Why does the US have one of the relatively lowest overseas development aid of all developed countries
205283
Hmmm are you sure about that?
448882
although it would be nice to have the rich nations help the poorer nations, it doesn't always work that way. Rich people hardly ever help poor people on a more personal level either. While I believe in the old theory "if you have, why not give" I also believe in the saying "if you give a man a fish, he will eat for one day, if you teach him to fish, he will eat for a lifetime." In this aspect I think "wealthy" countries should help set up programs, health care, etc. for the "poor" countries, but after a point they must withdraw as well. If not you will just create a nation that is dependent rather than independent.
85350
AIDS is contributing to the underdevelopment of the entire African continent.  There is no good reason for the US to withdrawl funding to fight it.  It is morally reprehensible to ignore the problem and from a more pragmatic view the problems in Africa will hurt America in the long run.  Disease has destabilized much of Africa and led to wars, racial tension, and genocide.  This is a world problem, not just Africa's.
156253
The main reason third world governments are in trouble is because of their leadership and mentality, not the economic situation. Unfortunately, not everybody has the right priorities. In many third-world countries, you'll see a lot of bad infrastructure, garbage, stray dogs and poor law enforcement, but then see a fair number of people in luxury cars and expensive clothes. I hear in Mexico, the Spanish elite do not want to relinquish their power by spreading their wealth. In Africa, many of the leaders there are total crooks who are all for themselves. \n\nDon't kid yourself, the leaders of many third-world countries send their children to elite Western boarding schools in Europe and the United States, and are themselves graduates of such. They go on to excellent Western universities to study such things as BUSINESS and ECONOMICS, or engineering, so on and so foth. So, they're not being cheated because they're stupid, but they may not have anything to bargain with.
17152
It seems to me that almost everything that the US uses is made in another country. This in turns makes up dependent upon foreign countries for things we could make in the US. The funny thing about this is the US people would not work for the same wages that the foreign people are paid to do such taxing , monotonous work. Have you ever heard anyone request subpar conditions and $0.15 a day in the US??? I doubt it.....
49927
Because actually they make you think that we help other countries but in reality we take advantage of other countries by helping them. Like for example, you think we are helping Iraqis but in reality we are interested in the oil. Maybe in the process we do help Iraqis but the main purpose was the oil. We help other countries, but we help them because there is something in return. It's not totally free you know.
672391
China is the second most powerful country they out number us.  Only advantage we have is our technology and wepons are more advance because we spend more money on this.
317482
It's pretty simple. If China calls in its markers, the US will have a third world economy almost overnight. We have sold our national soul to buy cheap crap at Wal-Mart that we don't really need, but love because it's cheap. Sure, there's a savings in the short term, but at what greater cost? The US is effectively a socialite debutante, loaded with plastic surgery, dressed in the best, eating the finest in the swankiest locales, all paid for with Daddy's extremely overextended credit card. We have lots of style, but very little substance. Until we learn to put off our impulse towards instant gratification, we are at grave risk of being dumped in the poor house at a moment's notice. Our economy is functioning right now courtesy of Asian development, nothing more.
193869
because these countries r weak but rich in petroleum and other products . america to became the world power required a lot of fuel for technology and for other machines . they dont have sufficent petroleum reserves . so to fulfil there demand they look for petrol in these countries , they show the world that they r fighting for terrorism but actually they r looking for petrol . if they succed they will be the super power in the world . so we must unite and try to stop them .
104580
I guess I like the United States because there is at least some semblance of freedom here, and economically, there is less suffering here. Even the poor people in the US are not that poor compared with many other countries in the world.
674120
It causes the government to spend money on war materials, many of which are made in the USA. The money is debt-financed, which suggests that the positive effect may only be short-lived.
62298
It may be because they will have a lot of backing from the US and other western nations/business/contractors. The US will look very foolish if Iraq fails economically so every step will be taken to guide them into prosperity. \n\nHowever, insurgency and other threats may seek to stall growth there which of course would make it a poor investment. \n\nIf the people view economic growth as a prosper for Iraqis and Muslims, then they will allow it to grow with US guidance. If they see it as another imposition of Western controll they will boycot and loot that growth. \n\nAn emerging markets investment may be a wiser choice.
631406
America, being one of the youngest countries ...in comparison to European, by thousands of years, yet we have accomplished more in this short time than any other. One of the reasons is this country was established by people working together, sharing the load, sharing knowledge and eventually sharing our good fortune.\n We have never questioned when help was needed "What are we going to get out of it", Americans juust jump in and help, be it friend or foe. \nI don't think it's a lack of appreciation on the part of the people we help it's just that their governments ....seem to forget.\nMaybe it's jealousy,,,,, no matter how much partisan bickering we go thru we alwayys puull together in the end (though lately i am starting to feel that some of our citizens don't realize how luckyy and blessed theyy are to be a part of this great nation).\nA nation that gives and gives without asking for anything in return.\n\nGod Bless America
630343
Most rich countries DO help poor countries. One major problem are the goverments of the poor countries are so corrupt that the food and medicine we send end up being SOLD instead of given as it's supposed to be. Often it is sold on the Black Market with full knowledge or cooperation from corrupt government officials.\n\nDo we stop trying under those conditions or do we keep doing what we can to help? It's not an easy answer. If the US and other rich countries stopped giving, many small countries would colapse into anarchy.
599759
Hey, it may be a good thing if there is another country out there that would support us once the USA is a third world nation due to the massive amount of people allowed or not allowed to migrate. After all we've supported everyone else for a very long time while our own citizens suffer from hunger and neglect so I suppose turn around would be fair. I'd like to sit on my a_s and have the 'good' working people of some far off land give me shelter, food and free medical care.
358452
In most cases I would argue that the people in other contries are far worse off than then even the sick and homeless in developed nations but in the USA I would argue otherwise.  The reckless disragard for human needs displayed by big businesses and the government alike are creating a growing underclass of starving unemployed people which soon will eclipse those in other nations.\nDetroit has a statisticaly higher infant mortality rate than Ethiopia - how can this be right?\nThe USA is stupidly wealthy - waste and excess in levels beyond the contemplation of foriegn tyrants but almost all the wealth is concentrated in an emmerging super wealthy class of people while more and more normal people are disguarded as businesses move abroad for cheaper materials and cheap "slave" labour.\nAmericans need to unite as a people against the buinesses and corporations which are expanding the economy at the expense of the citezens.\n\n“the country was founded on the principle that the primary role of government is to protect property from the majority, and so it remains" - Noam Chomsky\n\nLet Oceania, Europe, Japan, and other nations help Africa and Asia - America has to helpm it's own people before they end up in the same state!
61578
Hi - you may have heard of the ONE campaign?  (go to www.one.org)  They have information & links to the following where you can find the figures you're looking for.\n\nTHE DEBT CRISIS\nwww.data.org\n\nFor decades, Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region of the world, was spending billions of dollars each year repaying debts to the world’s rich countries and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. \n\nMany countries in Africa were spending more each year on debt than on health care and education combined. Why? Decades worth of loans had been given without much thought to how countries could pay them back. \n\nSome of the loans went to prop up bad governments or military regimes that are now long gone. Some of the loans were wasted by the governments that received them. Some were given by rich countries in ways that served their own self-interest. Skyrocketing interest rates and bad economic policies have multiplied these old debts over and over again. \n\nBetween 1970 and 2002 Africa received $540 billion in loans. Despite the fact that over that same period, African countries paid back $550 billion—$10 billion more than the original loans—at the end of 2002 they\nstill owed another $293 billion. Over the past few years, thanks to the efforts of those who contributed to the international Jubilee 2000 movement for debt relief, politicians have begun to respond to the debt crisis. \n\nIn 1999, the world’s richest countries came\ntogether to write off billions of dollars of poor countries’ debts through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program. The HIPC program provides debt relief to countries with good governments committed to fighting corruption and poverty and investing in the health and education of their people. \n\nThere are 38 countries currently enrolled in the HIPC initiative (32 of them in Africa) and so far 18 of them have completed the program have benefited from debt relief and have been able to channel that money into vertyreduction\nprograms; another 10 have begun the process and are receiving interim relief.\n\nThe problem is, though, that HIPC did not completely cancel countries’ debts and even after reaching their completion points, many countries were still spending too much money on debt, often taking on new loans to repay\nold loans. \n\nIn an effort to end this unending cycle of debt, the Finance Ministers of the world’s wealthiest countries agreed in June of 2005 to free the HIPC countries from 100% of their debts by canceling the debts owed to the\nWorld Bank, The IMF and the African Development Bank. \n\nIt also calls for a move from loans to grants for the poorest countries in the world in an effort to end to vicious cycle of debt in which they have been entrapped. It will\nimmediately cancel $40 billion of debt for the 18 countries that have already reached their completion point and will eventually result in $56 billion of debt cancellation once all 38 HIPC countries reach completion point. \n\nThe Finance Ministers also agreed to consider a debt deal for Nigeria even though it is not a HIPC country. Donors shortly thereafter announced a plan to use both donor resources and Nigeria’s own resources to cancel Nigeria’s outstanding debt; this is an important commitment because Nigeria has about $35b worth of debt and 95 million people living on less than $1 per day. \n\nThis debt deal is an important step in the fight against global poverty, but there are still other poor countries in need of debt cancellation so that they can better fight HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty.\n\nWhile debt cancellation alone will not generate all the resources needed by poor countries, the money freed up from\ndebt relief has consistently been put to good use; World Bank estimates show that poverty reducing expenditures will rise from previous levels of less than twice that of debt service to more than four tim