US Foreign Aid

From this article on the disaster in southeast Asia:

The United States dispatched disaster teams and prepared a $15 million aid package to the Asian countries, and the 25-nation European Union promised to quickly deliver $4 million. Japan, China and Russia were sending teams of experts.

I am SO glad that we have the EU with an almost identical GDP as the United States (currency fluctuations make exact valuation difficult), to donate just over a quarter of what the United States gave in immediate foreign aid. That's fantastic, thanks Monsieur Chirac! Thanks Herr Schroeder!

The Daily Demarche has a series of fine articles on Foreign Aid and our role in the world. 'Can't Buy Me Love - Foreign Aid'

In pure dollars the U.S. is the largest donor of foreign aid in the world. In 2003 the U.S. gave over $15 billion as measured by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As a percentage of GNP, however, the U.S. ranks far down in the list of donors at number 21. That same $15 billion was .14% of the GNP in 2003. Norway, giving just over $2 billion in aid was the leading donor by percentage of GNP at .92% in 2003. This has prompted many (especially outside the U.S.) to say that the America should do more. A large number of polls, however, (search Foreign Aid here) indicate many Americans both overestimate the amount of aid we give as a percentage of GNP and feel that the amount is too large.

Your tax dollars at work. Parts 1 (same as above), 2 and 3 of the series. Excellent reading.

The UN is also giving their input:

The Bush administration yesterday pledged $15 million to Asian nations hit by a tsunami that has killed more than 22,500 people, although the United Nations' humanitarian-aid chief called the donation "stingy."

"The United States, at the president's direction, will be a leading partner in one of the most significant relief, rescue and recovery challenges that the world has ever known," said White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy.

But U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised.

Oh that's rich, we (the country that funds the UN practically singlehandedly) is being 'stingy' with our foreign aid dollars and should RAISE TAXES to pay for it? I've heard of this plan before, it's called income redistribution. I didn't like it when I was forcing rich Americans to give money to poor Americans. I sure as hell don't like forcing rich Americans to give money to poor foreigners. (Note, the key word there is FORCE. I have no problem with charity, but forcing someone to give up money against their will is just wrong.)

UPDATE: Wizbang has more on the 'stingy' comment:

Jan Egeland, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, bemoans western democracies as "too stingy".

"If, actually, the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the gross national income, I think that is stingy, really," he said. "I don't think that is very generous."

He suggested that governments "believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It's not true. They want to give more"

In an interview Monday night with CNN, Egeland reiterated his view: "It bothers me that we -- the rich nations -- are not becoming more generous the more rich we become."

Now he's claiming that his comment were misinterpreted. Perhaps he might note that the UN website carries the video of his press conferences, and that his claim is refuted by the UN's own video archive. It's pretty hard to misinterpret Egeland's words.

What must really bother Egeland is that we all do not live in socialist welfare states where our wages are taxed at 75% tax rates. In that Egeland utopia bureau-weenies like him could enforce his own agenda with the government controlled fruits of our labor.

Yeah, pretty much.

UPDATE: A White House spokesman said this morning that US Agency for International Development (USAID) added $20 million to the earthquake relief efforts bringing total US commitment to $35 million so far.

UPDATE 2: Smiley at Daily Demarche writes "A far better way than merely comparing the amount of money a country gives relative to GDP is to look at all of the different factors that go into overseas assistance. The Center for Global Development (of which Dan Drezner is a member) did a study and found a much better way to rank these things. Check here to see their results."

UPDATE 3: Tim Blair (via Instapundit) says that France has sent US$135k:

That French figure seems impossibly low, but it checks out here and here (100,000 euros = $A177,000 = $US135,400). France is also sending rescue workers to Thailand and humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, but please ... $177,000? Andrew Sullivan probably makes more during his Pledge Week.

Glenn Reynolds:

And while amateurs outperform the French government, the United States government is sending $35 million plus two Naval groups. Not that that has stopped people from bitching about the United States' response. It's almost as if they're determined to find fault no matter what.

However, at this rate the Amazon donations will soon pass the German government's contribution of 2 million Euros (2.7 million dollars), too.

More from Instapundit:

FRANCE-DEFENDING UPDATE: The French Foreign Ministry puts France's contribution at a much-more-respectable 15 million Euros, or roughly $20 Million dollars. Who to believe: Reuters or the French Foreign Ministry? That's a tough one, but I think I'll go with the larger figure because, as Tim Blair notes, the smaller one is just too absurdly small.

UPDATE: A USAF reader notes that the U.S. is sending much more than two naval groups, and note, "And, as is usually the case in our relief efforts, the first ones in are U.S. Air Force C-130s."

Check out this (the second link Tim Blair points to) for a list of what other countries are sending. Look where we are on that list...

UPDATE: The Diplomad has a great post on this subject, go read it.