Posted on 07/02/2005 9:46:50 AM PDT by wagglebee
On the eve of the G-8 Summit, ex-president Bill Clinton is telling European audiences that the U.S. is stingy with its foreign aid dollars - and that Americans think they contribute more than they actually do.
"In America, for example, we have always been hampered in getting adequate budgets for international assistance by the fact that the American people believe we give much more than we do," he told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday. "They think we give about 3 percent of GDP," the ex-president continued. "They think we give 10-15 percent of the budget. They think we ought to give about 5 percent."
But Clinton claimed: "We don't give anywhere near that. We don't give anywhere near 3 percent but they think we do."
Clinton blamed the GOP Congress and the Bush administration, which pledged $15 billion in aid to Africa in 2003, for being shortsighted when it came to foreign assistance.
"President Bush and the Republicans, when I was president, 100 members of the new Republican Congress after the 94 election did not have passports," he recalled. "They thought all foreign aid was wasted. They did not believe in anything."
He took credit for fostering a different attitude towards foreign aid while he was president.
"By the time I left, we had dramatic consensus across parties for the massive debt relief we did for the Millennium in 2000," he told the BBC.
Clinton said that if the U.S. contributed its fair share, "we can have a whole new paradigm for development assistance from the rich to the poor."
Why doesn't Clinton get his pal, George Soros to spread around a little of his ill gotten gains?
You know there is doubt whether his mother was married to his father when his mother was pollinated. Rumor has it that the father was still married to some woman in Texas. So he may truly, in the original meaning of the word, be an illegitimate blythe.
My idiot husband just asked me to record Live8 for him....
which knocks off my viewing of Fox, for what...
I heard that the performers are all getting like $12,000 "goody bags" to thank them for "donating" their time and talent...
Right now, I am not feeling particularly charitable to any of the foreign countries considering their attitude towards the USA for the last 4 years....sorry, I just don't care right now...
The world has gone celebrity-mad.
I agree with you about Mark Levin. But don't think Ann Coulter has the judicial temperament or experience.
On the other hand, Laura Igraham, who clerked for Justice Thomas would get my get my vote.
It's almost like Bill Clinton sits back and takes some time to think what the dumbest thing he can possibly say is, then say it.
No doubt Clinton is more interested in Soros' money for himself. Donate it to others? Unless it comes from Clinton's urging.
For Soros to spend money it has to be his idea.
They both love the headlines too much to share.
Bill & Hillary should donate some of the Democratic Party treasury
Anybody lurking know how to find out what amounts Bill and Hillary have donated to ANY charity in the past? I seem to remember she took great values for USED underwear of Bill's. On second thought, maybe it WASN'T so used.
And I think Bill is just making these figures up to suck up to the crowd he was speaking to.
Done any ProBono speeches lately Billy Jeff? And I don't mean advocating U2.
Since George W. Bush is President, the USA has tripled its aid for Africa.
Global War On Poverty?
Yeah, let's take the biggest governmental failure in American history and turn it into a worldwide failure.
That is the sole purpose of the Democrat party!
Much of foreign aid is private. But since Bill doesn't actually read the Bible that he used to tote to church, he wouldn't know that it's not considered proper to advertise what you give.
And then showed up for the memorial service.
your a dic, your a dic.. your addicted to you...
narcissistic bastard.
Trajan88
Sorry, the MSM doesn't care if the rules are broken ... well, they don't care if they're broken by a dem. If you want to hear MSM screaming, watch a Republican jaywalk.
A current target of persnickety finger pointing is Mr. Dick Cheney, who is darkly referred to as “an Oilman.” In the year 2000, private citizen Cheney earned $36,086,635. He was left with a net income of $21,791,577 after the taxing authorities soaked him for $14,295,058. That same year Mr. and Mrs. Cheney donated to charity another $7,841,646. So the Cheneys handed over sixty-one percent of their income in taxes and charitable donations, a total of $22 million, 136 thousand, 704 dollars.
As a counterpoise to Mister Cheney, the tax-hungry Democrats offer us masculine-role-model Albert Gore, the junior. In 1997 Mister Gore claimed an income of $200,000. His total contribution to charity that year was $353, or a bit more than one-tenth of one percent of his income, which was less than Mister Gore and his wife, Mary, spent on pest control ($389). (If they’re that cheap, why is she nicknamed Tipper?) Fellow liberals Bill and Hillary Clinton repeatedly wrote off their discarded underwear as “charitable contributions.” America’s pre-eminent liberals, it seems, prefer being generous with other people’s earnings.
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