Health & Fitness
Are the folks in Washington generous aid donors?
An anonymous SL Patch contributor that comments under cover of the handle "Concerned", commented on my blog post "Starvation Poverty and Disease are Market Driven" that:
"One Christian Capitalist country, the United States of America put more food stuffs on the ground in third world countries than any other country in the history of the world. What happened to them when they hit the ground was governed by all manner of dictatorships, local war lords and thieves."
Leaving aside that the US is not technically a "Christian" country although I know many Christians consider it so, like many openly religious people they're tolerant of other religions as long as they remain in the minority in numbers and political and economic power. But US capitalism actually gives very little aid in the form of what is useful to the average person. Most of the money it gives to the various thug regimes and dictators throughout the world is in the form of military hardware and death devices. In some cases the US supplies to opposing sides always ensuring each side can never get too much of the upper hand so they always need refreshers.
In terms of non-lethal aid, the largest OECD contributor by volume or what is known as Official Development Assistance (ODA) was, and generally is, the US. In 2012, the US ODA figure was $30.5 billion. Net aid to the entire African continent fell by -9.9% to $28.9 billion, following exceptional support to some countries in North Africa after the “Arab Spring” in 2011 (OECD). This is around half Bill Gates’ net worth, these are paltry figures in the greater sphere of things.
As they shut down our schools, fire stations and savage public services and jobs, our tax money in the form of weapons and heavy equipment is used to bulldoze Palestinian homes and drive them from their land in order to settle foreigners, religious fanatics from the US, South Africa and other countries because god says it’s ok. Most of US capitalism’s monetary contribution to the rest of the world is military hardware by far. The US accounts for 39% of global military spending which was around $1.756 trillion in 2012. China is a distant second with 9.5%, Russia, 5.2% UK, 3-5% and Japan 3.4%. (global issues)
I’m not sure what Mr. “Concerned” is concerned about, but it should be the actions of the government that resides in Washington. There’s plenty of money around it’s simply a matter of allocation. Fewer F22’s and more schools and genuine social infrastructure spending here and abroad could easily put a stop to world hunger and would not contribute to Islamic or any other terrorist groupings, people would actually welcome us But capitalists don’t invest if there’s no profit in it. Can’t pay? Then you starve.
