[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.

We give more now than when BJ was Rapist-in-Chief, and we give a lot more than we should. We are the world's superpower, not caretaker.

[Archon of the East]

I am so sick and damn tired of being punched in face by every piece of crap progressive democrat that goes overseas. I am really beginning to take this personally. I read this today while at work. No I am not suppose to be browsing but I do check out the headlines for a second or two here and there. I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I became so instantaneously enraged that I for a moment literally lost all control of my thought beyond the most primitive anger and the action that would naturally accompany it. Then I considered my tag line and thought what would reasonable reparations be for this crime against me. What crime you say? Inciting hatred and violence against true American patriots. And thus because any person may punish Cain, any or all American Patriots may punish Clinton and his crime against America....Overblown?

[RobbyS]

And how much did Willy give to Africa? Lots of sweet words of sympathy. Bush promises $15 bil, and finds it is hard to give it to countries that have such corrupt government.

[okie01]

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."

This from a president whose entire charitable contribution for one year consisted of used underwear...

[Stultis]

US donations to Africa outstrip Europe by 15 to 1

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...

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...

In stark contrast, in separate exploratory work for the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Adelman found that the maximum EU figure was a mere $1.5bn in private sector donations, 14.6 times less than the comparable US figure...

The US is the largest overall donor with its $16.3bn in 2003. But this works out as 0.15% of its GNI - the lowest of any G8 member and less than half the 0.35% EU average...

But this model ignores the private donations made possible by the lower tax burden in the US... 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."