Carter: rich states "don't give a damn" about poor

Jimmy Carter once again showing how a real, compassionate Christian acts instead of these faux "Christians" we have in the whitehouse now.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Thursday harshly criticized his own country and other wealthy states for being stingy with foreign aid and said in rich countries "We really don't give a damn."

In a speech to a human rights conference in Atlanta, Carter said increasing financial assistance was critical to battling malaria, AIDS and other common diseases that disproportionately affect the poorest parts of the world.

"Unfortunately, in the rich countries like ours, we really don't give a damn," said Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981 and who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

He especially criticized the United States for failing to follow other Western nations which are increasing spending.

Although America tops the foreign aid donor list in dollar terms, it falls behind the Netherlands, Canada and many other smaller, less affluent nations when contributions are measured on a per capita basis.

rest of article (only about 3 more paragraphs) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8188263

He continues to do and say great things.

n/t

He's a great man, but not a good politician.

Carter is great. :loveya: I think it's great how he still does things when he could easily sit around at home. ;)

The heart of the matter in 6 words.

That's what countries have become..CEO/leaders trying to corner the market on EVERYTHING, even if they have to starve and kill to do it:(

From a quite peaceful person. Sounds like he is getting angry.

He walks the talk.

Any president who'll walk into a malfunctioning nuclear reactor has got himself a PAIR! I was so pleased when he got the Nobel!

:toast: :loveya:

I can just see the attempted ass-whomping I'll get for this, but until 'we' (as a country) clean up the mess in our own backyard, and every elderly/disabled/low-income person of any age has food, shelter, medical care and medicine, I'm not going to be that worried about 'us' being 'stingy' with the rest of the world.

We do need to focus on our problems, but I think if we had a competent president we could both work on solving our home troubles and help needy nations more than we do now.

Well... I've seen it posted here.

Ahem!

We need to educate and help our brethern - not shun them because they're poor, only educated by propaganda and suffering.

Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, guys, were both from what are now "red" states.

Not my solution. I want the red and blue backyards cleaned first.

for never doing anything for the world's poor. I'm not saying you're doing that, but that's the way it gets played out. So we don't do anything for other countries, but we don't do anything for our own poor either. Because, as Carter says, we really don't give a damn about the poor.

Helping other countries is a national security issue. It is dangerous for us to leave people in the most horrific kind of poverty imaginable.

Many of those godless commie countries that contribute more GDP to foreign aid have universal health care and a welfare systems that is available to anyone regardless of age, gender or reproductive status.

But putting that aside - which I'd rather not do - but just for a moment. Why are 'we' sending any foreign aid when there's any US citizen who's homeless, or without healthcare or medicine? We both know that it's possible to do care for all our citizens and provide foreign aid, but let's pretend B*asshole is right, and we can only do one: why not start at home? Again, we both know the answer, and it still pisses me off.

If for no other reason than it's dangerous to leave people in poverty.

It isn't an either/or choice. So I refuse to go there. But the answer is the same for both foreign aid and domestic aid, anyway. We don't really give a damn.

I agree with what you are saying. We need to give what we can to those in need in other countries...HOWEVER, we need to take care of our own, as well! I see ads for "Christian Children's Fund" and I do feel for those children around the world that will die by the time I finish this post. But, I also feel for those children in OUR country that will also die by my posting's completion!

I don't think we need to be xenophobic, ethnocentric, or greedy (and I don't think you are calling for that either), but we do need to take care of ourselves before we gallivant off to care for everyone else. To me, it is the same as the Rethugs wanting a fair democracy in Iraq, when we don't even have it here!

We make more money than most nations, and we should use it to help others, but not at the detriment to our own citizens. Can you just imagine the help we could provide if our citizens were well cared for, safe, not hungry, and housed? We have a ways to go and we shouldn't deny others, but we do need to focus some of that compassion on our own people!

heard anything in the last 10 years or so about them, but the Christian Childrens Fund was a huge scam, at one point they determined that only 2cents on the dollar ever made it to the children they were supposed to be helping. I don't know if anyone has any current info on them or their spending practices, but I've been weary of that particular group since then.