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Originally Posted by modest
But yeah, if we want something we immediately seem to assume it’s bad and move to extinguish it from existence. This is probably above all the reason most liberal voters elect Bushish candidates. It’s a puritan thing the scope of which can’t really be understood until you spend some time here.
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I have been to the States and was treated with great kindness and generosity.
I don't know how accurate the statistics/surveys are but they point to a much more Liberal,thoughtful & compassionate society that the Red-Necked one that is often portrayed
The NRA surveys were especially surprising
Other stats include
- 56% of Michigan NRA members polled supported a law for a five day waiting period for ag un
- 55% Michigan NRA mebers were in favour of banning high capacity magazines that hold amunition
and
- only 25% of Yanks own a gun.
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We believe that if we didn't have to spend all the monies on war, we could feed the world, cure hunger, fight disease.
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Another great comment Doug.
How many friends would the USA make if you spent the 3/4s of a Trillion dollars you spend year on defence eliminating disease and poverty?
You could do it, too, with that sort of money.
A slight digression on aid-
At the moment a lot of USA Aid sadly goes to propping up the current political and or corporate agenda (eg Israel)
It is often stated that "
The USA gives half of all word aid."
This might be true overall, but on a
per capita basis Australia gives twice as much as the USA.
You would expect US aid to be large overall as their Economy is the biggest in the world..
The top six counties
per capita are
* Luxembourg:
* Denmark:
* Norway:
* Netherlands:
* Sweden:
* United Kingdom:
Also much US aid is tied to trade and political considerations
For example Aid to Israel accounts for over 12% of total US foreign Aid.
Many US aid programmes (about 90%) are "tied" to force recipient countries to buy USA services and products with the Aid the US gives.
While personal as well as Government Aid is also large., figures often include migrant workers remittances back "home"
For example Latin America alone received some $45 billion in remittances in 2004, almost 27% of the total private Aid
The amount given for the Indonesian Tsunami was generous but with government and private donations it amounted to about $2 per head.
Many less dramatic and newsworthy events receive little notice in the US media. These are the "orphaned disasters," they are not on TV and they are ignored and overlooked
