What would you do with $15 billion?
I came across this article, by chance, today. It talks about bottled water... the production costs, quality, and how much Americans spend on bottled water. Guess how much we spend.
Yep. $15 billion. Absurd.
Before I go on, let me clarify that I drink bottled water on occasion. In fact, I drink it frequently; But I read a statistic recently. I can't account for its accuracy, but it stated that the cost of curbing world hunger was around $19 billion (and that US citizens also spend about $18 billion on makeup). So... if we cut down on bottled water and makeup...?
Links:
Star Tribune
FastCompany.com
This is one of those days that I realize just how absurd we Americans are sometimes. People are starving. We're arguing about the cost of gas. Disgusting.
2 comments:
depress. i am looking at my desk. 2 bottled waters. augh. thanks m@ for the challenge. i shall start being more worldly...in a good way. augh.
c
One of the issues with giving money is accountability. It is easy to write a check; it is much harder to see to it that the money is used effectively.
The US (state and federal combined) spends over $10 billion per year on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). That is only one program in one country targeted at "only" a few million people, and yet there are still problems with hunger in the US.
(source)
So, I am very skeptical of claims that say "world hunger can be ended for $5-20 billion which is the equivalent of the American spending on this or that consumer good".
However, if the actual cost is higher, that means we need to do more, not less. It also means we need to look at other problems besides money and not kid ourselves into thinking that merely kicking in a few bucks here and there will solve major world problems. Or to quote someone, "Small sacrifices produce small results; big sacrifices produce big results".
There is good news. Both the percentage and absolute number of people who are hungry has declined in the last 35 years.
Many of the world's malnourished people are in China and India. How many news articles have you seen complaining about jobs being outsourced to China and India? Now, I am not in favor of the widespread firing of American workers, and the firings are usually done in the hope of short term profits, not out of a desire to help either a worker in the US or overseas. Nevertheless, how will people in India, China, or the rest of the world be able to afford food without jobs?
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