starman wrote:

"Mark S. Holden" wrote:

m II wrote:

Mark S. Holden wrote:


I don't know if it's still accurate, but this web site:

http://www.aglimmerofhope.org/philanthrophy/newsweek_02_02.htm

has a quote from a February 2002 Newsweek article that says private American donors give 2.1% of our GNP to foreign aid each year. This is in addition to what our government gives. Here's a quote I like from the article:

"No nation comes even remotely close to the U.S. on these things," says Scott Walker of the Philanthropy Roundtable. "If you're in Sweden or France, it's something the government is supposed to do. If you were in England, it is the nobility. Americans
don't think it's enough to say, 'I gave at the office with taxes'."

00.14 percent. Nowhere near what you quoted.

=====================================
In 2003, Norway spent $308 per capita on foreign aid, compared to
$23.76 for the United States.

http://www.fsmitha.com/world/norway.html
==============================

Mike

I saw the .14% figure you found listed someplace as the figure for foreign charitable donations by the U.S. Government. I don't know if that includes all foreign aid, or if it's a subset of the total.

The 2.1% figure I quoted is for foreign charitable donations by private citizens. This would make the total donations from the USA 2.24% of GNP.

IIRC, I read the government of Norway gives .92% of GNP as charitable foreign aid.

I don't know what percentage their individuals give, but the article I provided the link to said "No nation comes even remotely close to the U.S. on these things,"


I was referring to official government aid for international disaster
relief, which is less than 1% of GNP for all nations that have foreign
disaster relief programs. Even so, many are closer to 1% of GNP than the
US. Worldwide government sponsored charitable aid is falling as many
countries continue to get richer. So much for the 'rising tide' theory
of wealth distribution.

By restricting your count to the dollars that come from governments,
you're not getting the full picture.

Compare the total donations (public and private) from the USA with the
total donations from other countries.

I think you'll find the USA is at or near the top of the list.

One of the reasons is the U.S. government subsidizes private donations
by allowing us to deduct charitable donations from our taxable income.

Raise our taxes to fund government donations of 1% of GNP, and I think
you'll see the total donations from our country will go down because the
government isn't as efficient as individuals when it comes to allocating
money.

A dollar from a check the government cuts isn't any more valuable than a
dollar from a check you or I write - but if you send your dollar to the
government first, a healthy chunk of it will end up getting spent on
overhead before the rest finds it's way to the victims.