Why do third world countries still exist?

I was readings up in the new paper a few weeks ago and it said that in north america over 1 billion was spent on cosmetics this year which in turn could have probably saved about over 5million lives in third world countrys. Why do we feel the need to...

spend our money on consumer good while there are people who are literally straving to death who probably don't even know what makeup is. Its competely unfair for them to be suffering while we live in a place with good standard of living and economy. Why is this still a issue in the world today??? why hasn't this issue been solved yet? is it because we poured our money into fighting a pointless war or is it becuase we just have to buy that lipstick or have that cell phone. It's disgraceful how materalistic people have become with putting themselves before others who actaully need help to survive.

I've got a couple of questions, too...Are we the only charitable country in the world, so all ills fall on our shoulders?

American may dribble their money on cosmetics and other fluff, but in 2006 they also gave $295 billion in charity...

Why are there people right here starving??

Honey, America is a consumer oriented country...and that will be changing soon, recession...the natural end to overspending is on our doorstep.

phrannie

Very vaild questions. I reccommend The One Campaign - have a look at their website to see how they are encouraging ordinary Americans, who care like you do, to actually make a difference.

its because our country is all for self is there is no direct gain from what we do then we wont do it...if we cant get anything from these countries then our Gov. fels no need or want to help.

Hon, your question touches on so many issues that many books could be written on just this.

Idologically we are a capitalist society, many have observed that capitalism is the most efficient system for generating wealth but the least effective for distributing it.

Another thing long noticed is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, this isn't a plot by industrialists it is simply a natural trend that continues indefinitely without intervention. The poor only have only their own labor to earn money while the wealthy have money for investments and to cultivate and leverage their own talents (often it takes money to make money).

Another aspect is population control. Families in 1st world countries generally do not have more kids than they can support. In 3rd world countries parents do not limit their numbers so nature ultimately has to through dissease, famine, and war. Until 3rd world countries practice population control sending boatloads of food and medicine overseas is only delaying the problem a little while and perhaps makes it worse if it allows population growth.

So as I see it the solution to world hunger is to institute a socialized world government that redistributes wealth from those who have a lot of money to those who have none and to reduce the population of the planet to the point where it is easily sustainable without excessive polution, dissease, and resource wars. This would be a mighty tough sell.

this is because though the resources are available,there are no proper means of exploiting them.

EXACTLY! Why do these third world countries exist, we have plenty of nukes!

Well, many of the problems facing Third World countries can't just be solved by a massive pouring of cash from us to them. In some African countries, local warlords prevent aid from reaching people in desperate need. In some cases there are also cultural stigmas that make foreign aid difficult.

By the way, Americans are not the only materialistic people on the planet. Spend a little time in Europe or Japan and you will quickly see how many people there spoil themselves. They rely on American ignorance of the world to make us believe they are all altruistic people. Such is not the case.

I agree with mj79 that money will be of limited use to end the problems. Political will (in the poor countries themselves and in our own countries) is needed to make anything change radically.

I would never descibe the Americans as more to blame than the Europeans (seen that first hand) or the inhabitants of any other wealthy country. Any one of us lucky enought to be born into material wealth (and that's just about all of us in these countries) will have the natural tendency to want to promore our own continued well-being over that of people on the other side of the world. We are just selfish and, to varying degrees, ignorant. Good education and awareness-raising on these issues around the world will make more real change than injections of cash.

america are a world power, and need to donate, however much americans donate we still hold the role of being a world power. all the powers need to unite and help all third world countries unite and become equal. compare china with nigeria. it's shocking.

It's really not very complicated. The 2 million population that revolted to found our Nation has grown into some 303,600, 000. populated people who have lost all hope of ever understanding the laws of our land. We are so far beyond taxation without representation, that the average person is too uninformed to even know the names of the third world countries. I suggest that until we as people take a hold of our advances in technology to make them become tools of education rather than fun and games, this tragic state of affairs will go on until some trillionaire decides perhaps they would like to own some poor country!
People like to blame our leaders. At this point in time, I blame the people. We have become too apathetic, children run the homes, TV,Video Camaeras, Internet etc.are all being used to numb the minds or entertain.
When are we as a people going to reach at least the frustration point of our Founders, and demand that these advances be put to use for the Common Good. This includes the entire world. Whether we like it or not, our common goal down the road will be how to keep surviving on this planet earth. All nations need to work
on this together.

Because as long as colonial powers exist in the world, less advantaged countries will be taken advantage of.

Human beings are very egoistic. This is the bottom line. People care about themselves. Many behave and secretly believe the others can go to hell. They do not give a damn to others.
That is not your case , by the way.
You make rather interesting questions.
They show you care about other people. Not everyone is like you, though.