How Involved Do We Have To Be?

How involved to we have to be?

Here is the situation. The United Nations, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the helm, has asked for the leading industrial countries of the world to add a tax to International airline tickets to raise money to everything from malaria to AIDS research and assistance for the developing world. Brazil, Britain, Chile, Congo, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Norway and France have jumped on board with the idea pledging to do just that. France has set the tax based on how far and in what class you are traveling, the others are still working out the details but France’s new tax will be operational by July. Switzerland, the country which first suggested the tax is not involved as of yet, but will probably fall in line with the French soon.

The International Air Transport Association has come out against the tax stating that it is “akin to biting the very hand that feeds development”. Interesting that they would feel this way? Not really; they are in the business to make money and with France imposing a tax between $6.00 and $47.00 it might just make a few people think twice before making a trip. True, these people flying out of France are probably doing it because they need to and won’t cancel a trip because of this tax. However, they might just make one trip where two would usually have been made to avoid the extra cost in the long run, thus hurting the industry. These problems however are not Kofi Annan’s problems; these are the problems of the industrialized world. He is busy saving the poor and sick and this seems like a easy way to milk the “haves” to give to the “have nots”.

This tax is expected to raise $248 million annually according to the U.N. None of the stories I read mentioned if that was with or without world wide participation or if it was the total that would be raised if only these 13 nations plus or minus Switzerland were involved. That’s $248 million that is going to monitered by whom? The United Nations has already proved that it is inept at working with large dollar amounts like this, just look at the Iraq Oil for Food program that they skimmed millions off of.

But here’s the real problem I have with this, the American people contributed $199 billion, that’s billion’s, last year alone as part of the United States total $260 billion in world wide contributions. This is what we gave as charity and does not include those debts that we forgave or those dollars that were in the budget to assist nations like we usually do. Just charity. This covers everything from Katrina to the Sunami to Earthquake relief in Iran and Pakistan to any other charity you can think of, Sally Struthers hungry kids and the Christian relief organizations all over the world. We are the charity kings on this planet. In addition we have the $50 billion over 10 years to Africa for AIDS, the $29 billion the Bill Gate Foundation has at its disposal, the $4 billion the guys from Google have poured into Africa to produce items for the people making $4.00 dollars or less per day and all the other foundations that are organized to do so much of this kind of work.  

Now I know someone out there is going to say that we Americans only give 2.4% of our total income as charity and that means we are not as giving as some coutnries that give more per capita or more per income, but considering we survive on 48% of our income after gas taxes, energey taxes, income taxes, social sescrewity taxes, property taxes and so on and so forth, I’d say we are damn giving. We give until it hurts.

So what exactly is this tax going to do. It is literally a drop in the bucket dollar wise compared to what just one country, the United States, gives each year. What this represents is not the first but the most cunning attempt to transfer wealth yet divised by the United Nations. A chance to tax Americans for our lifestyle. This is only the first of many taxes they want to levy. They are looking at a tax on war machines and weapontry, like China and Iran won’t find a way around those. This is tandamount to handing the tax code over to the United Nations. (Maybe they can make sense of it, but I doubt it)

Thankfully, as every artilce I read points out, the U.S. is not in favor of this idea and probably won’t play ball. I should hope not; we don’t do the World Court either and for that I will thank Bill Clinton as it is one of the few things I think he did right.

So, just how much more are we supposed to do to help the world? How much is enough? $300 billion, $500 billion or $1 trillion. As Az Moderate pointed out (although I don’t buy into all of it) the middle class pays the majority of our taxes in this country and it is shrinking fast. Where exactly does Kofi think he’s going to gain all this money from?

Now I’ve never been a big John Birch supporter, they are little out there sometimes, but maybe they are on to something when they suggest that we get out of the U.N. and get the U.N. out of the U.S.

Knowing the history of the U.N. as a place for grievences to be voiced and worked out as it was originally intended by the likes of Woodrow Wilson with his League of Nations and later with Roosevelt’s United Nations, it seems to me that they are oversteping their bounds just a hair here. Am I the only one who thinks that they are out of line for wanting a worldwide tax imposed for their own purposes? This organization is not exactly a stellar example of monetary or budgetary controls. They have pissed away more money that we have given them that our own government has pissed away on idiotic ideas.

So again I ask; how involved do we have to be? My answer; not at all. Let them be happy with what the G8 and others provides them for the derelict job they perform currently. If they want to raise funds let them produce a product that the world wants to buy and do it the old fashion way. How about Kofi Fudge Bars? They can be packed with nutrition from the new U.N. food chart that says protein is number one when these people really need carbs to stay alive. Maybe a low emission car that the world will clamber to buy that the U.N. can have built in third world countries for $50-$60.00 so they can afford to buy them, or better yet, they can learn to manage what we give them for what it was intended, pay the rent, keep the doors open and assist in dispute resolution, and the U.S. and the rest of the G8 will sit down like grown-ups and solve the worlds health and hunger problems. They are redundant at best; corrupt as hell at their worst.

But what would I know; I’m just an Average American.