live 8 concert for African debt relief

Originally posted by Boondock78
astrocreep, all that you just posted may be true. however, it's not the problem of the United States to go in and fix things. even if we give money/aide/food it's going to be taken by rebels or whatever we call them these days. if by some miracle it reaches the hungry, they'll be fed but they'll also be dead of aids in a few years.
i say we do nothing. just my harsh opinion.

Well, I agree and I disagree. I agree that it is fact that the constitution does not give our government the power to confiscate wealth and redistribute it as charity to any nation including our own..yet they do it.

However, from a moral standpoint, I would hope that those who have the means to do so would help individually. I think thats something that is overlooked by the people on this board. They quote percentages of the GNP given in aid by the US government and complain that its too low but never include the amount given by private non-profit and individual persons and businesses. These are our biggest contributors worldwide and at home. The small amount the US government does contribute is technically done illegally..that is to say above its authorized powers.

www.house.gov...

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money.

We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.


-Col. David Crockett
US Representative from Tennessee

I beleive that the live 8 did good for the people. It deffinetly got me more aware of poverty, not just in africa, but anywhere. I deffinetly think more about it now. And it was cool to see how all the great bands and singers got together to show how bad poverty is. But i thought it was a little sketchy they did the live 8 concert for just awareness and not as a fund raiser?? Anybody else think that??

Live 8 was a great time over here in Philly. I saw reports that between 600,000 and 700,000 made it out. Public transportation was a mess, with hour long waits on the Amtrack and all the roads closed down (I have never seen I95 so empty in my life).

The only thing I was dissapointed in was that Toby Kieth didn't play the Taliban song

Only 9 total arrests...I still can't believe it.

Originally posted by Proud_Red29
I beleive that the live 8 did good for the people. It deffinetly got me more aware of poverty, not just in africa, but anywhere. I deffinetly think more about it now. And it was cool to see how all the great bands and singers got together to show how bad poverty is. But i thought it was a little sketchy they did the live 8 concert for just awareness and not as a fund raiser?? Anybody else think that??

it was a fund raiser, but indirectly. The idea was to pressure the G8 into providing grants or relief rather than loans to the poorest african countries, which means citizens of those countries will be paying for it via taxes. I support a great charity, heifer international.
www.heifer.org...
They believe in teaching people how to fish, rather than giving them fish. I'd support my taxes going to that 100%.

web.worldbank.org...:20562373~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html

I find that if there is a key to eliminating poverty and debt on the African landmass, the road flows through World Bank and other such superpowers not Bob Geldoff and his hippy brigade. World Bank has invested billions to give the people fresh water, electricity, gas, paved roads, jobs, etc. So far from my research, these Live8 founders haven't done as much as a mouse fart compared to WB.

Some interesting facts I thought you people like to know:

1. The country with the highest GNI per capita for 2003 in Africa is Seychelles ($7,350). It is followed by Mauritius ($4,100), Botswana ($3,530), Gabon ($3,400), and South Africa ($2,920).
2. The country with the largest population is Nigeria, with 136.5 million people. It is followed by Ethiopia, with 68.6 million people, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 53.2 million.
3. The biggest economy in is South Africa, with a real GDP of $145,338 million (2003). The second largest economy, Nigeria, has a GDP of only $48,766 million.
4. The smallest economy reported on in the ADI is Sao Tome and Principe, with a GDP of $53 million (2003).
5. The country with the greatest land area is Sudan, 2.37 million sq. km. The second largest is the Democratic Republic of Congo with an area of 2.26 million sq. km.
6. The countries with the highest life expectancy are the Seychelles and Mauritius, 73 years (2003).
7. The country with the lowest total life expectancy, 36 years (2003) is Zambia and followed by Lesotho and Sierra Leone with 37 years.
8. The country that has made the greatest gains in life expectancy in the past decade is Somalia – from 42 (1990) to 47 (2003) years. This is followed by Sudan from 52 (1990) to 59 (2003).
9. The countries with the greatest reduction in life expectancy in SSA in the past decade are Lesotho (-20 years), Botswana (-19 years), and Zimbabwe (-18 years).
10. The country with the highest percentage of people above 65 years is the Seychelles, at 6.9 percent (2003).

web.worldbank.org...:20563739~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:258644,00.html

American Mad Man I live like 15 minutes away from center city and the B. Franklin parkway, I was ay the concert and it was pretty messy but it was a good show (except when Jay-Z said we spend billions on wars but don't on poverty, total ignorance on his part. Anyway was lucky I got there early because there were people back up for blocks looking at the show on monitors

just as I thouht, no posts in this thread for a week. people just can't sustain caring for strangers for more than a few days. Its like the week after christmas, how many people drop money in the salvation army pot ?


I saw the replay of live aid from '85 (i think), and U2 was there and at live 8. what has changed between shows except bono's hair ?


nuttin


my theory is we just aren't wired to care about 6 billion people. we have a tribal or extended family capacity, about 100 people.

Originally posted by syrinx high priest
just as I thouht, no posts in this thread for a week. people just can't sustain caring for strangers for more than a few days. Its like the week after christmas, how many people drop money in the salvation army pot ?


I saw the replay of live aid from '85 (i think), and U2 was there and at live 8. what has changed between shows except bono's hair ?


nuttin


my theory is we just aren't wired to care about 6 billion people. we have a tribal or extended family capacity, about 100 people.

I know that 50,000 people die EVERYDAY due to extreme poverty. I remember that EVERYDAY. I knew that before Live8 existed......then again you don't know if it was planned before Bob geldof mentioned it.

It was in a way it was fund raiser...........Just done in subtle way.....

CNET News

More than 26.4 million people from around the world sent text messages Saturday in support of the Live 8 campaign to cancel the debts of the poorest countries, setting a world record, organizers said.

(...)

AOL.com, which streamed video of the concerts, also claimed a world record, saying that more than 5 million logged on globally to watch, making it the biggest streaming event ever.

5.6 billion people tuned in to watch live8......so txts at an average rate of £1 times for examples sake we'll say 200,000m people who txt in, thats £200,000m easy even though 5.6 billion people tuned it.....

And the profits went to charity.

Thats a s load of money.

I wonder if they raised more than Band Aid.

Africa doesn't need the Anglo-American "help". What they need is to take control of their own natural resources and sell them at market prices. But are they capable and intelligent enough? Not one african country today is free from anglo influence.

Originally posted by StarBreather
Africa doesn't need the Anglo-American "help". What they need is to take control of their own natural resources and sell them at market prices. But are they capable and intelligent enough? Not one african country today is free from anglo influence.

They would like to, but they have trade restrictions forced upon them. For example they can export chocolate in it's raw form but they are not allowed to produce the final products such as chocolate bars which would produce wealth and jobs. Whilst they are not allowed to produce the final goods, they can't get any investment. Catch 22.

Only way forward is for the WTO to allow these countries to trade freely.

Originally posted by tommyc

Originally posted by StarBreather
Africa doesn't need the Anglo-American "help". What they need is to take control of their own natural resources and sell them at market prices. But are they capable and intelligent enough? Not one african country today is free from anglo influence.

They would like to, but they have trade restrictions forced upon them. For example they can export chocolate in it's raw form but they are not allowed to produce the final products such as chocolate bars which would produce wealth and jobs. Whilst they are not allowed to produce the final goods, they can't get any investment. Catch 22.

Only way forward is for the WTO to allow these countries to trade freely.

You are both absolutely right unfortunately. Download and listen to this fascinating interview by my hero, Sydney White investigative reporter for Discourse and Disclosure, speaking on Live8/African Debt etc. We don't realize how these countries have been kept down.

Live8 was a joke and the "debt foregiveness" has crippling strings attached.

Sydney White on G8/Live8/African Debt

Scroll ahead 30 minutes to hear her.