[Bas]

Americans R Cheap

[emersonbiggins]

Two words: collection plate
Once the tithe goes out, there's not much left to spare, and we damn sure aren't letting our spendthrift government give out money like it's Santa Claus (unless it's to Israel, but that's another matter altogether...)

[Bas]

Considering that a large portion of that foreign aid goes to Israel and that the only people I've ever heard "whining" about how much they give are Americas I can think of only one word: Pathetic.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'C')onsidering that a large portion of that foreign aid goes to Israel and that the only people I've ever heard "whining" about how much they give are Americas I can think of only one word: Pathetic.

[Tyler_JC]

US Public Beliefs About Foreign Aid



Of course Americans whine about expensive foreign aid projects, they think it is consuming 25% of the budget!

Moreover, Americans give a lot more money to private charities than their European counterparts.

There is an inverse relationship between government welfare spending and private charitable giving.

Also, religious people give more money to secular charities than secular people do. And obviously, they give far more to religious charities than secular people.

The gap in charitable giving is $1388 ($2210 versus $642) and the gap in volunteering activity is 6 volunteer activities per year (12 versus 6).

Religion and Charity

Considering that America is more religious than most of the rest of the developed world...Americans are at least as generous as a % of national wealth as the rest of the world, if not more so.

And frankly, I consider it far more noble to give something based on your own conscience rather than have your government steal money out of your paycheck and send it off to the third world on your behalf.



The hand drawn pictures of the wildlife in Marion's village in Tanzania that cover my mother's refrigerator are more rewarding than any faceless bureaucratic government foreign aid project could ever be.

[Bas]

the approximate aid figures would be zero, not one for the US. The UN figures include private charity.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')Of course Americans whine about expensive foreign aid projects, they think it is consuming 25% of the budget!

[Bas]

lots of that foreing "aid" coming from Americans is nothing more than money to convert people to a certain branch of American Christianity.

[Ferretlover]

Bas! What a thing to say!

Why is it everyone whines when they don't get unlimited funds from the US?
Could it be the same reason that everyone whines when something goes awry in their country and the US doesn't make their government behave?

Nobody has ever asked me where the US should send aid, or, how much to spend.
I have never gotten to vote on if, where, to whom or how much is given to others.
Hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of our paychecks go out of the country, often with no oversight, while the US has homeless, failing infrastructure, children who are not being educated, an environment that is being raped for the resources and not restored, let alone maintained, a decaying health system that is put to shame by that of other countries, etc...

[Bas]

it's a generalization ferretlover, but it can not be denied that the US sucks regarding this. (And still manage to whine the most about it)

[auscanman]

Why should any country give money to support the continued increase in population of countries that are already living past their carrying capacity by providing sacks of food and the like?

Very little foreign aid actually goes to teaching people to be self sufficient (something I fully support). The first step in being eligible for such foreign aid should be a stabilization of the population in the country receiving aid, otherwise self sufficiency is a pipe-dream. A carrot and stick approach is necessary when it comes to foreign aid.

You could spend a great deal more than the western world does on the food-sack variety of foreign aid, and see no long term improvement in the outcome.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('auscanman', 'W')hy should any country give money to support the continued increase in population of countries that are already living past their carrying capacity by providing sacks of food and the like?

Very little foreign aid actually goes to teaching people to be self sufficient (something I fully support). The first step in being eligible for such foreign aid should be a stabilization of the population in the country receiving aid, otherwise self sufficiency is a pipe-dream. A carrot and stick approach is necessary when it comes to foreign aid.

You could spend a great deal more than the western world does on the food-sack variety of foreign aid, and see no long term improvement in the outcome.

[DomusAlbion]

Why are you guys (Euros) wasting so much of your national wealth on lost causes?

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', 'W')hy are you guys (Euros) wasting so much of your national wealth on lost causes?

[AirlinePilot]

Figures lie and liars figure. While your statement is correct, the reality is that since 2001 the USA as a country has easily surpassed all other nations in dollars to foreign aid.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'F')igures lie and liars figure. While your statement is correct, the reality is that since 2001 the USA as a country has easily surpassed all other nations in dollars to foreign aid.

[Kingcoal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')oners of Foreign Aid in $billions (2003-4):

1. United States 12.9
2. Japan 9.2
3. Germany 5.4
4. France 5.2
5. UK 4.8
6. Netherlands 3.4
7. Italy 2.3
8. Canada 2.0
9 Sweden 1.8
10. Norway 1.8

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', '
')Western Europe is a bigger contributor in both absolute and much more so in relative terms.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')oners of Foreign Aid in $billions (2003-4):

1. United States 12.9
2. Japan 9.2
3. Germany 5.4
4. France 5.2
5. UK 4.8
6. Netherlands 3.4
7. Italy 2.3
8. Canada 2.0
9 Sweden 1.8
10. Norway 1.8

[Plantagenet]

The Dutch are a wonderfully generous and highly cultured people. Whenever I visit DC I try to visit and enjoy the beautiful carillon given by the Dutch people to the American people after WWII in gratitude for their liberation from the Nazis and the subsequent American food aid that helped hundreds of thousands of Dutch people to survive the food shortages that occurred at the end of WWII....