Posted on 05/26/2003 8:12:28 AM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
Is the United States the least generous among the world's richest nations? Or are U.S. critics manipulating the figures to make Uncle Sam look like the world champion of stinginess? A new index published by Foreign Policy magazine measuring the 21 richest nations' commitment to fighting world poverty is not good news to the Bush administration. The United States ranks near the bottom of the list. The index, created by the magazine and the Center for Global Development (CGD), a middle-of-the-road Washington think tank, describes itself as the first of its kind that takes into account six factors: foreign aid, trade, migration, investment, peacekeeping efforts and environmental behavior. According to the ranking, the country that does the most to help the world's poor is the Netherlands, followed by Denmark, Portugal, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The least generous in relation to the size of their economies are Japan, the United States, Australia and Canada. PREVIOUS REPORT The new index comes a year after the U.N. Human Development Report ranked the United States last among the world's 28 top foreign aid donor countries. According to that report, the United States spends only 0.1 percent of its gross national product on foreign aid, compared with Denmark's 1.06 percent of its GNP. Other indexes show the United States is by far the world's biggest oil consumer and the largest polluter in terms of throwing dangerous gases into the atmosphere. But U.S. officials charge these indexes are grossly biased. If you measure things differently, the United States comes out as a model of altruism, they say. In dollar terms, the United States' $9.9 billion a year in foreign assistance ranks only second after Japan's $13.5 billion and is far ahead of European countries. And if one adds the estimated $9 billion in U.S. charitable aid -- money given by churches, corporations and private citizens -- the United States is by far the largest aid donor in the world, they say. TRADE OPENNESS If you look at trade openness, the United States is far more open to developing countries' exports than Europe or Japan. For instance, U.S. farm subsidies, which developing countries say badly hurt their own ability to export their own agricultural goods, are far lower than Europe's or Japan's. The annual U.S. subsidy to cattle producers is $151 per cow, compared with $435 in Europe and $1,296 in Japan, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. ''The authors of these indexes have a bias and select their statistics to fit their bias,'' a State Department official told me. ``If we developed an index giving greater weight to other factors, we could come up with an index that showed that the United States is the greatest contributor to international development.'' So who's right? As is often the case, it depends on where you stand. If you are looking at it from the standpoint of African countries, the biggest recipients of rich nations' foreign aid, the Foreign Policy/CGD index is pretty accurate. PITIFUL COMPARISON The U.S. foreign aid figures are, indeed, pitiful when compared with those of other developed nations. U.S. foreign aid has been cut in half in recent years, and the Bush administration's recent vow to increase it by $5 billion over the next three years will not do much to change the overall picture. But if you are in Latin America, the six-factor index can lead to misleading conclusions, the index's own creators admit. Most countries in the region, for instance, are middle-income nations that do not qualify for rich nations' foreign aid programs. ''If we did a specific index taking into account the issues that the Latin Americans are most concerned about, such as trade, investment and migration, the United States would rank much higher,'' Foreign Policy publisher Moises Naim told me. ``U.S. policies are much better for Latin America's development than those of Europe or Japan.'' I agree. It would be great if these indexes were divided into separate rankings tailored for various regions. The United States would rank much higher in many of them, although probably not nearly as high as U.S. officials claim or most Americans suspect. • POSTSCRIPT: On another issue, pay attention to Venezuela. Regardless of the outcome of a planned referendum on Venezuela's political future, well-placed U.S. officials suspect populist President Hugo Chávez will try to provoke a new coup against him to make a sweeping purge of the armed forces and complete Venezuela's transition to an authoritarian regime. If that happens, there will be a toughening of the Bush administration's policy toward Venezuela, the sources say. U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are unlikely, but U.S. officials could release information that would be embarrassing for Chávez, such as reports about the alleged presence of nearly 1,000 Cuban officers in Venezuela. Stay tuned.
Didn't Hitler do the same thing when that 'RAT assumed power in 1934...blame fellow citizens of some misdeed, use them as scapegoats?
I suspect the French are particularly good at foreign aid. It ususally goes something like this. You give french contruction company a contract for far over market value, the french give you money for whores, drugs, etc, and the contracting company gives the french govt. bribes for arranging the deal. The only loser is the french people and your people but the govt. leaders come out way ahead.Thank you for explaining it in plain English.
We'll see, shortly.
If that happens, there will be a toughening of the Bush administration's policy toward Venezuela, the sources say. U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are unlikely, but U.S. officials could release information that would be embarrassing for Chávez, such as reports about the alleged presence of nearly 1,000 Cuban officers in Venezuela. Stay tuned.***
Bump!
What I observed is that European NGO's are hard at work organizing indigenous organizations to oppose economic development. The tribes are very political, their leadership has the dubious advantage of Euro advisors who council them on how best to obstruct economic investment. They do this by organizing mass demonstrations, coups, national strikes. The people themselves have no clue what they are doing to themselves, they trust their leaders and their leaders are leftists who are advised by Euro leftists.
The Euros are also very active in Latin American countries on the environmental front, with the same end, trying to shut down economic investment.
Then you have the Euro NGO's working with the coca farmers, giving them aid and direction and organizing uprisings against the central government. Whatever your opinion ahout the drug war, you will find that among those organizing the uprisings among the farmers are Euro social workers who are paid by Euro NGO's.
So when you are comparing US aid versus Euro aid, it is important to qualify exactly what that aid is and what it does.
Not sure, but very likely. After all, the unofficial leader of the American Nazi Party was Henry Ford...and during the depression era, he blamed the laziness of the american workers.
What does 'environmental behavior' have to do with fighting poverty???? This is just a leftist hit piece which elevates the phoney issue of global warming. The stupid thing is, the US may produce a lot of CO2, but we also sink more CO2 through our trees and plants than we produce. So the US gets hit real hard in this area where it should be a positive. What a bogus study.
Abraham Lincoln did NOT write the "Ten Cannots":
| William Boetcker 1873 - 1962 |
|
German-born Presbyterian clergyman, author of "Ten Cannots" which were published in half of a 1916 leaflet entitled "Lincoln on private property". The other half of the leaflet offered words of wisdom by Abraham Lincoln. The leaflet has been republished several times since and is often quoted. |
Thank you Susannah for asking.
Actually, Andres just reports the "findings" and then counters that they are skewed.
Many of my family members are involved in the "international aid" business and from their experience, there is MUCH graft and corruption from the highest level on down that there isn't much left for the actual implementation of the projects. IOW, much of the project dollars or euros are spent on building buildings, buying cars, setting up infrastructure, etc., that the field people have to string along on shoestring budgets.
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