Should charity at home preceed foreign aid?

[CubaPirate]

[Syntosi]

Depends. No country does charity for the sake of charity, no matter what they tell you (yes that is part of the act). There is always a benefit for the country in question that makes them feel it is worth spending those services or resources. In fact its one of the least corrupt actions your country probably does. After all, its hardly unheard of for politicians to funnel government money towards themselves, friends or donors as a means of corruption. Which means that money spent within your own country has a fairly high chance of being diverted through corruption. There is much less chance that politicians has corrupt dealings with foreign aid so the motivations are usually far more for the actual benefit of their own nation.

So the question becomes, will you help more people at home by spending money on domestic assistance or do you get a bigger return from foreign aid? For most developed countries its actually more efficient to provide foreign assistance to help your own than to do so directly which is why they are so willing to "Lend a hand".

[NaultD]

Don't think either is mutually exclusive or even exclusively benefiting. Apples to oranges comparison. Final answer at least pretty close while foreign investment is more bang for buck.

[purplepoppy]

We have enough money to do both but politicians choose not to. We'll waste billions on vanity projects and hare brained schemes. The problem is too many see home charity as communism. You're supposed to stand on your own two feet and failure equals weakness. Having people sleeping rough is a good way of telling workers to shut up and do as your told or this is how you'll end up. Perhaps we should stop calling it charity and view it as social responsibility.

As for foreign aid I've mixed feelings on this. If you improve a country people will stay there and you won't get migration issues. But it seems the billions we pour in just gets wasted on bureaucracy, dead end projects or magically disappears into someone's bank account.

[jennifer_bloom]

I believe there is practical charity and emotional charity. You give your heart to your city and you give your money to other continents. You are not obligated to cry every time somebody dies cause there are weddings and graduations and births on the same day that people die. But if your nearby friend dies, you should prepare a gift or hour of listening ears for the family.

[NathanDavis]

no charity goes out without us exploiting their resources first...

tit for tat

[exitseven]

Yes, America First.

[DrPepper12]

It depends!