Article 25 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection" (pg.98). However, the rights to shelter and nutrition do not exist in the United States due to our excessive debt and economic instability. The government’s priorities are focused elsewhere, such as, funding wars and government waste. For instance, The Hertiage Foundation Leadership For America offers 10 examples of government waste responsible for this instability:
1) The Missing $25 Billion - The government knows that $25 billion was spent by someone, somewhere, on something, but auditors do not know who spent it, where it was spent, or on what it was spent.
2) Unused Flight Tickets Totaling $100 Million - The Defense Department purchased and then left unused approximately 270,000 commercial airline tickets at a total cost of $100 million. Even worse, the Pentagon never bothered to get a refund for these fully refundable tickets.
3) Embezzled Funds at the Department of Agriculture - Employees of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) diverted millions of dollars to personal purchases through their government-issued credit cards.
4) Credit Card Abuse at the Department of Defense - Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 for admission to entertainment events, $48,250 for gambling, $69,300 for cruises, and $73,950 for exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.
5) Medicare Overspending - Medicare wastes more money than any other federal program, yet its strong public support leaves lawmakers hesitant to address program efficiencies, which cost taxpayers and Medicare recipients billions of dollars annually. For example, Medicare pays as much as eight times what other federal agencies pay for the same drugs and medical supplies.
6) Funding Fictitious Colleges and Students - $21.8 billion worth of student loans are in default, and too many cases of fraud are left undetected.
7) Manipulating Data to Encourage Spending - The Washington Post, and several private organizations have found that Corps studies routinely contain dozens of basic arithmetic errors, computer errors, and ridiculous economic assumptions that artificially inflate the benefits of water projects by as much as 300 percent.
8) State Abuse of Medicaid Funding Formulas - The GAO and the HHS Inspector General have uncovered some states' practice of recovering improper payments, retaining the funds, and then spending them on unrelated programs-a practice that costs the federal government well over $2 billion per year.
9) Earned Income Tax Credit Overpayments - The earned income tax credit (EITC) provides $31 billion in refundable tax credits to 19 million low-income families. The IRS estimates that $8.5 billion to $9.9 billion of this amount-nearly one-third-is wasted in overpayments.
10) Redundancy Piled on Redundancy - Government's layering of new programs on top of old ones inherently creates duplication. Having several agencies perform similar duties is wasteful and confuses program beneficiaries who must navigate each program's distinct rules and requirements.
*You can view the entire article at this website:
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2005/04/top-10-examples-of-government-wasteThese are fundamental reasons why America fails to provide the rights to shelter and nutrition. As soon as the government reevaluates their priorities and fixes the many governmental spending flaws and negligence, only then we may finally evolve into a nation that provides help to those that need it the most.
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