More "Issues" Talk

Snippets from the Sojourners website this past week:

Quote of the week: "It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases." - Bono, rock star and anti-poverty activist. (Source: The American Prospect blog)

"The Bush administration believes this should be a “time of Jubilee” for Wall Street speculators, a time of debt forgiveness. But the current proposal would only place additional debt shackles on the next generation. There is no confession of error or spirit of repentance here. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s three-page bailout proposal to Congress could have been written on a cocktail napkin: 'Hand over $700 billion and don’t tie my hands.' " - Chuck Collins

"The goal of developed countries spending 0.7 percent of their GNP on aid has not been met by most countries. The New York Times noted this week that 'The aggregate aid budget of the most developed nations amounts to 0.28 percent of their gross national income ... The United States, shamefully, is at the bottom of the list, spending 0.16 percent of its income on development assistance.'"

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The thought that the US spends .16% of its income on helping the developing world but has $700 billion to spare to back up Wall Street is truly disturbing. On the one hand you have matters of life and death; on the other, a matter of money. And yes, I am not naive: I do know that a collapse of the world banking system would not do developing countries any good. On the other hand, the disparity of the two numbers is still shocking. What would you say to an individual who said "I don't give to charity. I just spend a lot at Wal-mart, because I know the stuff sold there is mostly made overseas. That way I get what I want and lots of poor people get jobs. It's good for everyone." Tell me you wouldn't want to sock this person, right in the kisser?

"No one can serve two masters. If you try, you will wind up loving the first master and hating the second, or vice versa. People try to serve both God and money - but you can't. You must choose one or the other. Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life. Don't worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don't worry about how you clothe your body. Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up... So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today." Matthew 6:24-25, 34 (The Voice translation).