chem1st Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 A point on Question time. £3billion to India's poorest. When we could help youth unemployment here. Can't help but think of Mukesh Ambani... http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=657820 But with fellow citizens like Mukesh, the Indians need all the help they can get! and we are right to help these people whom are literally starving to death. The caste system there is very overbearing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Just seen QT. I think the lady in the audience who raised the point, could do with a trip to the Congo. There was a program on earlier about violence to women in Congo. Really gives a sense of perspective; how very well off we are in contrast with some poorer countries.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andygardener Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I think the point that the woman was trying to make, admittedly rather badly, was that the Indian government spends a fortune on lots of things it does not need so by subsidising them we are allowing them to continue to fritter away money on space programmes and the like while we paper over a few of the cracks of the huge poverty in the country. Tarzans assertion that we are a "wealthy country" was frankly laughable, we're in massive debt so every penny given away is borrowed and interest has to be paid on it. I do support overseas aid where it helps those who cannot be helped by their governments, but India has the ability to deal with poverty itself, the fact that the ruling caste choose not to is not a legitimate argument to give the same ruling caste british taxpayers money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman123 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Sort this country out first then give surplus to overseas.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyofborg Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I think the point that the woman was trying to make, admittedly rather badly, was that the Indian government spends a fortune on lots of things it does not need so by subsidising them we are allowing them to continue to fritter away money on space programmes and the like while we paper over a few of the cracks of the huge poverty in the country. i'm not sure how likely it would be that the indian government would redirect their spending and i doubt they would listen to us if we tried to lecture them. Tarzans assertion that we are a "wealthy country" was frankly laughable, we are a wealthy country, and even our poorest citizen is far better off than the really poor in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andygardener Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 i'm not sure how likely it would be that the indian government would redirect their spending and i doubt they would listen to us if we tried to lecture them. I'm not suggesting we lecture them, merely that we don't pay for their grandiose vanity schemes, which is what in effect we are doing. we are a wealthy country, and even our poorest citizen is far better off than the really poor in the world. At the moment we're a ten bob millionaire living on the credit card. Wealth is exactly that, assets far in excess of liabilities. We sadly are not in that position at the moment. Would you argue with the fact that currently every penny we give away in foreign aid has to be borrowed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky3 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I agree we could do with the money ourselves, but it's a nice thing to do! AFAIK it's 1bn over four years, hmm, yep: see As they said on QT, it's going to three or four places. The benefits of doing things like this is unmeasurable in the long term! The money isn't going to the military as was mentioned in another thread. To the people on about the space program, we use that space program, we can benefit from it, a lot of the technology used will come from us or been developed by us! We have stopped similar aid to both Russia and China, so... I'd love to say let's just look after our selves, but... I say yea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 we are a wealthy country, and even our poorest citizen is far better off than the really poor in the world. Exactly; we are opulent beyond imagination. We only consider ourselves to be poor; because we're constantly exposed to imagery (adverts) from companies; who have a vested interest in making us feel dissatisfied with our lot in life etc. However, if we contrast ourselves with real poverty, its easy to see how well off we really are. Have food? Check! Have shelter? Check! Can sleep safe at night, with no fear of rape, murder, of ourselves or loved ones? Check! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I'd love to say let's just look after our selves, but... I say yea! Me too! I think giving a little away, is a good thing. It's good for them, it's good for us, and it's good for the world. I guess the question should be, not one of, do we give aid at all; rather, how much is it appropriate to give? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky3 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 This country is paying £446 million a day on our debts... (ref) So giving away £1 billion over 4 years is two days worth of payments! Surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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