Posted on 07/02/2005 9:41:10 PM PDT by bayourod
PRIVATE American citizens donated almost 15 times more to the developing world than their European counterparts, research reveals this weekend ahead of the G8 summit. Private US donors also handed over far more aid than the federal government in Washington, revealing that America is much more generous to Africa and poor countries than is claimed by the Make Poverty History and Live 8 campaigns.
Church collections, philanthropists and company-giving amounted to $22bn a year, according to a study by the Hudson Institute think-tank, easily more than the $16.3bn in overseas development sent by the US government. American churches, synagogues and mosques alone gave $7.5bn in 2003 - a figure which exceeds the government totals for France ($7.2bn) and Britain ($6.3bn) - according to numbers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development which deal a blow to those who claim moral superiority over the US on aid.
(Excerpt) Read more at scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com ...
Thanks for posting as I doubt if I'll see this story on the evening news.
For shame! Don't you know that the only "aid" that counts as far as the beautiful people are concerned is that which is extricated from taxpayers pockets and doled out by the benevolent state?
Private charities are a primitive anachronism. It should be left to our betters to decide what to do with our money.
All foreign aid should be private.
My prediction is that private aid goes directly into work that helps real people, whereas government to government aid buys apartments in the south of France.
I wonder how many bombs the donation $ from mosques is paying for...
Ok now, seriously... yup, we are the greatest country on the planet!
This can't be, Clinton just said how stingy we are...
In general...out of every $100 you give toward Africa...at least $40 goes to corruption. The charities say that its the only way to do business in most of these countries. Its like giving money to a drunk...you know that they will buy breakfast...but after they've had a great hand-over.
Wonder why the Slimester Clinton didnt have those figures?
Maybe the Live 8 egomaniacal entertainers should do a concert that addresses the slaughter of thousands in Africa by Muslims.
There's alot more going on there besides hunger.
Clinton should know just how generous Americans are. Monica being one example.
I am pinging this article because I was telling my husband today that the Live 8 thing was putting pressure on a country US that have given quite a lot thank-you...
He was wondering why I didn't want to watch this one, when we did watch the first one in the 80's...
I said, first of all, I don't like the music as much, but when Geldof and the group say that these concerts weren't for raising money from the people that watched, it was as a message for the Group of 8 meeting this week...
Not only do they want America to write off ALL debt of Africa's countries, they want the US to give MORE money, and they want tariff FREE trade....
So, in other words, instead of having citizens of the world, like they are, money out of the goodness of their hearts and their own pockets, they want the American and other countries citizens to be taxed 3 (THREE) TIMES in order to furnish funds for the potentates and dictators of corrupt regimes....
Fool us once, shame on you---fool us twice, shame on us...
You probably saw this week where they estimate that the Nigerian government has over the years stolen about $240 billion. Thats always good to keep in mind when calculating how much we're going to send to Africa.
The best thing we can do is to do what we always do. Support private charities that we know.
Debt relief is recognition that the money was already stolen. Debt relief just rewards the banks who made bad loans, I believe. Not one dime reaches the people.
Europe (France in specific) = Too little Too late, talks a lot but does a little
ping!
Nor should they ever feel confident enough to take continual cheap shots at them as that Narcissistic Jackass did yesterday, as so many Disloyal Democrats do when in Europe (and here). There is a limit to the crap that you can dump on us. Damn it! Why the heck is 41 hanging out with this guy, what the hell is going on.
Good post bump! ;-)
What's a "great hand over"?
hangover
This cannot not be said too often. It is also true about "domestic aid," but then again, if we did that there would be no way to buy votes.
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Indeed we are. Through wars, rebuilding, natural disasters, you name it, Americans are there.
I think it shows that we give far more when we're not forced to give.
The dollars do not include the amount of TIME and the cost of travel for people that build new homes, create temporary medical clinics and dig wells or other infer structure projects. This would add billions more and shows how our aid is used to increase airline and other international revenues.</p>
A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.
We are blessed with such troops.
But this model ignores the private donations made possible by the lower tax burden in the US of 31.8%, against the eurozone's 45.6%. Figures for philanthropic donations have been collected for the first time by the Hudson Institute.
The 2003 figure counted money pledged by the Clinton administration, Adelman said. Since then President Bush has pledged to take aid to Africa from $1.2bn-a-year to $8.7bn a year by 2010.
Adelman added: "We're already world number one in absolute aid assistance. By the time the additional pledges are delivered, we will probably be number one in relative terms in about two years' time."
And that, btw, would still not include the absolutely huge, indispensable (and extremely expensive) contributions we make towards global security.
Consider only the tens of billions of dollars for the 5th Fleet, maintaining security for oil shipments in the Persian Gulf. If the oil generating countries had to provide or contract the necessary security themselves, and then pass the cost to consumers, what would that do to the price of oil? Add $5 dollars a barrel? Maybe even $15 or $20? This is related to development since (along with wellness and health-care) cheap energy is the primary factor in maintaining high growth rates in developing countries. (It's important to economic growth rates in the developed world too, of course, but to nothing like the same degree relative to other factors.)
Bump.
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