Bono on Bankruptcy

Bono recently served as a panelist at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have reproduced some of his comments here:

"I am not qualified to comment on really what has happened in the last week where this city has changed shape, certainly psychologically, and in terms of some people's wallets. And I'm not qualified to comment on the interventions that have been put forth. I presume these people know what they're doing. But it is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable, treatable disease and hunger...that's mad, that is mad. Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost jobs in the last week, I do anyway, its a serious business. But this is moral bankruptcy."

You can listen to Bono's comments here (his comments begin about 1:05:30):

http://video.clintonglobalinitiative.org/health_cast/player_cgi2008_nointro.cfm?id=4551#

It is good to know that there are others in the world who see the maddness of what is going on with the "global financial crisis," and are willing to speak out about it. I am unsure why there has not been more of a public outcry as a result of the "bailout." It is utter absurdity that some of the world's greediest and wealthiest people and companies are given more money as a preventative, and yet the world's countries cannot scrape enough money together to help confront global poverty, hunger, help ease the suffering of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases! I know that the "financial crisis" is a complicated situation, and that most likely it could have a major impact on most Americans, including myself. However, I think that I can bear suffering for the mistakes of others, and we could all benefit from lifestyle changes. Obviously, when faced with a crisis, we have seen the government swing into action. Why hasn't the government moved so swiftly over the more pressing crises facing the world?!?! John McCain didn't suspend his campaign to go to Washington to fight to end global poverty, AIDS, or any other global issues, but instead he went because the wealthy needed help. Barack Obama did not run to Washington to help resolve these issues either. Obviously government is not going to take on these issues seriously enough to end them. That means that it is going to be up to other communites, groups, churches and movements to work diligently to solve the problems. I hope that Bono's comments hit YouTube and quickly circulate virally around the world, especially the US, where his comments need to be heard the most. If you agree with Bono, I hope that you will pass his words along and urge others to action.