phooey,

Some wars are started unnecessarily (Iraq)

You might like to do a little research into those bastions of Western influence, the World Bank and the IMF. These institutions excel in ingratiating themselves with third world governments, enriching the ruling elite at the expense of the general population and the all-round perpetuation of poverty cycles in these countries.

I did'nt say they are started unnecessarily, I said they are continued (or prolonged) unnecessarily, there is a difference.

phooey,

I appreciate your point.
I was just making a further point. Often it's the same feeble reasoning that instigates war that also fails to perceive the difficulties in prosecuting a swiftly realised objective.

Once the government gets an issue with which they can justify increasing taxes (public endorsed), they ride it for all its worth (carbon tax).

phooey,
you are right, living standards have risen around the globe since the industrial revolution, in both developed and developing countries. But they have risen far faster in developed ones. We could afford to meet the Government’s 0.5% of GDP aid target with negligible impact on our standard of living.

And, although things have improved, 150 million children around the world still suffer malnutrition. Almost a billion people live below the World Bank’s absolute poverty benchmark of $1 a day, and about 3 billion line on less than $2.50 a day. Aid is still needed.

*150 million children around the world still suffer malnutrition*

Well yes Rhian. The more boatloads of food aid that are sent, the
more children will be created in future, who will be hungry. As
Sir Bob found out the hard way in Ethiopia, when 20 years later the
population had doubled.

So what say we start to address the issue of spending what we do
spend a bit more wisely, rather then simply contributing to
create an even larger problem in the future.