Now, I know we've been over this, but some things sorta' stick in my craw: > If they are so altruistic why do people in Africa starve to death?
There are lots of reasons, not the least of which is that a lot or food aid, etc. rots on runways in warehouse because the leaders of thise countries don't allow for distribution. Should we do more about _that_? Absolutely, but what? Overthrow? > The > problems of poor nations goes beyond simply throwing 100 million about > and declaring it as Aid. It is an utterly naive point of view to think > throwing money at the problem whilst continuing with policy decisions > that allow these situations to continue, is somehow altruistic. This seems a bit contradictory given that you also argue that the US doesn't give enough aid. > "USA's aid, in terms of percentage of their GNP has almost always been > lower than any other industrialized nation in the world, though > paradoxically in the last four years, their dollar amount has been the > highest. (Only in 2004 did they move up from last place by one.)" So we gave the most, but it wasn't the .7% of our GNP so it wasn't enough? _And_ (paradoxically) throwing money at the problem won't solve the problem? And according to the article, aid actually has been shown to hamper development, so there we are, right back to damned if you do, damned if you don't, eh? > "Most of the United States' increase in 2001 was due to a $600 million > disbursement to Pakistan for economic support in the September 11 > aftermath." yes, and? > It also shows that little Japan has historically been the highest > contributor of world Aid. Good for them, they are setting a fine example. It seems that they have their priorities in order. which makes sense because their attempted Asian sub-continent takeover bid didn't work out for them very well. > It also shows that historically america has > been almost last. yes, but back to the paradox, we still managed to give more...and FWIW I'm reasonably sure that the .7% GNP counts only government spending. It doesn't include private donations, like Red Cross and all those tsunami relief efforts, right? -- will "If my life weren't funny, it would just be true; and that would just be unacceptable." - Carrie Fisher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes by Ben Forta http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=40 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:168890 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
