[NTLK] [off topic: correcting some beliefs about America and Goodness]

From: Sean Luke (sean_at_cs.gmu.edu)
Date: Sat Feb 09 2002 - 10:18:00 EST


Hey, I too think the US gets an unfair rap on the world stage by critics
who turn a blind eye to the massive positive things the US has done for
the world in the last 100 years. But don't push your argument too far:

On Saturday, February 9, 2002, at 09:55 AM, newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
wrote:

> Contrary to what people think. America does most of the good in the
> world.

There are twenty times as many people worldwide than in the U.S. For
your argument to hold water, you'd have to claim that the average
American does 20 times as much good as the average human. But we'll let
this little piece of nonsense slip, and get to the hard numbers:

> Let us think for a minute. No one and I mean no one gives more in
> foreign aid to a vast number of countries around the world than the U.S.

Per capita, America ranks dead last among first-world countries giving
aid. We appear to "give more" only because we have a larger
population. But each American gives much MUCH less than each German, or
each Canadian, etc., does.

> The U.S. funds the majority of all the money given to the IMF & World
> Bank to the tune of 20+ billion dollars.

Per capita, our IMF and World Bank funding is near the bottom.

> The U.S. pays the biggest percentage of the UN budget.

UN dues are an odd beast; they're distributed weirdly. Even so, per
capita, the US has lower UN dues than quite a lot of countries,
including Japan. Japan faithfully and consistently pays their higher
dues. We don't.

But I don't view UN dues as charitable aid. I view them as the price we
pay (and a dang low one at that) to get nearly hegemonic control over
the UN, and to have its headquarters in our country. That control
enabled us to get resolutions in our favor for the last three military
conflicts we've been involved in: that deal alone paid for *far* more
than the entire $1 billion we're in arrears.

Sean

-- 
This is the Newtontalk mailinglist - http://www.newtontalk.net
To unsubscribe or manage: visit the above link or
	mailto:newtontalk-request_at_newtontalk.net?Subject=unsubscribe



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Sat Mar 02 2002 - 10:02:22 EST