What U.S. Bailout Money Could Do For The Rest Of The World

Ever wonder how all that money spent on government bailouts of U.S. companies and banks could have been spent differently? The Business Insider did. On the heels of commercial lender CIT's recent bankruptcy announcement and the loss of $2.3 billion in taxpayer money, the publication asked several humanitarian groups how they would have spent the money to help people around the world.

Here are a few of our favorites from the International Rescue Committee:

378.3 million malaria-preventing mosquito nets $6.08 would pay for a family-sized, insecticide treated mosquito net. Add to this malaria treatment --232 would provide treatment for 200 people - and you have an effective way to prevent the deaths of millions worldwide.

44.2 million girls in school for a year
$52 would enable an afghan girl to attend school for one year.

Emergency medicine for 5.16 million people
$446 would pay for an emergency medical kit which includes medicine, equipment and other supplies, enabling an IRC health team to provide medical services during an emergency for up to 10,000 people.

To read all 10 ways that $2.3 billion could have been spent to improve lives in developing countries, check out The Business Insider article and slideshow.

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Comments

[OpposingViewpoint]

Instead of giving billions of bailout dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, why don't we do the following?

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!!

(From the Petersburg, FL Times)

[hanzojones]

This is just stating the obvious. We could do lots with the money, the billionaires who run these corps just stuff away the money; instead we should distribute it to public works projects and energy investments so we can see some real good come of it. And yes I think at least 5% should go towards overseers who prevent money from going to $500 hammer schemes.

Republicans are wondering how we can keep the "trillion dollar" health care bill from passing. How about removing 100 billion a year from the "defense" budget and dedicate it to that. There. no + or - just money somewhere else and somewhere it actually benefits people.

[dissanayake]

Paleeeze - I could tell you what this money could do FOR OUR NATION FIRST!

[ZSV]

But last I heard the banks have already siphoned 26 trillion-ish...how far would that go? Do we even have that much?

[LeeCalif]

Just print it. That's the problem.

[battlinbob]

malaria??? They had malaria under control 40 years ago with DDT... After the ban of this cheap harmless pesticide millions of people perished... This was the worst unknown holocausts of modern day..

[TerrapinCB]

http://www.epa.gov/pbt/pubs/ddt.htm

Prior to 1972 when its use was banned, DDT was a commonly used pesticide. Although it is no longer used or produced in the United States, we continue to find DDT in our environment. Other parts of the world continue to use DDT in agricultural practices and in disease-control programs. Therefore, atmospheric deposition is the current source of new DDT contamination in our Great Lakes. DDT, and its break-down products DDE and DDD, are persistent, bioacculumative, and toxic (PBT) pollutants target by EPA.
Why Are We Concerned About DDT?

though DDT has been banned since 1972, it can take more than 15 years to break down in our environment. Fish consumption advisories are in effect for DDT in many waterways including the Great Lakes ecosystem.
What harmful effects can DDT have on us?

* Probable human carcinogen
* Damages the liver
* Temporarily damages the nervous system
* Reduces reproductive success
* Can cause liver cancer
* Damages reproductive system

How are we exposed to DDT?

* By eating contaminated fish and shellfish
* Infants may be exposed through breast milk
* By eating imported food directly exposed to DDT
* By eating crops grown in contaminated soil

Where can DDT be found?

Potential Sources to our Environment:

* DDT in soil can be absorbed by some growing plants and by the animals or people who eat those plants
* DDT in water is absorbed by fish and shellfish in those waterways
* Atmospheric deposition
* Soil and sediment

[battlinbob]

So an estimated 30 Million lives which have died did so because of "probables"? What a shame...

[iridium53]

That's nice.

I think a better question is what could the bailout money have done for the Americans that are paying for it?

Instead of just guaranteeing the salaries of executives at a few big, "too big to fail" banks that have extreme influence of the President of the United States, the Treasury Secretary, and a few members of the Senate and Congress?

[zabbadu]

there is not one moment in time that this does not cross my mind.

how many claims could have been 'rightfully' paid had the insurance companies simply paid instead of lobbying against reform.

how many strikes could have been settled (and millions in revenue and lost time) instead of just looking at things from a worker's perspective

[Candw1]

Our money belongs in this country. Just think how much money we would have in he treasury if we quit trying to buy and control every government all over the world. The taxpayers of the US would have been the place to place the bailout funds, then every bank and CC company would be begging the American people to invest with them instead of the other way around. We the people would be in control. But noooo. That makes too much sense and leaves the people begging to the government, financial institutions, life long politicians and lobbyists. I have always been the eternal optimist, but no more. Democrats and Republicans in this country had better wake up and smell the coffee. I am a life long Democrat, I am 63 years old, but next time I am registering as an independent.

[beebletree]

there would be no money to be had if we didn't control. go live on mars.

[Candw1]

Why must posters here feel the need to be sarcastic and insulting to others......it only shows a lack of class.

[Dietcokefreak]

I agree with the rest of these posters. Although a noble sentiment, The Business Insider should have written on the impact to America not third world countries. We need to help our own first.

[Racso]

OF course...lets keep being only into ourselves !

[Qunamngdogs]

No. Our country is crumbling in every way. It is self destructive and foolish to continue when we can't even take care of ourselves. When we are no longer able to care for ourselves OR to help out, what then? Game over? We need to recover so that we CAN help out.

[Entitlement]

We could have thought about cleaning our own house too. I could have gotten the chronically homeless off our streets. I could have employed a bunch of social workers. I could have created holistic treatment centers the focus on cures but more on life-long prevention. I could have invested in education so we need fewer police and fewer prisons. I could have made my community a safer place.

Now I watch as the corporate elites get their flu shots before the vulnerable populations I serve. The greatest bankruptcy of all started with our morals and values. No one detected when that bubble burst.

The keys to the kingdoms are on the streets, in the alleys and in the slums. They will never be found in a penthouse or mansion. We go to church on Sunday, so we can preach hate the rest of the week.

I'm not entitled to any of that bailout money. I didn't earn it. And, therein lies the difference.

[Ramirez]

From Walter Russell Mead:
************

How much do crooked politicians and others steal every year?

Nobody really knows, of course, but as the BBC reports today, the UN estimates that $1.6 trillion each year is stolen each year and moved across national borders. Tragically, much of this money is stolen from poor countries. It is bread taken out of the mouths of the poor.

-snip-

This money is significantly greater than the value of all foreign development aid. It is more than the ten year cost of the health care bill that just passed the House. It would be enough to fund a worldwide basic health system and provide basic primary education to every child on earth. Over the next fifty years it will cost the world much more than climate change.

More than that, the level of criminality and incompetence demonstrated by the existence of so much theft is the most serious obstacle to economic and social development around the world. It is not just that governments administered by thieves are both indifferent to the plight of the poor and unable to run programs that will help them; it is also that voters in rich countries aren’t stupid. If foreign aid were perceived as being more effective, political support for it would rise. ...

read more:
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2009/11/10/corruption-costs-1-6-trillion-per-year/

[violettefemme]

Hmm, interesting. One wonders what it would have done for the rest of AMERICA.

No offense to the rest of the world, but people are starving right here, sick right here, discriminated against right here, women and children are second class citizens right here, education is a pathetic mess RIGHT HERE.

Sorry, but right now it's hard to agree that we should be giving away the store to anyone but the citizens of Main Street, USA.

That is how it should be. When our backyards are cleaned up, and OUR children are healthy and well fed, well educated and safe in their beds, then we should be thinking about where our citizens' tax dollars and the wealth of this country should go.

Until then, OUR people are in need. Other countries need to start taking care of their own by handling their own corruption and criminals, just as the US needs to start addressing the corruption in our government and the lack of services for the people.

[Mnemanth]

Wow. I wonder what it could do for the working people of the United States... if only we were privy to receiving some.

[toadicux]

My thoughts exactly.

Some how spending ourselves into oblivion and causing a world wide depression will help the world.

[Garybot]

I was thinking the same thing.

[hanmitt]

This is an excellent illustration regarding how money could be better spent for people with serious problems. Some may argue that this approach places other nations' well being above our own, but i think that the point is just to illustrate how effectively such money could be used.