WV so I only know this too well. I do disagree that those people are in a bad as a predicament as the folks in Haiti.

I do believe the people in those situations will only improve their lot in life by breaking cycles of poverty. I did it. To take a line out of the movie Silence of the Lambs, I am one generation removed from Poor White Trash. I love my family but there is and has never been anyone worth a plumb nickel. I was born when my mom and dad were 17 years old. That actually turned out to be the best thing to happenf or my parents as it forced my dad to join the military. My dad spent 20 years in the AF, away from the mess back home, and both of my parents instilled a work ethic in me that does not exist in 99% of my relatives. I went to college and got an education and a lot in life.

Finally, my point is there will never be a Hope for Haiti type show for the US. As I already posted, these celebrities do not care about the folks in the US. Moreover, I would argue the residents in parts of WVU, KY, and TN would be the last people they would give any of their money or time to. When was the last time you saw a celebrity champion the poor in Appalachia? Never!

Eric Taylor wrote:

se-alum wrote:

This will likely be moved to the Politics Forum, but I just saw where the Hope for Haiti show raised $60M for the folks in Hait. I have also read about the millions of dollars professional athletes and celebrities have indivdiually donated to Haiti.

My question is, when are they going to hold the telethon for the United States? I am not trying to belittle the disaster that is Haiti, I am merely pointing out that $60M could have gone a long way to help out the defecit in this country, built up some infra-structure and could put a lot of food in people's bellies in this country.

Hell, they could just hold Hope for Ohio and it would go a long way.

First of all, comparing the natural disaster in Haiti to the poverty problems here in the US are not compareable. There are things done EVERYDAY here in the US to help the less fortunate. There's no benefit you could put on that would raise enough money to even begin to touch the poverty problems here in the US. Do you have any idea how much money the US spends on welfare every year?? It's about 600 BILLION dollars, and your telling me we don't do enough to help the less fortunate. The US is the greatest, most powerful country in the world, and has a responsibility to help out those who need it. Thinking that we shouldn't help Haiti is narrow-minded at best.

So Welfare should be enough?

I can take you anytime you want into parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia and show you people are hanging on the by a thread and still struggle.

People in this country need more than what they are getting.

With that said, what happened was horrible, but the government needs to wake up and see there are problems here in this country with people that need addressed.

Obviously welfare isn't enough or we wouldn't have poverty would we?? There are thousands of programs out there to help people escape poverty! People just don't take advantage of it. Much like Little Danny stated, a vast majority of poverty in the US is a state of mind. Alot of poverty stricken people make it a way of life, passing it down from generation to generation, making no effort to escape it. There is not a poor person in this country that is not afforded the opportunity to get some sort of schooling or training free of charge. The middle class in the US gets more of a screwing than anyone, because they don't qualify for alot of these programs.

First of all, a serious question.
What makes anybody think that celebs/ultra rich people do not donate to American charities to begin with?

Secondly, they don't have to donate any money at all for any cause, so the fact that they do should tell us to mind our own business. Just like this message board - the poster who makes the least amount of money (hypothetically) probably doesn't care a bit how much money the richest poster donates.

Thirdly, and probably most important point:
If America is spending roughly 1/2 trillion dollars/year on welfare and other charity programs, and we still have "poverty" issues, that should tell us some things.
- government is notoriously inept at being efficient or trustworthy with our tax dollars
- people are notoriously inept at being deficient in having gumption and ambition
- and people are notoriously proficient at taking advantage of the inefficient government when they have no incentive to break the cycle

Fourthly,
While I agree that the definition of poverty in Haiti is vastly different than the definition that Americans know of it, it doesn't remove the fact that there was a televised event of donations for another country when America itself has:
- children going to bed at night hungry
- families/children living in abandoned subway tunnels and makeshift tents
- children who have no winter coats or a decent pair of shoes
and so on and so on, which brings me to my final point.

We know something is very wrong with this picture when we worry so much about what another country does or doesn't have, when we have very similar issues in our own backyard. It follows the old addage "clean your own house first".
Now, that doesn't mean you don't care about other peoples of the world, it just means that you'd rather help out your brother or your sister first. But, I think these are points that we can all agree upon.

I'm all about helping fellow Americans in poverty. I realize there are some people in this country who are really hurting.

however...

Comparing our poverty to their poverty is apples to oranges. We have an education system in place and social safety nets to provide opportunities to those who really WANT to escape poverty. By and large, poverty is a choice in the U.S. In third world countries like Haiti, it doesn't matter if they want to escape poverty...there is very little educational or social welfare structure that would allow it to happen. Not to mention that a country like Haiti has about 1/100th of the resources to work with that we do.

While I do have a little sympathy for the impoverished in the U.S. (mainly because of how it affects children), I have a lot more for those in poor parts of the world who never get a real chance to escape poverty.

justincredible wrote:

Eric Taylor wrote:

fish82 wrote: The poor in this country would be the farking ruling class in Haiti. Apples an oranges.

This country has no clue whatsoever what real poverty looks like. None.

You have no clue if your last statement was serious.

Poverty in US is defined as yearly income less than $19,971. The average yearly income in Haiti is under $400 (USD).

I don't think you con compare average income...you'd have to adjust it for what that income can purchase in both areas.

Nothing about anyone giving (anything, anywhere, anytime) should irk, or bother anyone.

Nothing about someone choosing NOT to give should irk, or bother anyone.

I have always found it odd that this would ever be the case.

And that said, let me say this as well. While I have no problem with people choosing not to give, I think it may irk me a bit when you couple choosing not to give with criticizing those who DO choose to give, time, money, etc.

As far as Haiti goes, I've been there before, and I think anyone that has actually been there before would understand that it's a different level of poverty. While being an American is fantastic, and I'm proud of that....I'm proud to be a human/steward of the Earth in general first.

i guess what we never find out is how many celebs/athletes choose to do this on their own without their agent suggesting it first.