In the future: Will you be happy to cut your standard of living to support poor?

[Tony]

Another thread on the cost of fuel got me thinking.

 

As resources such as fuel, food, land, water become scarcer it will inevitably put pressure on national budgets that give billions in aid to other nations that are already suffering.

 

Will you prefer to maintain your standard of living at the expense of others less fortunate?

 

Be honest, not right on.

[medusa]

I don't think that I could actually cut my standard of living much without giving up some of the basics. If I had to make savings then the car would have to go, which would change what I was able to do on a daily basis because of my disabilities, so I would obviously find that hard to do.

 

If I had spare money for leisure activities/higher standard of living then I probably wouldn't mind giving some of it to others, but I would prefer to have some control over which regimes were being supported or helped.

[teddie]

No, I'm poor anyway.

[Jabberwocky]

Id say we already DO live less well off to support the poor, both of our country and the world as a whole.

If we each were to recieve the money that goes to other countries, and recieve it equally, we`d all be a LOT better off than we are now. Its the same with taxes here, if they stopped paying out DSS and job seekers and ... I dont know the other benefits that are out there, we`d have far fatter wage packets.

[slimsid2000]

Not at all. No I would not.

[Tony]

I think what I am getting at is that as the worlds resources become scarcer through exhaustion and the need to share it out more (did you know that China has pretty much tied up ALL of Africa's oil?) our standard of living will decrease.

 

So, should we stop giving money to other nations unless we can make a profit of some financial or material kind?

 

Would we be happy to keep our collective satellite TV, nights out in town and fancy foods even if that meant leaving nations starving?

 

 

I know that this isn't a clear either / or argument - I'm just stoking the fire

[Baz1]

It was odd last time when the Chancellor announced a multi million pound investment into India- when its economy is booming and predicted to be the biggest (only second to China) in the near future.

I think its always good to give to the real needy - but at the sametime, if some of the countries did not have corrupt or tyrants running their country, the wealth would not be so scarce. Personally, i think people in UK are fastening their belts anyway as it looks like we are heading for a very difficult period- and naturally you will have to re-finance and re-budget, that may include cutting out the eating out,leisure spends etc.

[bagger]

If we had excess to our needs then yes, but at the moment then no.

We have no car, holidays etc as we just can't afford them so I won't be supporting anyone other than my immediate family for the foreseeable future.