Paris Hilton Builds $325,000 house for her dogs

[Ivan Seeking]

I struggle with the same question, too, given that I have a chronically ill little kitty. I don't know other than to care for her, though. So, I make sure to feed people in Kenya and help care for a village in Guinea too. I figure it balances out that way.

Yes, but I often wonder how the extreme poor would feel if they saw how we spend our money. It really hit me when I was in Peru. I had been there for work and discretely passed a $40 gratuity to the lead factory electrician, who had been very helpful. He quickly grabbed the money and stuck it in his pocket, and began to cry. While I knew the exchange rate, I didn't realize what these folks were making. I had handed him about a month's wages.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There was one guy who went to Columbia who nearly got arrested for starting a riot. Though he was well-intentioned, he didn't anticipate the reaction when he started tossing his money to the crowd of "peasants" behind the fence, as he boarded the plane.

Something else that was striking: I was working at a food factory that was built like a prison. The building was made out of concrete, complete with high-security windows, and not many of them. There were two high fences surrounding the complex and covered with barbed wire [the military stuff]. Upon entry, one went through a guard station [complete with machine guns], and then entered the area between the fences. After the gate behind us closed, the next gate was opened which allowed us to enter the parking area. From there we passed through two more security checkpoints before entering the factory. The factory manager was our escort, so I asked him why they had all of the security for a food factory. "Where do you think the people go when they run out of food?", he replied.

Off topic but intereeting: In S. Korea, they don't put any identification on the office doors in business complexes; office managers, supervisors, vice presidents, etc. This to avoid assasination and kidnapping attempts. You have to use a proprietary map and count the doors in order to find the correct office.

 

[Lisa!]

Hi Lisa! Great to see you back.

Hi Ivan!Thank you!

 

[Moonbear]

If the point hasn't already been made: I am sure that to someone in Kenya, for example, what the average pet owner in America or Europe spends on his or her pets seems just as outrageous as Hilton's expenditures do to the average person here.

... [effectively] that one crosses my mind every time I drop a couple of hundred bucks at the Vet's office.

Hi Lisa! Great to see you back.

Veterinary clinics in the US are FAR better equipped than the hospitals in Mozambique are. So, yes, to the average person there, what we spend on our pets would be shockingly extravagant compared to what is spent on a single person's healthcare there. Then again, they'd probably also consider the house I live in with just a cat to be extravagant too...they'd probably consider it large enough to serve as a dormitory for about 50 students.