Re: Way OT: Asia Earthquake

From: Scott Hedrick (dinehnm_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 12/30/04 

Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 11:53:37 -0500

"Scott Lowther" <scottlowtherHATESSPAM@ix.netcomARGH.com> wrote in message
news:41D42155.7BCA@ix.netcomARGH.com...
> > When you subtract the amount earmarked for purchases of US goods,
whether
> > suitable to local needs or not -- which is how an awful lot of foreign
aid
> > works -- the sum really is pretty small.
>
> You seem to make the mistake of assuming that the only money that coems
> from the US to aid furriners in distress comes from Da US Gubmint. Ain't
> so. Large buckets of cash come from *willing* citizens pockets and go to
> NGOs.

Precisely because the US *government* makes charitable contributions, the
world *expects* aid to come from the government, and bases charity by the
entire country on what the government alone provides. Thus, the people of
the US, for example, donate to UNICEF, but when the money is distributed, it
doesn't come from the US, it comes from the UN, and doesn't count as a US
contribution, even if every penny came from the United States. The rest of
the world has gotten so used to government taking care of them that they
can't even see contributions from non-government sources.

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