6,000 police officers from other Canadian cities, 1,327 police officers from Vancouver, and 4,500 soldiers from the Canadian armed forces, were on hand to secure a most successful 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Security costs alone are estimated at $1,000,000,000. It took years to build, and total costs for the games are not yet calculated, but various parts are as follows: Olympic Center, $100,000,000, the Sea-To-Sky Highway, about $600,000,000, the SkyTrain, $2,000,000,000. During the games, 100,000 free condoms were distributed to 7,000 athletes.
250,000 Haitians died in the massive earthquake on January 12, 2010. 300,000 were injured and 1,000,000 were homeless. 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed. There was a massive international relief effort.
US Federal spending so far for the 1st quarter was about $925,271,800,000, and the US has collected about $571,076,200,000 in revenues, meaning that the US has had to borrow about $354,200,000,000 so far this 1st quarter, bringing the total national debt to about $12,739,254,000,000. In the 1st quarter, we paid about $35,672,566,694 in interest on that accumulated debt. Roughly, 16% of the US revenue for the 1st quarter was used to pay interest on the debt we owe.
The US Treasury Department has set up an online place where folks can contribute to paying down the debt:
https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFormId=237...
And this is an interesting link also:
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
We pay about $400,000,000,000 ($400 billion) per year in interest on the national debt.
Total deaths in the world this 1st quarter, 13,575,150, and total births were about 33,277,950, meaning the world population had a net gain of about 19,702,800 people for the quarter. Of the 13,575,150 deaths in the world, an estimated 2,500,000 were children who died due to lack of access to clean water. That would be equivalent to a Haitian earthquake occurring every 9 to 10 days.
Over 24,000 children die every day around the world due to poverty, lack of clean water, or disease. Most all of the deaths are preventable. We have the technology for clean water, to treat disease, and to respond to poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia account for about 80% of the estimated 2,500,000 children who died before the age of five in 1st quarter of 2010. East Asia, and parts of the Middle East and North Africa, account for most of the other 20%.
Although, advanced countries have the means and technology to clean water, treat disease, build shelters, and outspend poverty, a major impact is never made on these world issues. The single most cause of a failure to get the resources to the children who need them is corruption.
The US is the wealthiest country in the world, but it rates about number 20 on the list of quality of aid versus percent of GDP. Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Australia, Japan, Germany, as well as other countries dedicate more of their GDP to foreign aid.
If you live in a slum in Manila, you pay more for your water than people living in London. A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its consumed water. For each liter of drink from Coca Cola, some 3 liters of water is needed to manufacture it. There is no shortage of water on the earth. Google Earth shows that about 0.02% of the available consumable water in the world is actually being consumed.
Combined military expenditures around the world for this 1st quarter were about $500,000,000,000. Between $15,000,000,000 to $20,000,000,000 per quarter is given collectively toward humanitarian relief in the world. About one half of all foreign aid in the world never reaches the intended recipients. Collectively, as a planet, we spend about 3% of what we spend on military expenditures on humanitarian aid. The amount paid by the United States so far this 1st quarter for interest on the national debt is about twice the amount the entire world paid for humanitarian aid around the world during the 1st quarter.
Predictions for the 2nd quarter of 2010: hopefully the world may avert another natural disaster as large as Haiti, and something as massive as the Olympic games aren't scheduled for another two years, 2012 in London, where at least water is cheaper than in the slums of Manila. As far as all the other stuff outlined so far this quarter, very little should change. The world will continue to spend about 3% of military expenditures on humanitarian aid.
