Starving Children in Africa

There it was again, that commercial that tugs at the heart strings. You know, the one with soft music playing in the background while it flashes pictures of starving children in Africa across the screen, with a voice that says "for just a dollar a day you can feed a starving child in Africa. That's less than the cost of a cup of coffee." This tells me one of two things: Either people are paying way too much for their coffee, or food in Africa is a heck of a lot cheaper than in the US, because there is no way I could feed my kids on a dollar a day. Now let me stop this right here before anyone jumps to conclusions by assuming I'm making fun of starving children in Africa. I'm not. Far from it. I know it's a problem and something needs to be done about it. But that being said, I'm fascinated to know that just $1 a day is enough to help a child from starving.

I guess I didn't know a buck had that much buying power, especially in today's economy where the value of the dollar has been diving faster than Greg Louganis in the 1988 Olympics - that's right, I just pulled a seriously old school reference. He won gold by the way ,which is the same precious metal our dollar was once backed by, in case you were wondering. Yes, I realize Dollar Stores are springing up across America faster than the population of China is increasing, but still, $1, even in a Dollar Store, can't feed a person for a day - well not in America anyway.

I think that's what I am most interested in here...how it is possible to actually feed a child in Africa for $1 a day. What kind of food they will be receiving? Is it three meals a day? Is dessert included? Or are we just talking beans and rice once a day? If it truly is possible to feed a child on just $1 a day in Africa, I'm going to have a serious talk with my wife about shipping my kids there just to save some money on food expenses. Kind of like an exchange student sort of thing, but until they're 18.

It makes some more sense now as to why we never see "feed the starving children in America" commercials. How would the commercial go? "For just $25 a day, you can help feed a starving child in America. That's less than three hours of work a day if you work for minimum wage. Think about it, for only three hours of every work day you can be feeding a child in America the rich nourishment they need to sustain life." It would be pretty difficult to find pictures of American children who aren't overindulged and obese to go along with the sad music. (Note: this is not to say that I think we should blame ourselves for this problem...see here for more details)

I just see too many complications in trying to feed America's starving children commercially. What are we going to do, show how $25 a day helps take them to McDonald's? And how would they address the chubbiness issue? "Yes, little Bobby may look a little plump around the edges, but trust us, he's really starving." It could end with a close-up on the chubby kid's face and then slowly pan out to see him in his living room, sitting on a couch with the sun shining brightly through the window as he is frantically playing away on the X-box while wearing his brand new Nike high-tops. Cut to end of commercial.

I just don't see organizations that are trying to feed the starving children in America working out very well, which is probably why most of them have turned to Africa for their cause. But still, to be able to feed a child on just $1 a day blows my mind. Africa is doing something right if food can be bought for so cheap. Maybe more people in America need to get off of Facebook's FarmVille and get out to farming in the real world (no not MTV's Real World, which there is nothing real about, but that is another whole discussion in itself). Maybe then we could feed our own children on just $1 a day.

In all seriousness I know that there are starving people all across this world and every little bit we can do helps. So I encourage everyone to give of any extra time or money they may have in fighting hunger in this world. I also encourage you to give of any extra money you might have to me. But it you can't, feel free to just leave me a comment here and there instead. You can even keep yourself anonymous if you'd like. I'm just beginning to wonder if I have any readers at all out there. And if I do, are you wondering the same things I am?

The Soaring Cost of Airport Food

It's estimated that there are almost 1.5 million people that fly every day in the US. Wow. That's a lot of people and a whole heck of a lot more bags of peanuts being consumed each day. Now I know just from what I've said so far that you might have some ideas as to where I'm heading with this post but let me assure you that I'm in fact not going to be discussing the things you think I might be. No, I'm not going to be discussing TSA's new security policies in which you get to choose from either being filmed naked or aggressively groped. And no, I will not be discussing the outrageous fees that most airlines now charge just to bring your luggage onboard, although I'll admit how ridiculous and infuriating these policies are. No, instead I wish to discuss the price of airport food and how out of control it has become.

Seriously, what's up with the cost of food inside the airports across our country? It's worse than trying to buy silver jewelry on a Mexican beach. At least the pan handlers on the beach are willing to barter and you can usually get them down to a price considered normal. I remember once while flying I had a little time between flights so I decided to grab a bite to eat. I proceeded to what I thought was a decent little burger joint inside the airport and ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. When I went to pay for it, I found out that it was going to cost me $12. Yea, $12 for a burger, fries, and drink which didn't even fill me up.

How can these places charge such outrageous prices? I'm really having a hard time understanding why. It's not that I don't understand the economic concepts of supply and demand, but the cost of airport food is so far past this reasonable theory that it has found its way into the world of ridiculous. Do the people selling the food inside the airport think it's a different country and that they can just charge whatever they want? Do they not understand that we were just groped by some TSA worker right after paying an arm and a leg to get our luggage shipped? Maybe I'm just being too hard on such places and in reality 50% of these peoples profits go to some charitable organization such as "Feed the Children." I'll bet that is what it is and so maybe I'm getting mad over nothing.

I've often thought about opening a chain of restaurants that would be found exclusively inside airports across the US but here's the kicker, what would set my restaurant apart from the rest is I would charge completely normal prices for the food. That's right, you'd be able to get food inside the airport for the exact same cost as outside the airport. What a novel idea, I know. People would flock to my restaurants I'm sure.

I'm a little apprehensive about doing it though because for all I know the food industry and therefore food prices inside the airport could be run by the Mafia. If this is the case and I came in with lower prices I can only imagine what might happen if the father of the Mafia came inside my restaurant to talk to me. "Look, Jared, I welcomed you and your restaurant into the airport. I took you in and treated you like family and even helped you get your feet under you. Yet, you still insist on selling a burger, fries, and soda at six dollars. I'm sorry Jared but I have to put my foot down. Go ahead boys, trash the place."