starman wrote:

DeWayne wrote:

Well Uncle Sam is again chipping in to help the victims of earthquake and
tsunami. Let's see who else chips in. Rich Arabs? Muslim nations? Don't hold
your breath.

Uncle Sam's international disaster relief aid budget is nothing to brag
about either. There isn't a single country that spends even one per cent
of it's GNP on international aid, including the US.

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'."