those generous Americans
In a comment on a previous thread about US ignorance/indifference to the rest of the world, I was chided by "anonymous" with statistics and the admonition that western countries give al lot of aid. OK. Here are the OECD stats: The US and Foreign Aid Assistance.
You'll notice that in proportion, in 2003, the US ranks 22 of developed countries and gives a measly .14 of its GDP as "Official Development Assistance" to the rest of the world, well behind Norway's .92 per cent topping the list and Denmark's .84 per cent in the number two position.
Now the talking heads from Bush and Co. and USAID are going to tell you that we give the MOST to the UN relief orgs, but that's not true according to the proportion of our GDP. It's the Norwegians who give the most. Now I'm not a fricking economics major, but even I know what PROPORTIONALLY means. And the Bushies are going to say that there is a lot of giving through religious charities. But I'd like to assert the importance of state giving as a public and national gesture of generosity and insist that the government can make no claim on or take credit for religious giving, which in the multireligiosu region affected by the quake brings with it a whole lot of BAGGAGE.
And by the way, to repeat myself in the comments column, I didn't say that the US or West wasn't giving ENOUGH, I'm saying that under normal circumstances most Americans in general are totallly ignorant of and indifferent to the fate of the rest of the world. Except when it can play as an exotic background to our Messianic fantasies about saving the world - all I can say is, Buddha help us!
You'll notice that in proportion, in 2003, the US ranks 22 of developed countries and gives a measly .14 of its GDP as "Official Development Assistance" to the rest of the world, well behind Norway's .92 per cent topping the list and Denmark's .84 per cent in the number two position.
Now the talking heads from Bush and Co. and USAID are going to tell you that we give the MOST to the UN relief orgs, but that's not true according to the proportion of our GDP. It's the Norwegians who give the most. Now I'm not a fricking economics major, but even I know what PROPORTIONALLY means. And the Bushies are going to say that there is a lot of giving through religious charities. But I'd like to assert the importance of state giving as a public and national gesture of generosity and insist that the government can make no claim on or take credit for religious giving, which in the multireligiosu region affected by the quake brings with it a whole lot of BAGGAGE.
And by the way, to repeat myself in the comments column, I didn't say that the US or West wasn't giving ENOUGH, I'm saying that under normal circumstances most Americans in general are totallly ignorant of and indifferent to the fate of the rest of the world. Except when it can play as an exotic background to our Messianic fantasies about saving the world - all I can say is, Buddha help us!
1 Comments:
But did you read the rest of the article? It also criticizes those who do give more than the US. And, ignoring the numbers the rest of it also talks about how aid is not always useful because we make unfair demands on the countries we give money too. For shame on all the rich countries.
Thanks for the link though. Interesting read (but a bit too long!)
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