Barack Obama's 'Global Poverty Act'

[andrejsv]

Does any one have information on this? Apparently it passed the House and passed a Committe in the Senate. I dont know its status, other than I think it has not been signed into law.

Apparently it obligates the USA to spend 0.7 percent of its GDP or $845 billion dollars as subsidies, benefits etc to poor nations or poor people making less than $1 a day (I am a little fuzzy on the details).

If this is true it would really anger me!. Isnt the USA barely holding on the brink of a recession? and we are going to give hand outs?!! Besides, the best way to remove poverty is to create conditions conducive for trade (political stability, free market, population education, industrial infrastructure, developed agriculture, etc) so I think this is just throwing good money after bad, and will enslave poor people in a welfare-like situation dependent on handouts and unable to pull out of poverty by themselves.

[Sidewinder]

0.7% is UN target that every developed country is supposed to be aiming towards. If every wealthy country contributed (and the money was used sensibly) it could practically eliminate global extreme poverty in about 20 years.

The Scandinavians and Dutch have already reached 0.7% and most EU countries intend to get there by 2015. The US is somewhere around No 20 on the list of developed nations with something like 0.14%, IIRC.

If it simply being the right thing to do doesn't grab you, then think of it this way: It's an investment. If various parts of South America, Africa and Asia were more developed, then they will want to buy industrial and consumer products. We can sell them stuff.

[LAAlex]

Don't get too annoyed yet (or pleased, as the case maybe be). Bills like this never actually authorize any funds. Even if it did include a specific dollar amount, the money isn't there until Congress goes through the annual appropriations process, which means another set of bills winding their way through other committees. (Yes, it's a nightmare. And always, always late.)

Open Congress.org is a good source for information about what Congress is up to--the pages will link to the actual bill text too.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h1302/show

[youngdan]

I have bad news for everyone. I do not want to invest anyplace. I never met anyone that did either. This bill has no chance before the election. There is room for confusion here because Lieberman has a bill on the floor at the moment about global warming which is even more tin foil hat than Obama's poverty bill. The 2 democrat fruitcakes believe this but the 3rd nutjob believes it as well. When he votes for it the reaction will be a sight to behold on talk radio and tv.