If you recall when we were attacked on 9/11,many Americans on this very board,said it was because other countries were envious of our good fortune,our material possessions,our way of life.
Later,when yet other countries questioned sending troops to combat terrorism,we again attributed it to petty jealousy of our comfortable life style.
Implicit in our analysis was that we were superior,feelings like that do come through and do not serve us well when something like this comes along. Furthermore we do have great resources and resourcefulness and we should be able to take care of this ourselves.
Remember after the tsunami,India refused all outside help. They said they thought they had the ability to take care of it themselves and to my knowledge they did. I think we should be able to do as they did.
And finally,one last thought on the subject,if Warren Buffet or David Rockefeller or Rupert Murdoch lost one or several of their homes and perhaps some relatives,I wouldn't consider offering them anything but my sympathy.If you extrapolate that to the greater universe-----you can see where I believe they are coming from and they are pprobably justified in thinking that way.
I agree that we should, and can, do it all on our own. I guess the question I posed was one that we all know the answer to.