"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.

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.

What happens to that famous American giving statistic when you remove
donations to churches? If you give because you think you'll go to
Hell if you don't that's not giving. It's paying protection to
gangsters.

David wrote:

What happens to that famous American giving statistic when you remove
donations to churches? If you give because you think you'll go to
Hell if you don't that's not giving. It's paying protection to
gangsters.

Damn, more delusional rhetoric from the 'tard boy.

Do you dream this crap up while you're sleeping?

Boggling.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

"David" wrote in message
...
What happens to that famous American giving statistic when you
remove
donations to churches? If you give because you think you'll go to
Hell if you don't that's not giving. It's paying protection to
gangsters.

Not as much as you think. I, personally, don't consider
a tithe as part of any charitable giving, since the tithe
tends to stay within the local parish and help keep the
parish running. If you've ever been to a parish council
or a church leadership meeting for your local church
come budget time, you'd be surprised at how little money
the vast majority of them actually have. Having been a
member of a parish council for some years in the 90's,
I know that the budget is often very tight for all save
the richest of churches, and all it takes is a major construction
expense to wipe out a budget.

That's not the charitable giving that Mark and others
are talking about; there's the sponsoring of children
overseas, the United Way, the Red Cross, and other ways
people give without having to send the dollar to Uncle Sam
first. At a university, you can find people who collect old
textbooks (which tend to be better than the newer ones,
IMHO) to send to schools overseas.

Are the motives always pure?? No. High school kids
may volunteer to help out because volunteering for
charitable causes looks good on a college application.
Other people want to advance a cause, political, religious
or otherwise. Still others are shamed into it. That doesn't
change the net effect, however. To pretend it doesn't
count because the motives aren't pure is like pretending
that Sweden and Norway and other countries that spend
a higher official percentage of government dollars on
overseas aid are doing it out of the goodness of their
hearts.

--Mike L.

beerbarrel wrote:

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 09:41:40 -0500, dxAce wrote:



David wrote:

What happens to that famous American giving statistic when you remove
donations to churches? If you give because you think you'll go to
Hell if you don't that's not giving. It's paying protection to
gangsters.

Damn, more delusional rhetoric from the 'tard boy.

Do you dream this crap up while you're sleeping?

Boggling.

dxAce
Michigan
USA


He sleeps?

One does wonder. But then my understanding is that drug induced sleep is not
really sleep at all.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

David wrote:

What happens to that famous American giving statistic when you remove
donations to churches? If you give because you think you'll go to
Hell if you don't that's not giving. It's paying protection to
gangsters.

The statistic I quoted was 2.1% of U.S. GNP being donated by private sources to foreign charities.

It doesn't include churches or domestic charities.

dxAce wrote:
Additionally, I spoke to the Red Cross here earlier this afternoon and if you
desire you can make a donation with your local Red Cross to the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) specifically for earthquake relief which will be
forwarded to them.

Just as soon as more than a tiny fraction of the $550 million collected
for 9/11 victim relief finds its way to the actual victims.

--
The state religion of the USA is atheism, as established by the courts.