US In The World | Poverty | Why It Matters How Other People Live

Messaging Recommendations, Helpful Arguments & Facts

Common Critiques & Effective Responses

The poor will always be with us...there's only so much we can do.

Foreign aid just creates dependency.

Poverty has nothing to do with terrorism.

The problem is corruption.

We're already so generous. The U.S. can't do it all.

The market will solve these problems -- trade, not aid.

We invest in good performers, not every basket case.

Representative Quotes

Interconnected World

In this interconnected world, how people in other countries live affects the U.S. -- how our economy grows, whether we share the diseases and insecurity that flourish in poverty, how we do at honoring the basic rights and values that unite us as human beings.

Leaders in politics, business, entertainment, and religion agree: As people outside the U.S. gain access to fundamental freedoms, modern sources of energy, basic education, and decent jobs, we gain as well.

Innovators and community leaders around the world are working for the same goals -- healthy communities, growth out of poverty, human dignity, better lives for our children. Supporting them gains us partners for the future.
When we put all the pieces together, change is real: Many Americans care about the fate of the Brazilian rainforest, the "lungs of the planet," for example; but it took environmental groups and governments in Brazil, the U.S., and elsewhere to help Brazilians find good jobs and farmland that didn't depend on cutting trees, education about why rainforests matter, and support for tourism and biomedical research that can make these forests valuable resources. Now, for the first time, the rate at which the forests are disappearing has slowed.
When we support change in one area, it pays off in others. Just sending a child to primary school, for example, helps boys and girls live longer, have healthier families, prevent diseases like HIV/AIDS, get better jobs, and earn more money -- lifting up their own communities, their countries, and eventually the global economy.
When we support people at the grassroots level with vision and commitment to help them improve their own communities, the change is lasting. The most successful support for AIDS orphans in Africa, for example, builds on the efforts of churches, mosques, and communities to care for their own children. People with next to nothing themselves were already organized to take in children, feed and care for them, and help them remember their parents -- what they needed was help with buying textbooks and medicines, and in preventing the kids themselves from catching HIV/AIDS.

Investment

Investing in global economic growth -- which will have a crucial effect on our own economic future -- means investing in people.

We can help people living in poverty seize the opportunity to improve their own lives. Just as at home, we can support governments in making economic rules that balance market forces with citizens' rights. And we can promote global rules on trade that are fair for everyone.

With trade supporting almost a fourth of U.S. national income and one in nine jobs, our economic prospects are more intertwined than ever with those of other countries.
Conditions differ around the world, but the foundations of healthy societies are the same everywhere: strong communities, a clean physical environment, and work that enables people to meet their needs with dignity.
Investing in health improves economic growth. World Bank data show that Africa's economic growth rate per person would have been almost three times higher in the 1990s without the costs of HIV/AIDS.
It's about opportunity, not money. Economists estimate that with fairer global trade rules, African countries could earn six times what they receive in assistance from wealthy countries every year. And if all poor countries' share of world trade increased by just 1 percent, their income growth would lift 128 million people out of poverty.

Pragmatism Effectiveness

Helping responsible governments get stronger, offering their own people hope for a better future, is a smart investment in our own security

Direct threats to U.S. security (e.g., terrorism) and social threats (e.g., illegal drugs, dangerous new diseases, and tainted foodstuffs) take root and grow in countries where lawlessness prevails. We fight terrorism by stopping its training camps and financiers overseas; we fight diseases like SARS and avian flu by catching and treating epidemics abroad before they reach our shores. But we can't win these fights if other governments are not capable of fighting along with us. So when we invest in training health care workers or in rebuilding government institutions after a civil war, we are investing in our own future as well.

We depend on partners with strong and stable governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The governments of Ghana and South Africa offer economic hope and peacekeeping strength in West and Southern Africa. And the U.S. stopped SARS and avian flu from causing U.S. epidemics by working with well-established governments in Southeast Asia.
Our security, prosperity, and health are especially linked to our neighbors in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The more these countries and regions have responsible governments that can meet their people's needs and have innovative economies that create jobs and offer hope, the better off we will be as well.
When terrorists, drug dealers, and criminals exploit nations with weak governments or civil wars to make money and find safe havens, we feel the effects. Al Qaeda ran businesses in war-torn Sudan and bought diamonds during Sierra Leone's civil war. Drug dealers thrive in chaotic Afghanistan and violent Colombia.

Right Thing To Do: American Values

Americans believe that our actions should fit our values.

We believe that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- and in justice and opportunity for all. Americans possess uncommon generosity toward those in need. With the right investments, we can be a real force for change and opportunity in the lives of others.

We are a generous country, and donations by private Americans are among the highest in the world. Those donations could get more done if our government used its resources to set the stage for private success -- and raised its rate of spending to fight poverty, which today is the second-lowest per person of all the wealthy nations. That allows many other countries to believe that we don't care and to overlook Americans' private generosity.
When Americans in focus groups are told that just $50 per American per year above current government efforts could cut world hunger in half, 75 percent respond positively -- surprised that we would hesitate to spend such a modest sum if such a significant result were possible.