hmmm I wonder

poor us

Furthermore, I would like to add what some consider luxuries, are now necessities. It is no longer simply food, clothing and shelter.

We as US citizens now need health/dental insurance, transportation, computers and internet access, education, and child care among other things. While some may still consider computers and internet access a luxury, I disagree. If we expect our child to keep up with the world, they need to keep up with technology- while not cutting edge - they do need access for educational purposes.As for healthdental insurance: medicaid and medicare simply don't cut it. They suck. Most doctors don't accept them and the ones that do, either give substandard care, or don't complete the job. Medicaid doesn't cover everything and medicare, well the people who do get medicare, have to buy supplemental policies to cover their prescriptions,and whatever else medicare doesn;t cover, sho what are they supposed to live on after they pay all these out of pocket expenses?

We can't compare the US to other countries. Yes, we have more than most, we waste more than most, but there are still people in need - just like other countries. But we have the resources to eliminate that need, the problem is: we don't.  

Emil,

You always post such stimulating information!

Regarding McCain, while I have not followed his politics closely, I can honestly say anyone if someone is not aware of today's technology, how could they possibly be aware of the issues that plague our society? You can only rely on your staff so much... if you turn a blind eye to everything, eventually, you will hit a brick wall. 

As for foreign aid, I was never fully aware of the amount that  our government disperses to other countries, however, my concern was not only what our government gives, but also the private disbursements. While I do understand the need of other countries, I do not feel that the US should bear the sole burden, and the receiving country should not be subjected to our way of life. The money should be given and disbursed as it is needed, not funneled through an endless maze of red tape , government agencies and special interest groups. Ultimately, resulting in nothing for the people in need. 

I have found a site which describes in detail, how much money is disbursed and to whom.  The only drawback is, it is dated back to 2004. Some of the more relevant information I found, I posted here: 

the $37 billion of phantom aid in 2004 included:

• $6.9 billion (9% of all aid) not targeted for poverty reduction
• $5.7 billion (7%) double counted as debt relief
• $11.8 billion (15%) on over-priced, ineffective technical assistance
• $2.5 billion (3%) lost through aid tying
• $8.1 billion (10%) lost through poor donor co-ordination
• $2.1 billion (3%) on immigration related spending

at least $70 (0.1%) million on excessive administration costs.

IMHO - most aid was LOST due to ineptitude, stupidity and downright government BS. So who benefitted? 

What aggravates me even more is not that we aid foreign countries,but that as you said,....

Generations of Americans worked extremely hard to build this country - we cannot be happy to see what they've build being mismanaged and wasted by less than capable corporate and political elites. We definitely should be unhappy about this...

 Here we have a man who has no clue how to use the internet and we expect him to run the country? I don't think so! 

[A tragedy of the world’s poor has been that] the West spent $2.3 trillion on foreign aid over the last five decades and still had not managed to get twelve-cent medicines to children to prevent half of all malaria deaths. The West spent $2.3 trillion and still had not managed to get four-dollar bed nets to poor families. The West spent $2.3 trillion and still had not managed to get three dollars to each new mother to prevent five million child deaths.

… It is heart-breaking that global society has evolved a highly efficient way to get entertainment to rich adults and children, while it can’t get twelve-cent medicine to dying poor children.

— William Easterly, The White Man’s Burden; Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest have Done So Much Ill and so Little Good, (Penguin Press, 2006), p. 4

And, yet, with the simple needs people in our society have, all the billions of dollars being dumped into blackholes overseas, here are some of  the reported second-quarter earnings  of 2008 from just a few US companies - how many people could benefit from this money?

Exxon Mobil Corp.  -  $11.68 billion

Chevron - 6 billion

Express Scripts $191.9 million

Johnson & Johnson  $16.5 billion 

abbott - $1.32 billion

American Express Company -$655 million

well, I just spent a good deal of time answering you, and lost every word how incredibly annoying... I am having dinner, and will rewrite or try to anyway my opinions when I have finished

Not only George W. Bush doesn't look at the Internet, but if we elect McCain for president, we would have a president that doesn't even know how to send an email - read this.

About "we send tons of money overseas to help those in need"... here is some info from the MIT Center for International Studies (MIT stands for Massachusetts Institute of Technology - one of the top 5 universities in the US):

"Surveys demonstrate that the American public vastly overestimates how much their government spends on foreign aid, with majorities believing that the government spends more on foreign aid than Medicare or Social Security. In reality, the U.S. spends about 0.18% of its GDP on Official Development Assistance (ODA), a far cry from the 5-20% most citizens believe it allocates and still a ways away from 0.7% it agreed to spend on ODA along with the rest of the United Nations over thirty years ago. Although the United States does give more money in ODA than any other country in the world, when compared to GDP it is one of the stingiest of the developed nations."

About the "wants" and "needs"... I don't believe that the people who come on Aidpage are looking for "wants"... most of them really have "needs" - as this would be defined in a developed nation as the US. We should not compare the US with the poorest countries in the world. We should compare our notions of "wants" and "needs" with other developed nations. If we compare our life here with the life of most people in Africa, we should instantly see ourselves as the luckiest people on Earth. But if we compare with people in Scandinavian countries for example, we may discover that we have some social problems that they somehow don't have (at least it seems like this from a distance).

Generations of Americans worked extremely hard to build this country - we cannot be happy to see what they've build being mismanaged and wasted by less than capable corporate and political elites. We definitely should be unhappy about this - and vote this fall!