vexen

I'm curious do these figures take into account programs like United States PeaceCorp or the money and resources it takes to deliver aid to 3rd world countries? Does it account for the human lives it sometimes takes to succure the aid from warloads like in Somali?
I have a cousin who comes to my door a lot always wanting money. He seems to think that because I have it I somehow owe it to him. I have a big heart, just like most Americans, but it gets VERY old, People always wanting more and more and resentful when it isnt enough...in their eyes.
America has problems of her own its time the rest of the world realizes that and stop coming to its doorstep for a handout

I wish to simply say that all of you America haters can F off! We have zero obligation to give any thing to any foreign country. I have an idea, do what most of us here in America do, work for it!! The turd world is lucky the decision to give aid is not up to the tax payers who foot the bill for it because they wouldn't get squat.

I don't like the negative approach conveyed in some of your writings.Your feelings about America seem almost to mirror the way some feel about China or Burma, and before you jump to draw a parallel there think hard about what you are saying. I understand your frustrations but I disagree with your tactics. If you really want to make a difference, please engage with American society and try to make a constructive difference, rather than making these kinds of divisive statements. Get to know more Americans as people, engage them in dialogue, build positive connections. Give up any idea that you are better or smarter than them because this attitude conveys arrogance, a quality traditionally detested by many Americans when coming from Europeans. I can guarantee that merely complaining from across the pond will not have a great deal of impact here. Don't harbor hatred toward us--you created us, and we have helped you over the years, and you us. During the cold war you relied on us. Don't be so fickle and turn your back on us now. My suggestion is to find more effective, non-hatred-inspiring ways to achieve your goals, since clearly the situation needs improvements. Almost all Americans would agree with that, I think. It's just a question of what changes get made, how and when. If you aren't engaged with American life and culture, the chances of your voice being heard that dialogue in a meaningful way are minimal at best. It might be helpful to reflect back on what your true objectives are; to convince people to hate us, or to help us become better.

It makes people hate us because we don't give the amount of hand-outs they want? The British and the rest of the world would find a billion reasons to hate us even if we gave you all of our money. Keep spreading the hatred, you sad little idiots who seem to enjoy seeing a world at odds.

And you're making money off your hatred. I see your Amazon affiliate ID in your link. That's just like the BBC, spread anti-Americanism because it SELLS. Hatemonger

I cant believe that someone took the time to come up with all of this B.S.

We give the MOST money to all different countries than ANY OTHER country has EVER given... EVER....

Maybe we should stop carrying the weight of the jealous world on our shoulders huh?

You can always count on others to covet what you have. The funny thing about all of this is that less then 5% of the US pop. pays over 80% of the taxes and therefore pays a more then significant amount of the donations made by the US to the rest of the world....

I could care less if we never gave a cent to any other country. Maybe then they would see how the world would turn without our help.

Keep talking. You are revealing yourself.
Americans value property rights as God-given. We relish competition and wish to live our lives unencumbered by our Government. We wish to take care of our families, first. Our government cannot give you anything that it has not first taken away from us by threat of force. Much of the Euro community gave away the freedoms we will fight our own government, and one another, to preserve. We do not wish to be like you, and many of us do not wish to feed you, or clothe you, or to protect you. We view you as pathetic when you complain. The very freedom and personal liberties we cherish, have made us a wealthy nation. It is amusing to us that the poorest countries do not have freedom, do not value it, and continue to turn to people with views such as yours, to be their advocate. Or, to turn to one tyrant or the next, and all the while wonder what just happened. We are absolutely selfish. If you and yours, and those for whom you are concerned, were more so, perhaps you would not need to beg for aid. But then, what would you do? I have to go now, there is wealth to be created. Life is good!

This is by far the best response I've read to this ridiculous post.

"We are absolutely selfish. If you and yours, and those for whom you are concerned, were more so, perhaps you would not need to beg for aid. But then, what would you do? I have to go now, there is wealth to be created. Life is good!"

Although helping your fellow man is good, it is not a moral duty or a primary virtue. No one individual or group of individuals has a moral claim to another man's wealth. The very fact that our own government feels it has a right to take the wealth of it's own citizens enrages most Americans. Most human beings that use 'reason' as the primary means of deciphering most of the crap we see in this world (such as this post) would label what our government does as pure and simple robbery.

The very fact that you would imply that the amount of money a nation of individuals give is the moral measuring stick by which to judge a nation only places you in the proper company you belong--a company of thieves.

Our nation is founded on the principle of individual freedom, a concept you should spend time understanding. Once you understand it then you will be able to comprehend why, in such a short period of time, the United States of America is the greatest nation that has ever existed.

I leave you with the following quote; hopefully, you can learn from it:

"rational selfishness—which means: the values required for man’s survival qua man—which means: the values required for human survival—not the values produced by the desires, the emotions, the “aspirations,” the feelings, the whims or the needs of irrational brutes, who have never outgrown the primordial practice of human sacrifices, have never discovered an industrial society and can conceive of no self-interest but that of grabbing the loot of the moment." ~ Ayn Rand

I for one am happy that the US is the "stingiest" giver of foreign aid. That way I have more freedom to give to charity if I want to, and freedom to decide where I want to give it.
It's totally immoral to rob the rich to feed the poor, not to mention unconstitutional.
Foreign Aid is just a euphemism for forced charity.

AMEN!

?????????? The only question that I have is why? With the current situation that the U.S.A. is in with the economy with the tax payer getting ready to take it up the butt again with this bail out Wall Street which we will pay for in the long run!!! We need to stop bailing out other countries and start concentrating on our own people. I'm tired of our government that is supposedly run by the people more worried about how they look in the foreign affairs department then how they look to the people that they were elected by. It is a down right shame that the most powerful nation in the world can not take care of its own before it takes care of other nations with billions and billions of dollars ( almost 300 billion this year ). The politicians, I'm sorry to say, are more interested in keeping their own pockets full and damn with the rest of us even if it puts the nation into another depression they sure in the hell won't feel it! I guess the days of taken care of your own are long gone and that is just to bad.

Wow, I can't believe the sentiment here being so characteristically right-wing with you Americans seemingly ready to elect a left-wing candidate, an unproven minority no less. I've been saying for almost 2 years now that the US is bankrupt. How could anyone with a normal IQ not come to such a conclusion? You are trillions in debt. You have an enormous trade deficit. You naive people shoot yourself in the foot from so many angles foreign aid is just one of them. You buy Japanese and other foreign cars by the millions. They buy virtually none off you. You buy cheap Chinese made junk in all your big-box stores. The Chinese buy virtually nothing off you. You bring in millions of low skilled or no skilled people from third world countries. They rapidly reproduce and send whatever money they make back to relatives in the homeland. There are so many lawyers running around its ridiculous - frivolous lawsuits jamming the courts every single day. You spend billions in other countries like Iraq fighting useless "wars". I could go on but I'll shut it off for now. I hope you get the ship righted but I'm thinking that it might be too late. Unless some radical new policies are introduced in the next couple of years, your country will self destruct probably within the next 30-40 years.

Anyone who is anti American should not live here. If you feel we suck as a nation MOVE…..go live in the Middle East or Europe. No one is stopping you. Please do all real American a favor and leave. Do we forget all the good we have done in this world!! God help us we do not Americans like you, people who take their freedom unconscientiously! Please wake up or leave. The USA would be so much better without ignorant people who dislike us.

it makes me sick that so many people in america cant pay their bills or have to eat food they don t want to eat.lost job,no health ins,while america sends billions to the liks of egypt,and other countries how bout taking care of us citizens.how bout sending me some of that aid and my fellow citizens.they just dont give a shit i'm fed up with all the bullshitfuck you sob's

Other People may have said this already, but the statistics you use for judging generosity use only aid given by a nation's government. Americans do not believe this to be the role of the government, but instead the role of individual charities. When taking into account charities from the private sector and aid given by the public sector, America surpasses every other country in aid as a percent of GDP.

I just wanted to comment on your page regarding US charitable donations. First, there is NO excuse to hate somebody, especially not a country of good people. Concerning aid to countries in need, the United States government SHOULD NOT provide ANY benefits to other nations because it is not the US government's money; it is the people's money. Tax money comes from PEOPLE. The US government has no right to give Americans' money to other nations. Now, of course, I support private organizations and I encourage donating to countries in need. However, that money should be privately donated, so that individuals may decide how they wish to use their money. Also, America is not stingy. Individuals donate an excessively greater amount than denizens of other countries. This shows that Americans are less stingy because it is personal choice, whereas people in other countries MUST donate because their government does it for them. Regarding tax-exemptions of donated money, Americans are not stingier because of this clause. Instead, this demonstrates the US government's generosity, in that the American government creates a greater incentive to donate, which leads to more private donations.

How you even could believe that others are justified to hate America is ridiculous and detrimental to America because it spreads horrible lies and--just by the name of your so-called book--hatred. I would never buy such a piece of deceit. I hope you change your mind on this matter, and I hope people realize just how wrong you are.

Some lady above mentioned your intelligence, but intelligence is quite different from being correct. And you are definitely wrong. By the way, you have a lot of grammar mistakes on your site, and you mentioned yourself how many of your pages are wrong and old. Well, enough said. For the future, you should stick to your daytime job.

I do not believe that it is the government's responsibility to provide foreign aid. We pay our taxes to run our government and they abuse us by giving away our tax dollars. This money should be used to run our government and provide services that the tax payers approve.

I firmly believe that it is the responsbility of individuals to give time, money and labor to help the people of all the world. I get great satisfaction when I have contributed personally to a cause to help others or if I have went out and workded for free to bring relief to the needy. I do not get any satisfaction when my government gives away money that we citizens entrusted to them to use for running our country. I love America and it's citizen's but I have a lesser opinion about those currently in office and their ability to wisely choose who needs help because they are politically driven.

David H - Florida U.S.A

They were ALWAYS politically driven. The entire form of government is based off of politics. You can't even get in power unless you are a politician, except by happenstance.

The money used for foreign aid is used to make our country safer, richer, and in a better position worldwide. It has nothing to do with altruism.

We didn't entrust our money to our government to do shit. We wouldn;t give them a dime if they didn't make us do it and we have now and have always had absolutely no control over how they spend it. If we did they would change that immediately.

You must be one of those 'good old day' people. You know slavery, world war, well water, radio programs. Ahh the good old days.