600M Asian Children in Poverty, Group Says

[SlowwHand]

This is not a frivilous thread.
It's not one that anyone will be able to draw me into a debate over.

I saw another thread, asking about how it is in a particular country.
This is how it is, if you're not a visiting or transported Westerner. To ask someone who's there and is such, that's a little frivilous.
If you live in the USA or UK, or many other places, and think it's tough, it's not by comparison.

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While 600 million children under the age of 18 lack access to one of these basic human needs, more than 350 million are deprived of two or more of these needs, said Growing up in Asia, a report from the child humanitarian organization Plan.

Plan said half of Asia's families are not benefiting from economic growth and globalization. It blamed the pressure of rapid population growth on scarce resources; lack of access to education, healthcare, clean water and sanitation; caste discrimination; and weak governance and corruption.

"Asia has more than twice as many severely deprived children as sub-Saharan Africa. This scale of child poverty will have a serious impact on Asia's future prospects, unless it is addressed now," Michael Diamond, Plan's Asia regional director, said in a news release.

The report said that to combat poverty, the international community needs to reduce subsidies given to U.S., European and Japanese farmers and forgive billions of dollars in debt. It also said richer countries could help by paying more for the goods they buy from developing countries.

Plan has pledged to invest $1 billion on poverty reduction across 12 Asian countries over the next decade.

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On the Net:

http://www.plan-international.org

[Sava]

so sloww... are you advocating an end to farm subsidies?

[General Ludd]

A billion dollars over a decade? I guess that's pretty impressive fund raising, but when you consider how something like, say, a war can get more than a hundred times that amount of money with relative ease... Makes you wonder what the priorities of our societies really are.

[SlowwHand]

I'll say this, it makes one wonder about who should be helped, and in what manner.


And Sava, your act grows wearisome.
Kick rocks. Take it down the road.

[Sava]

what act?

asking you a serious question?

you post this... that leads me to believe you might actually care about your fellow man. So I ask you, do you support getting rid of farm subsidies?

[Spiffor]

The report said that to combat poverty, the international community needs to reduce subsidies given to U.S., European and Japanese farmers and forgive billions of dollars in debt. It also said richer countries could help by paying more for the goods they buy from developing countries.

I agree with one half. The second one, naturally

[SlowwHand]

Ok, Sava.

I advocate an almost total withdrawl of military aid.
That's not a new position.
Farm subsidies? For a defined length of time and money.
No one learns to do anything, with someone holding their hand forever.

What you're trying to do, it at least appears to me, is lure me into a debate on why a particular nation struggles with this.
My answer is not going to agree with your mindset, I can almost guarantee. So I'm not going there.

[SlowwHand]

Screw it. I'll say it.

I'm just this side of isolatioism, as regards weapons.
I damn sure wouldn't make the mistake of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
That's not a new position for me either.

That said, as a nation I have the same outlook as personally.
Turn the other cheek. That cheek gets slapped, dust them.

[GePap]

I find some of the writing in that synopsis a bit strange. of course Asia has more poor children than Africa, it has nearly 2.5 times as many people period, as Africa.

I don;t know if the basic notion that lots of aid will do much to help is valid, thought changing various economic policies will help.

The biggest anti-poverty achievement in the last 50 years has been the growth of China's economy, growth derived at some point by massively degrading the environment.

[Sava]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Ok, Sava.

I advocate an almost total withdrawl of military aid.
That's not a new position.
Farm subsidies? For a defined length of time and money.
No one learns to do anything, with someone holding their hand forever.

What you're trying to do, it at least appears to me, is lure me into a debate on why a particular nation struggles with this.
My answer is not going to agree with your mindset, I can almost guarantee. So I'm not going there.

I wasn't trying lure you into any kind of debate...

I am just trying to understand if you really give a **** about poverty in the world or not.

[SlowwHand]

There's not one reason why anyone in the world should go to bed hungry at night.

As one of the "big dog's" in the world, we need to realize we might have certain obligations, in a limited scope, for a limited time frame.
Can't draw the line at hunger, but for the purpose of this discussion we will.
Teach them to fish, don't give them dinner for eternity.

[Sava]

I agree with your philosophy sloww

the only problem is

we teach people how to fish

but then tell them they can only fish in puddles

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by GePap
The biggest anti-poverty achievement in the last 50 years has been the growth of China's economy, growth derived at some point by massively degrading the environment.

It has already came back to bite them in the arse. Floods, droughts, various sorts of nastiness.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
There's not one reason why anyone in the world should go to bed hungry at night.

As one of the "big dog's" in the world, we need to realize we might have certain obligations, in a limited scope, for a limited time frame.
Can't draw the line at hunger, but for the purpose of this discussion we will.
Teach them to fish, don't give them dinner for eternity.

In the Philippines the ocean is becoming severely depleted of fish.

When I'm in the Philippines I provide alot of people with food. Even when I'm not my wife and I send money home that provides for family. It's just a temporary fix for a few people. The problem is too many people. What's the fix for that?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Lancer


In the Philippines the ocean is becoming severely depleted of fish.

When I'm in the Philippines I provide alot of people with food. Even when I'm not my wife and I send money home that provides for family. It's just a temporary fix for a few people. The problem is too many people. What's the fix for that?

Overpopulation is definitely one of the big problems. Absence of environmental controls is another (in the Phils, dynamite fishing is still common, which not only depletes the fish stock but also damages the coral reef -- thus putting the tourist industry as well at a relative disadvantage). And let's not forget corruption; it may not be as egregious as it is in Africa, but Asian governments can be shockingly corrupt, and that often takes the form of siphoning aid money into someone's pocket, or selling for gain aid items that are supposed to be given away free.

One of the other big problems in Asia, though, is a very weak notion of the Common Good. Interpersonal relations are much stronger in Asian societies than in the West, but that carries with it a corollary: people who are not a part of one's web of interpersonal relations are treated as if they don't exist (anyone who has ever driven or stood in line in Asia knows how this works...). The Asians in the best position to help these kids generally won't, because the kids are nothing to them. Alas, there's no quick fix for ingrained cultural attitudes.