G8

DanHolohan

Thanks. I'm proud to have a daughter teaching children in Costa Rica right now, and just as proud of my other daughter, who is working with the poor in Massachusetts.

I think we were on the right track in the Sixties. The kids should be running the world.

Jimmy Gillies

G8 in Scotland.

I hope and I pray that the eight men in that one room here in Scotland can make poverty history.
Never before has it been so important that they change our small world and increase aid to Africa.
We, can improve the lives of so many by doing simple things like buy 'Fair Trade' products in our Supermarkets.
Travel to Africa, there is no more direct way of getting money to poor countries than tourism. Here in the UK we only travel to developed countries and spend our money, that's wrong. There was a surprising report in the UK press that only 30% of people in the US have passports? Is that the case?

The issue of world poverty is bigger than anything else. Thanks Dan for letting me speak my mind.

Kind regards.
Jimmy Gillies (Scotland)

Ken_8

Jimmy, you wrote, "Travel to Africa, there is no more direct way of getting money to poor countries than tourism."

True, spending money in Africa for tourism sounds like a good idea. The problem of course is the people in poverty who most desperately need money are the least likely to be capable of making their region desireable to go to. Further, who wants to go on vacation to see flies eating rotting children who have starved to death?

Your figure of 30% of us Yanks having passports is probably true. When you "own" the Grand Tetons, everglades, the Keys, Alaskan glaciers, Vermont maple syrup, 12,000 miles of shore line from Maine to Florida to Texas and Calfornia to the Aleutians, have millions of oranges to harvest and tons of grain to sell, superhighways connecting it all and airports dotting every area of the country, one needs to ask...

Why leave? Why travel to "undeveloped" countries? Why spend the money I worked for, to support nations that would rather see me dead than save themselves or buy their wares? Who came and helped us when we were the "poor, undeveloped country," when western europe prospered and was the world power and financial base?

Are we really our brother's keeper? Is there not enough people in our own back yard who go to sleep hungry night after night? The homeless? Abject poverty? Where do we begin?

It is the 4th of July after all Jimmie. 229 years ago, you guys called the shots. The notion of redistributing wealth pre-dates Karl Marx. But not by that much.

And lastly, did Atlas really shrug?

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Jimmy Gillies

Thanks Ken!

I don't know about Atlas and I care even less about what Karl Marx did. I care about Bill Gates and what he has done for the world, one of the biggest philanthropist of OUR times. I care about what these eight men in Gleneagles can do.
Of course Ken you are correct there are parts of Africa that are not ready for us tourist.
Please don't think I was having a go at the US regarding the passports, you clearly hold the same view as many of your countrymen.
Ken, the rest of the world does not hate the US.
Happy 4th of July.
Regards.
Jimmy.

Ken_8

As usual,

your insights and perspective are informative, helpful and appreciated!

We Yanks tend to get our pants in a knot when challenged to do more. Could we do more? Of course. But I ask rhetorically, "When is it ever enough"?

We Yanks are so glad Mr. Blair's still in charge. And Jimmie, thanks for sharing the UK perspective with us. None of us gets to see much of the BBC here. Always nice to see our closest allies' perspective reflected in your posts.

Thank you for offering a glimpse of how the other side views our self-absorbed agenda.




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Unknown

well, there is one difference with us and other undeveloped nations.

First, we had france solidly on our side.. they were a big help during our revolution, dontcha know. Secondly, we had an ENDLESS amount of natural resources. Pretty hard to starve with millions of square miles of fertile farmland, and forests full of game and wood.

that's a bit different than the story in africa today.

To the Scot: I think the passport thing is probably overstated. Far less than 30% of the people I know have passports. You don't need one to go to either of our neighbors, and it's not like visiting other countries is a matter of hopping on a train or a boat for a day-trip for us. It's expensive to cross the ponds, and most of us are just trying to get by as it is. World travel is a luxury here.

Plus as Ken was saying, you can drive for two weeks and still be in our own country, across multiple climate zones, thousands of subcultures and all kinds of terrain. We could spend a lifetime just exploring our own country. The cost/benefit of world travel... definitely not for the average joe.

I think geography explains a lot about attitude. Europeans don't have the choice to close ranks and think only of themselves. They are too small, too tightly packed, and too close to too many neighbors to do that. We have two neighbors and most of our country isn't near either of them. It's pretty easy to feel like we're the only ones in the world... to the vast majority of our countrymen and women, we will the the only ones they ever know or see, except tourists from other countries.

Jimmy Gillies

Thanks.

Thanks very much for some very good points. You are 100%correct about Europe. Travel from Europe to the rest of the world is easy and cheap(due to supply and demand).
Please explain why I and many, many people I know have been to lots of parts of the US and travel the other way is so expensive? I spoke to someone yesterday who travels over to Texas for a holiday with his family TWICE a year. My brother-in-law lives part of the year in LA. We all love the US and I can fully understand how you don't want to travel out of your country.

The world is very small and there are many parts I wish to visit.

Sorry, the above is a side issue from that of the G8.
I only wanted confirmation regarding the unreliable UK press report regarding US passports.

If anyone wishes to email me regarding any of my points, please do so. Unfortunately, I will be unable to reply quickly, but I will reply.
Thanks very much.
Jimmy Gillies(Scotland)

Unknown

I couldn't tell you with any accuracy. All I can say is, for most people I know, travelling the world is on a "wish list" that never seems to make it to reality, and when it does, it's usually to somewhere tropical. Perhaps we're all too busy trying to afford health care

Ted_9

Passports

Well ive had a passport since I was a child and about 75% of my family and close freinds have them. But we all travel to Europe. For most people, there is no need to have passport. Unlike Europe, we dont even need special indentity cards. Just a drivers licence.

PATRIOT HEATING & COOLING, INC.

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patrick linhardt

helping the poor

Hi Jimmy,

I'm involved with an organization that has a very practical approach to helping the poor. Ken Secor may even appreciate the system. It is called Self Sustaining Enterprises. The concept in a nut shell is probably best explained with an example. Twelve widows in Nigeria received the funds to purchase sewing machines, make dresses in the local fashion, and now support themselves. They also paid back the initial investment, so that the funds can now be available to some other group in need. Other examples are water pumps to irrigate land for crops, grinding machines for grain that previously had to be carried 20 miles, and again, those groups paid back the funds so they could help someone else. A local organization helps with the selection and oversight of the groups.

Now I'm not scolding you, but tourism is not the way to get people out of their poverty. Giving them the opportunity to help themselves create local economies I believe is better.

I personally don't have a passport, but think the 30% number sounds a bit high.

Thanks for the post about G8, we all do need to give this some serious thought.

Best regards, Pat

Jimmy Gillies

Thanks Pat.

Thanks to all who posted, it has been a great insight.

Pat, as you know, a child dies every three seconds in Africa. Serious thought? I pray Blair, Bush etc will give it a wee bit more than that! Lets hope today, at the G8 in Gleneagles we will see a catalyst that will make poverty history, for ever.

Thanks Pat for helping our fellow man. The SSE sounds great, please email me more details.

I'm no anti-capitalist, I believe we need a strong capitalist economy to help our fellow man and I know there are many who will read this, that do just that every day.

Thanks again.
Jimmy Gillies (Scotland)

bb

the differences

Hi Jimmie:

Thanks for your insight. Working for a multinational compnay, I have had the privelage of working with people from all over the world.

One reason most Americans don't travel overseas is our lack of vacation time. So, we must cram a lot into a small time frame. Losing two days to travel to and from makes it difficult. Plus, there is so much to see right here in our own back yard.

Our thoughts and prays are with those in London on this sad day! Hopefully all @ Gleneagles will do everything they can to help end terrorism!

bb

Joe Brix

I agree

4 weeks of vacation in the States is considered generous and only commonly seen at high level positions or in well organized unions. But many employers would frown on taking more then one or two weeks at a time.

While this might be a taboo topic to some, the hunger issues of the 3rd world needs to adressed by control of poulation growth. While the death rate figures due to starvation and AIDS are shocking, the population continues to explode.

Without any plans to make the areas self sufficent, the problems will only get worse.

patrick linhardt

self sustaining enterprises

Hi Jimmy,

The web address for Self Sustaining Enterprises is ( sseinc.org ). Please check it out, it explains the concept better than I can. Let me know what you think, I would like to here your thoughts.

With worldwide cooperation and vision, we can make this a better place.

Best regards, Pat