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How can this be justified

I constantly see on the news how lives are ripped apart by war

I have seen first hand how world poverty can leave parent unable to feed their children or put a roof over their heads.

How can this be allowed to continue. The debate starts

ImageUploadedByStudent Room1372287849.007683.jpg

ImageUploadedByStudent Room1372287849.007683.jpg

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Reply 1

paddlesnap

We're not at war with these people for fun. To be perfectly honest it's more important to eradicate extremism before poverty - we have to take care of our own before we start helping someone else. Whether war in Iraq or Afghanistan is the right way of going about it is debatable, but the principle still stands.

Reply 2

OedipusTheKing

The problem, although I agree the global budget on military is madness, is that simply throwing money at poverty does not eradicate it. We see it all the time on television, 'new crisis, food shortage' and we'll all play our part. However, once the immediate danger is over, nobody cares and life will move in a spiral until the next inevitable crisis comes. What countries, particularly African ones, need is sustainable investment which could well happen – they are sitting on huge energy reserves which could be harnessed from the sun. However in case you haven't noticed, many of these areas are run by corrupt regimes and despots which makes development somewhat a difficult issue. Any profits go to Machiavellian type leaders instead of being reinvested into the populace. Infrastructure>jobs>money>food. We need to stop sending sacks of grain and take the little money dedicated towards poverty and spend it wisely.

Reply 3

Democracy

Short answer: It can't reasonably be justified.

Long answer: The military-industrial complex - war is a decent business and it's one that is self-perpetuating. It helps arms companies make money and helps keep certain people in power or bring others to power, who then act in the best interests of the arms companies. And so on and so forth.

The current economic system is one which is focussed solely on maximising profit (no matter what the environmental or humanitarian cost may be) - until that changes this injustice will continue.

It may be a cliché to mention Orwell in political circles, but frankly this entire nightmare was predicted in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Reply 4

User414413

Where is your evidence that it would take $135 Billion to eradicate poverty? You can't just throw money at poverty and expect a sustainable economy to just pop out. Also, lets assume this is true. There are 1 billion of us are living in developed countries, if we each gave $135 we could eradicate poverty or so you claim and the vast majority of us have spent much more than $135 on unnecessary luxuries. Why is the responsibility to eradicate poverty being shifted from the people to the government? Anyway, there's has been a lot done to reduce poverty by various governments and it is reducing as numbers show.

You're also ignoring the necessity of war at times. It's easy to ask why Syrians are rebelling against their government when enjoy civil liberties that they don't. Or ignore the fact that not intervening in Afghanistan would have just lead to Al-Qadea having a stronger terrorist hub.

Reply 5

Aj12

How do they come up with these figures for eradicating poverty? What would those billions go on?

Reply 6

xsnackpack

Original post by Aj12

How do they come up with these figures for eradicating poverty? What would those billions go on?

exactly what i thought, thats only around £200 to every poor person i doubt that would eradicate poverty for ever

Reply 7

Rovey

Well, people are not exactly getting their heads chopped for being christian everyday in Africa.

Unlike in a certain country named Syria..,.

Reply 8

Rhadamanthus

How can you eradicate poverty when you aren't fighting those who would keep people in it?

Reply 9

HarryJames

Original post by Sammy Lanka

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Be allowed? Who's going to ban it?

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Reply 10

Studentus-anonymous

Oddly enough throwing money at poverty rarely has the desired effect,but helping poor people make money, that has proven without a doubt to be the killer of that particular plague on humanity.

I cite every developed country which started out no matter how far back pretty poor and...well. Undeveloped.

Reply 11

maiphu_ftu

acctualy, war just is something that must happen. because if the war doesn't happen, we will nothing to lost and nothing to compare to the present

Reply 12

Gray Wolf

So let us say 4 billion people live in poverty

135/4 = $33.75 per person
Say $2 a day how much someone in poverty spends

Even with these wildly guessed numbers you see the claim made in the picture is insanely unrealistic. Not to mention the fact that you don't just feed people money to reduced poverty. There is a myriad of political, cultural and other reasons. The picture, is essentially ridiculous.

Reply 13

MatureStudent36

Life expectancy pre western intervention in Afghanistan was 35. Life expectancy in Afghanistan is now 65.

Sometimes good comes out of conflict.

Reply 14

ChildishHambino

those are obviously not accurate figures so debate over

Reply 15

HarryJames

Original post by Gray Wolf

I think you misread the picture, it says 1735 billion. I very highly doubt 4 billion people live in true poverty but for arguments sake lets say that's accurate.

1735/4 = 433. That would be enough to stop anyone starving to death. I think you're taking the 'end poverty' part a tad too literally

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Reply 16

MatureStudent36

Original post by ChildishHambino

those are obviously not accurate figures so debate over

Those were the numbers the guys in the UN used to quote to me.

Shall we talk about education? Electricity? The economy?

Reply 17

cl_steele

Mayi enquire how just giving people hand outs would solve any of these issues? Youthrow a few thousand dollars at some poverty stricken people in Africathatsnot going to stop the wars there over resources nor the civil wars over who controls the country.
Money is not always the answer, sometimes its just plain power which causes these.
and either way some wouldargue just throwing money at people is an incredibly badprecident.
Oh and in relation to your last note, the people athome come first... we have one of the largest defence industries in the world let alone the hundreds of thousands who rely on it for their income if you kick that then we have poverty athome... as sad asa starving kiddie in africa is we look out for our own first.