Live 8 stars got up to $12,000 in gifts

[The Laughing Man]

Source (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/3/100150.shtml)

Rock stars who lent their talents to Saturday's "Live 8" concert to fight poverty in Africa reportedly performed for free, but that's only if you don't count the luxurious "goodie bags" that were provided by organizers at one venue.

...

In all, a poverty-fighting rock star worth his salt could walk away with as much as $12,000 hunger relief loot, the AP said.

So for "as little as a dollar per day - the price of a cup of coffee," $12,000 could feed a single starving child for almost 33 years!!!

Now you see why I don't support hypocritical crap like this concert.

[Blemonds]

Source (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/3/100150.shtml)

Rock stars who lent their talents to Saturday's "Live 8" concert to fight poverty in Africa reportedly performed for free, but that's only if you don't count the luxurious "goodie bags" that were provided by organizers at one venue.

...

In all, a poverty-fighting rock star worth his salt could walk away with as much as $12,000 hunger relief loot, the AP said.

So for "as little as a dollar per day - the price of a cup of coffee," $12,000 could feed a single starving child for almost 33 years!!!

Now you see why I don't support hypocritical crap like this concert.But TLM, don't you know that (especially according to Bill Clinton) Americans are stingy and just don't give enough to help others?

[Pilgrim]

Yeah, I saw a story on this last week and I was really dissapointed. I hear they are catching a lot of greif over this one. Still, it doesn't change for me, the opinion that debt relief in Africa is a good thing.

The point of the concert and the One Campaign is to show the leaders of the G8 by a force of numbers that popular opinion is for debt relief in Africa.

The concert wasn't to raise money but to generate numbers and at least in Philly it did that. Some estimates put the total crowd at over a million by the end of the day.

[The Laughing Man]

There's a photo going around of Madonna flipping the bird at this concert. Yep. End hunger by flipping the bird. What wonderful people!

[bandecoot]

Source (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/3/100150.shtml)

Rock stars who lent their talents to Saturday's "Live 8" concert to fight poverty in Africa reportedly performed for free, but that's only if you don't count the luxurious "goodie bags" that were provided by organizers at one venue.

...

In all, a poverty-fighting rock star worth his salt could walk away with as much as $12,000 hunger relief loot, the AP said.

So for "as little as a dollar per day - the price of a cup of coffee," $12,000 could feed a single starving child for almost 33 years!!!

Now you see why I don't support hypocritical crap like this concert.


So let me see, a gibson guitar worth $2000 lets say a Les paul model. what is that to a guy who already has his own line of signature Guitar model like Slash . Or Sting for that matter. Nothing, an opportunity to sign it and hand it to a roadie or donate it for auction to raise more money. I notice Newsmoxie did not mention who took what or what they did with it.

Do you chide people for handing out favours at a childrens party? Ever heard of a Potlach by any chance? Two examples from your own Culture taht allow and encourage giving gifts to participants in activities where the recipients don't actually need them. It even has a name, The Gift Economy.

The suits yeah thats a bit silly handing off the rack suits to people with tailors, what were they thinking?

A carry bag, real value about $20. Oh a Hugo Boss travel bag! Oh that's different, $22 dollars in real terms. The extra is for the Hugo Boss screenprinting. I personally have always wondered why people pay a premium to advertise a product. I guess the dumb have always been with us.

What are you complaining about? That a bunch of rich people got a few freebies? Or that You are just sniping at people you dont like?

The participants in Live 8 make a lot of money, I don't grudge them that at all. IF the organisers want to thank the unpaid participants with 12000 dollars worth of Donated stuff thats their choice. I wonder how much of that stuff was even taken. I see from teenmusic.com that Will Smith helped himself to one. And that Bonjovi had the nerve to enjoy lunch. The unmitigated scoundrels.

Of course the Indianapolis Star did raise some valid points missed by Newsflux. There were companies donating goods that could have just been donations of equal value in retail terms.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050702/ENTERTAINMENT04/507020319

Of course the queries raised by the Star were raised by people who are actually involved in the field of Ethics. As opposed to the sly ranting of a wannabe journalist.

I would say that its the Free Market at best. A company chooses to give goods to participants rather than give money to the cause. It looks better on the tax bill at the end of the year " Live 8 donations X dollars retail" (snigger, lthats better than X-n dollars, they dont know our markup)

Yep blame the people who gave up their time and expertise to play this concert just because You dont like them. Forget that they did not ask for them, The companies that donated goods in lieu of real cash are obviously blameless.



Jinx when you get a bit of perspective on the world you might calm down a bit.

[salvationfound]

Hey guys this thread reminds of the tsunami telethon incident. I think I
remember hearing something about how the telethon raised like 18 million
but very few of the stars themselves gave any money. Does anybody know
a site that talks about this or am I making it all up?

[patteeu]

Hey guys this thread reminds of the tsunami telethon incident. I think I
remember hearing something about how the telethon raised like 18 million
but very few of the stars themselves gave any money. Does anybody know
a site that talks about this or am I making it all up?

That may be what you are thinking of, but you could also be thinking about the telethon that was held for the victims of 9/11. Bill O'Reilly made a big splash by taking the celebrities and charitable organizations who participated in that one to task.

[FormerFundy]

The idea of trying to help people in Africa is noble but in my opinion the Live 8 folks are either woefully ignorant or misguided. Just throwing more money into Africa will not solve their problem. The reason is because the money will largely be confiscated by the corrupt rulers and very little if any will filter down to the people who desperately need it (remember Somalia? remember the UN's Oil for Food program for Iraq?).

Here is a quote from Neal Boortz, syndicated talk show host:

And just what is it about Africa? Here is a continent with an incredible abundance of natural resources -- and a history that speaks to nothing but poverty. So, these Live 8 guitar players want to do something about poverty in Africa? Maybe they should be demanding the return of land in Zimbabwe to the white farmers from whom it was stolen! Just a few decades ago Zimbabwe was one of Africa's richest breadbaskets. Zimbabwean farmers fed their own country and many of their neighboring countries with the food from their farms and ranches. Then along comes their new exalted ruler ... the great Robert Mugabe. He sends his goon squads out to steal the land from the white farmers - murdering many of them - and turns those farms over to his revolutionary soldiers. What happens next? Hunger, that's what. Now Zimbabwe can't even feed its own people, let alone the citizens of neighboring African countries. To make matters worse, Mugabe is now engaged in a campaign to destroy the homes of poor citizens in Zimbabwe's capitol so that they will move back out into the bush where they won't be so visible and problematic. So ... did you hear one of these rock stars even hint that the United States should do something about Mugabe? Are you kidding? Sure, they like want to fight like poverty and like all that .. but that doesn't mean that they're ever going to like say one like negative word about any of the like dictators who like steal so much of the aid money and like keep their own people in poverty.

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

[Pilgrim]

The idea of trying to help people in Africa is noble but in my opinion the Live 8 folks are either woefully ignorant or misguided. Just throwing more money into Africa will not solve their problem. The reason is because the money will largely be confiscated by the corrupt rulers and very little if any will filter down to the people who desperately need it (remember Somalia? remember the UN's Oil for Food program for Iraq?).

Here is a quote from Neal Boortz, syndicated talk show host:

And just what is it about Africa? Here is a continent with an incredible abundance of natural resources -- and a history that speaks to nothing but poverty. So, these Live 8 guitar players want to do something about poverty in Africa? Maybe they should be demanding the return of land in Zimbabwe to the white farmers from whom it was stolen! Just a few decades ago Zimbabwe was one of Africa's richest breadbaskets. Zimbabwean farmers fed their own country and many of their neighboring countries with the food from their farms and ranches. Then along comes their new exalted ruler ... the great Robert Mugabe. He sends his goon squads out to steal the land from the white farmers - murdering many of them - and turns those farms over to his revolutionary soldiers. What happens next? Hunger, that's what. Now Zimbabwe can't even feed its own people, let alone the citizens of neighboring African countries. To make matters worse, Mugabe is now engaged in a campaign to destroy the homes of poor citizens in Zimbabwe's capitol so that they will move back out into the bush where they won't be so visible and problematic. So ... did you hear one of these rock stars even hint that the United States should do something about Mugabe? Are you kidding? Sure, they like want to fight like poverty and like all that .. but that doesn't mean that they're ever going to like say one like negative word about any of the like dictators who like steal so much of the aid money and like keep their own people in poverty.

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html
I think people are mis understanding the idea behind Live 8 and the One Campaign. The idea is not to raise money for Africa. The real idea is tp lobby the leaders of the G8 to offer debt relief to African nations.

Along those lines let me tip my had with fondness to our President who not too long ago offered exactly that. Now it's on to Scottland.

[FormerFundy]

I think people are mis understanding the idea behind Live 8 and the One Campaign. The idea is not to raise money for Africa. The real idea is tp lobby the leaders of the G8 to offer debt relief to African nations.


It actually involves both--forgiving debt and sending additional money. You are right that the concert was not to raise money from individuals as was the Live Aid concert but rather to encourage (or maybe coerce is a better word) these 8 governments to contribute money. BTW, guess where that money comes from? It comes from the taxpayers of those countries.



Along those lines let me tip my had with fondness to our President who not too long ago offered exactly that. Now it's on to Scottland.

The problem again is much deeper than financial. We could wipe away all of their debt and give them $100 billion dollars but until corrupt politicians are removed and civil wars are halted in Africa, nothing much will change.

[Cowthulu]

I think people are mis understanding the idea behind Live 8 and the One Campaign. The idea is not to raise money for Africa. The real idea is tp lobby the leaders of the G8 to offer debt relief to African nations.

Along those lines let me tip my had with fondness to our President who not too long ago offered exactly that. Now it's on to Scottland.

Won't relieving the debt just remove debt from mostly corrupt governments who are responsible for the bad situation in the first place? I just don't understand how this will help.

[Thomas More]

I think people are mis understanding the idea behind Live 8 and the One Campaign. The idea is not to raise money for Africa. The real idea is tp lobby the leaders of the G8 to offer debt relief to African nations.

Along those lines let me tip my had with fondness to our President who not too long ago offered exactly that. Now it's on to Scottland.

I don't think so I think those protesting are the cynics as myself who believe the African nations in question will still misuse funds and be corrupt and in this same position 20 years from now. The EU and USA may as well start annexing countries it would be much easier in the long run.