Why did you vote for Obama or not...?

[carole]

Thank you Catland, i value your comments.

Just something i wish to ask, Do any of you honestly think there are any americans and NZers for that matter, who live as a third world country, no sanitation,no water, no food, no home,no electricity, no future, i mean yes there are NZers here who are homeless and who i would consider live on the poverty line, but i still cannot compare them to a third world country, IMO they are still far better off than those poor souls.,anyhow that is just my opinion for what it is worth, we are the blessed i think.,and yes slightly off topic here, but then i am responding to anothers post in this thread.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

We have thousands of homeless people who have no shelter and no idea where their next meal is coming from who live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions every second. More are becoming homeless every day. Seems to me, we are on the verge of becoming a third world country.

What is the number who have to live in those conditions before we qualify?

[carole]

In answer to your question, well i really don't know, sure it exists, but there is so much wealth in both our countries too,in most third world countries they are just surrounded by poverty, it is everywhere,I guess i just don't see it as being quite the same,or to the same extent, i sure hope it does not become so..

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but doesn't wealth exist in third world countries too? It just belongs to a few in power though?

[lizbud]

In answer to your question, well i really don't know, sure it exists, but there is so much wealth in both our countries too,in most third world countries they are just surrounded by poverty, it is everywhere,I guess i just don't see it as being quite the same,or to the same extent, i sure hope it does not become so..

Homeless people have become the "invisable people" in my city. I see
news reports, complete with film clips, around the holidays reporting on
their dire circumstances. They say there are whole familes who live under
bridges & highway ramps. I do think national averages are underrated.

[carole]

ok thanks for answering my question, I think it is becoming worse in every country for sure and of course wealth exists in third world countries,I just think in NZ and the United States it is on a lesser scale, i have no facts to back myself up, but it is just how i think i guess.

[Marigold2]

There is a vast difference between being poor in America and being poor in India or Africia.
If you are poor in America you might only have one car, one TV and you shop at Walmart and go to a free clinic.
Being poor in Africia means you don't have shoes, have never seen a tooth brush, you have never been full, had an orange or apple, clean water to drink and spend your short and miserable life without seeing a Dr or having any meds at all. It's not having a bowl to put rice in.
There are different types of poor for sure. Here in America you have free education, free birth control, and many other opinions that millions in the world never have or dream off. As a woman you can wear the cloths you want, marry whom you want and practice the reglion you want, in Iran and Iraq being poor means being in fearof your life from gunfire and being afraid you will die of hunger. We are blessed and spoiled, we are one of the fattest and least educated people in the modern world. High crime, high teenage pregency rate, it goes on and on, we are poor in brains it seems often.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but doesn't wealth exist in third world countries too? It just belongs to a few in power though?

[Karen]

There is a vast difference between being poor in America and being poor in India or Africia.
If you are poor in America you might only have one car, one TV and you shop at Walmart and go to a free clinic.

I have to disagree. Being poor in America can mean being homeless, staying in a shelter when you can get a bed, worrying how you will feed your children, choosing between paying the rent and feeding your family, often means having no car, never mind a TV. And with no car, you have no access or ability to get to that "free clinic" ... it can mean working two jobs and still falling further into debt, it can mean leaving your children with someone you cannot trust so you can work to get money to feed them ...

If you are homeless, you don't get that "free education" as you have no address from which to register your kids for school.

That doesn't mean being poor in India or Africa is any less horrific, or tragic. I was speaking with the woman who runs the ecumenical food pantry that is housed in our church basement, as she said not only is the need increasing dramatically, but that there are still people who don't believe that there are hungry people in their town.

[caseysmom]

Karen, I totally agree with you. Marigold, there are many homeless people with no car, no tv, and no money to shop at walmart.

[Lady's Human]

There are homeless in the US, there are poor people in the US.....

But we don't have entire cities made up of cardboard shacks.

[Marigold2]

Still I would rather be homeless in America then India or Africia.
There is more of a chance to get ahead in this country.
Being poor in India means life expectency is 35 instead of 70 or 80 here.
Most people in America have seen a Dr, have shoes, a toothbrush, a bowl to put food in, a chance at clean water.
People in Africia and India bath in the same water they drink.
I doubt anyone would choose being poor in those countries as oppossed to being poor in the USA.

[Puckstop31]

But we don't have entire cities made up of cardboard shacks.

I saw this, first hand in Somalia. People living in such squalor that I literally weeped. Me, big tough Army guy, 19 years old... Young, dumb and full of... I WEEPED for those people.

Yet those same people, who we were there to help shot at us. Fired RPGs at us... Why? Because their hate filled Cleric told them we are "the great satan." (read: Rich, successful people are the enemy.)


Poverty is akin to slavery. More often than not, the means to get people truly out of poverty exists. But shamefully, people in positions of power do things to keep them in poverty, to maintain power over them... (and keep the poor voting for them) Think about that as our President-Elect creates more welfare programs. Think about that as he takes money from the successful and gives it to the "poor". All that does is enable the poor to STAY poor and enslaved.

Welfare = SLAVERY

[Marigold2]

When I see people in India and Africia, the pooriest of the poor I always see tons of children. I think to myself, if I cannot feed myself, if clean water is something I don't have why why why would I bred and bring 7,10,12 more children into this world. I see this in every country where there are poor living in horrible conditions. They all have tons of kids. How can a woman do that? How can a man bring a child into this world knowing it will starve to death. If they had less children they might have a chance at improvement, but if they keep breeding they kill themselves.

[caseysmom]

Because they are not educated and have no access to birth control.

[Lady's Human]

CM, particularly in Africa, disease and high birthrate are more a product of lack of education than availability of resources.

Vaccinations and BC devices are readily available, but the distrust of western medicine and lack of education prevent the effective distribution and use of both.

Add to that warlords who are more interested in control than the welfare of the population and you wind up with a mess.