We have $20T in debt. We can't take care of others until we take care of ourselves.
If you can't understand that helping others does help us, I can't do anything about that. I say that as a lifelong conservative.
I had a 3 paragraph response with economic data, personal anecdotes from the field and examples but my browser crashed.
I know this forum is somewhat anonymous and online, but trust me when I say that I've seen the positive effects of what a small amount of cash can do for the economy of an entire village in Latin America. Our dollar goes a long way in these small and economically besieged countries and I've seen the fruits of those investments make their way back to the U.S.
Mind you I'm talking specifically about humanitarian aid on a personal or community level, not giant government payouts, but individual investment made to reputable non-profits with proven track records in these communities.
Of course we can take the cynical view and point to how money gets mishandled (one only need look as far as the American Red Cross in the wake of the Haiti earthquakes) but for every news story you hear of USAID malfeasance there are at least 10 families whose children can now attend school and who's income has literally doubled.
Someone also asked why we need tax incentives, and perhaps people would be more willing to give if they had more. I AGREE with this logic, but historically it has NOT held water. Even in economically prosperous times and with less taxation people give roughly the same amount to their designated non-profit. There is a lot of data on this. It's a nice thought, but people are generally selfish and they need prodding to give.
Why do you think "Toms" shoes are so popular? Because people get something out of it. I get a pair of shoes and then I get to feel good that a kid somewhere got a pair of shoes and then I get to wear my shoes around and show everyone how much I care about poor kids in Africa. The truth is that, sure, shoes are nice to have but the issues of safe water, community health, agriculture and micro-enterprise are infinitely more important than giving away shoes but they are also infinitely less-sexy. It's a whole new era of charitable giving where we don't really give but instead just buy a product for ourselves and then feel good that part of the profit goes to people who need it.
Now I know a lot of people will jump on and say they write checks or just give cash and I totally believe it, but I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that not enough people do it and at no time in American history have people done it to a level, no matter the economic scenario, where we could just stop foreign humanitarian aid outright.
