[this post still under construction]
Perhaps am one of those nasty people that the gummint is warning you about. Binge drinker, sufferer of Attention Deficit, Hyper activity. Refuse to accept it as a "disorder" .. too many intelligent people could be labelled as such, and drugged into oblivion and compliance. Can only thank whatever good fortune there is for my parents, who never introduced me to drugs as a child. The strongest chemical panacea for "discomfort" around my childhood habitations was, for my mother; "a cuppa tea, a Bex, and a good lie down".
Have never felt the need for anything chemically stronger than that originating from a brewery or distillery.
[and, oh yes, can remember some instances of "binge" when a teenager, and later. Will write about them as time and circumstance permits.]
What actually prompted this post was a post by Anne at "The Gods are bored".
Apparently a relation is childless, and spends much money on a dog.
My comment on that post -
Dunno much about dogs in the book written by blokes of ancient and limited knowledge, but apparently there's a reference to children, somewhere. The first word is a bit dubious to interpret but "suffer the children to come unto me"?[perhaps they could become "pets"?]
Plenty of suffering children in Sudan, Ethiopia, Burma, et al, who need a bit of assistance or good homes (any dwelling at all, would help).. but perhaps the "christians" don't consider them part of "humanity", i guess.
OK, this syndrome is worldwide, and not specifically "american", but did prompt me to begin looking at some of the priorities where money is spent.
[this post is not complete, the research on this one may take some time, and am sure there are places where these figures are readily available for comparison.]
American - spending on war .. uncounted Billions
- "pets" $US41 Billion in 2008
- foreign aid
| Country | Aid amount by GNI |
|---|---|
Source: OECD Development Statistics Online last accessed Sunday, April 27, 2008 If you are viewing this table on another site, please see http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp for further details. | |
| Norway |  0.95 |
| Sweden | 0.93 |
| Luxembourg | 0.9 |
| Denmark | 0.81 |
| Netherlands | 0.81 |
| Ireland |  0.54 |
| Austria | 0.49 |
| Belgium | 0.43 |
| Spain | 0.41 |
| Finland | 0.4 |
| France | 0.39 |
| Germany | 0.37 |
| Switzerland | 0.37 |
| UK | 0.36 |
| Australia | 0.3 |
| Canada | 0.28 |
| New Zealand | 0.27 |
| Italy | 0.19 |
| Portugal | 0.19 |
| Japan | 0.17 |
| Greece | 0.16 |
| USA | 0.16 |
[and yes, Guambat Stew, i also go and have a squizz to see what brilliant analysis you have come up with lately .. heh (this bit will probably be deleted, later; but will try to work in a reference link, somehow.)]
6 comments:
that's a very interesting topic - priorities where money is spent! in this household the wine consumption is increasing ...
but as Jim says, alcohol is a tool (for the creative artist). nice excuse
Go away, Vincent, don't tempt me. This post began as a serious analysis of .. umm .. well, umm ..
The real interesting graphs are the percentage of GNI spent on arms by the biggest recipients of ODA money.
If this is where unmedicated ADD leads, I will never put my kids on that medication, even tho the doc swears they oughta have it!
ah, yeeess, Anne. Also, this post was held up somewhat since i was "called in" for a day's work at the Hatchery yesterday, but also intend to see if i can find the stats on spending on drugs - both prescription and non - as well as spendings on cosmetics and other commodities "essential" to our modern "civilised" way of life .. heh.
Funny, I've been thinking about this pets vs. people as aid recipients lately. The folks trying to keep Darfur fed should ask some cuddly dogs with large brown eyes that get larger and browner as the dogs starve, take some pictures and then hire a PR firm.
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