2 ms·

I'm not rich, but I give a lot of money every year to charity, to try to help those who need help. The United States is the richest country in the world. It was

by litoE 2mo ago

I'm not rich, but I give a lot of money every year to charity, to try to help those who need help. The United States is the richest country in the world. It was also giving to charity to help those who badly needed help. It was a small amount compared to its budget, and we called it USAID. To protect the money from being scammed by those running the countries we were helping, the US itself administered those programs as much as possible. We know how much Trump donates to charity: bupkis (read about the Donald J. Trump Foundation) and I have a pretty good inkling that Musk donates even less.

snehk 2mo ago
You're spending your own money. I'm pretty sure that if there was one member of your family that didn't have money for food or medicine, you'd spend it there instead of donating it, wouldn't you?
- netsharc 2mo ago
  If only the government thought like this, instead of blaming those family members of being "lazy welfare queens"... A relevant segment on a 2h+ documentary: https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1936 https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1936 Or before that: https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1702 https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1702 If you've absorbed the American teaching that "if you just work hard you'll be successful", then you'd have to believe the opposite: "if you're not successful that means you're lazy".
ShinyLeftPad 2mo ago
People against usaid should ask basic questions: would US (and therefore its individual taxpayers) be globally wealthy without the rest of the world? does US benefit from disease and death in other countries?
vunderba 2mo ago
Exactly. Since 2001, the amount of money we’ve spent on foreign aid is a DROP in the bucket between 0.7% and 1.4% of the federal budget; not much for us - but had an outsized impact on people in the greatest need. It’s helped alleviate poverty, supported disaster relief, and even from a purely US centric motive helped to advanced our own interests by strengthening U.S. soft power abroad. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/06/what-the-data-says-about-us-foreign-aid https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/06/what-the-...

by litoE 2mo ago

snehk 2mo ago

You're spending your own money. I'm pretty sure that if there was one member of your family that didn't have money for food or medicine, you'd spend it there instead of donating it, wouldn't you?

netsharc 2mo ago
If only the government thought like this, instead of blaming those family members of being "lazy welfare queens"... A relevant segment on a 2h+ documentary: https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1936 https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1936 Or before that: https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1702 https://youtu.be/t1MqJPHxy6g?t=1702 If you've absorbed the American teaching that "if you just work hard you'll be successful", then you'd have to believe the opposite: "if you're not successful that means you're lazy".

ShinyLeftPad 2mo ago

People against usaid should ask basic questions: would US (and therefore its individual taxpayers) be globally wealthy without the rest of the world? does US benefit from disease and death in other countries?

vunderba 2mo ago

Exactly. Since 2001, the amount of money we’ve spent on foreign aid is a DROP in the bucket between 0.7% and 1.4% of the federal budget; not much for us - but had an outsized impact on people in the greatest need. It’s helped alleviate poverty, supported disaster relief, and even from a purely US centric motive helped to advanced our own interests by strengthening U.S. soft power abroad. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/06/what-the-data-says-about-us-foreign-aid https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/06/what-the-...