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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">From : <a href="mailto:martindonohoe@phsj.org">martindonohoe@phsj.org</a></blockquote>
<div>Here are some figures to keep in mind on foreign aid and US charitable giving taken from a presentation entitled "Environmental Degradation and Social Injustice (<a href="http://phsj.org/?page_id=12" target="_blank">http://phsj.org/?page_id=12</a>) - references to be found in articles therein.</div>
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<div>Foreign Aid</div>
<div>• In total dollars: Japan #1, U.S. #2 ... even though the U.S. economy is more than twice the size of Japan’s.</div>
<div>• As a % of GDP, U.S. ranks 21st among the world’s 22 wealthiest nations.</div>
<div>• More money flows out of developing countries in the form of interest payments, profits of foreign corporations, and clandestine investments in financial markets of rich countries than flows into them as loans, aid, and foreign direct investment.</div>
<div>• U.S. Aid: Over 1/3 military, 1/4 economic, 1/3 for food and development.</div>
<div>• Most U.S. aid benefits U.S. corporations, is spent on military operations, goes to Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Philippines.</div>
<div>• Aid agencies are often forced to buy from U.S. companies (at inflated prices) so that</div>
<div> 70% of aid effectively returns to U.S.</div>
<div>• Food aid is inefficient, it benefits large agribusiness at the expense of local farmers/economies.</div>
<div> – It takes $2 of taxpayer money to generate $1 in food aid.</div>
<p>Only 0.9% of the total federal budget, 1.6% of the U.S. discretionary budget goes to it.</p>
<div>• Yet 64% of Americans believed in a 1997 poll that foreign aid was the largest federal expenditure.</div>
<div>• On average, Americans think that 24% of the federal budget goes toward foreign aid, i.e., approximately $250 billion/year or 2.5% of income.</div>
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<div>U.S. Charitable Giving</div>
<div>by Income Bracket</div>
<div>• $15,000/yr and under: 26%</div>
<div>• $15K - $30K: 9%</div>
<div>• $30K - $50K: 5.3%</div>
<div>• $50K - $100K: 3.8%</div>
<div>• $100K - $200K: 3.0%</div>
<div>• $200K and over: 3.4%</div>
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<div>Americans Charitable Giving:</div>
<div>• Religious Groups: 35%</div>
<div>• Education: 13%</div>
<div>• Multipurpose Foundations: 10%</div>
<div>• Social Services: 8%</div>
<div>• Health: 8%</div>
<div>• Arts and Culture: 6%</div>
<div>• Science: 5%</div>
<div>• Environment and Animals: 3%</div>
<div>• International Aid: 2%</div>
<div>• Other: 9% - Includes individual, corporate, foundation, and bequest donations.</div>
<div>• Less than 10% goes to groups which directly help the poor.</div>
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<div>The Gates Foundation:</div>
<div>• Endowment of approximately $35 billion, with another $31 billion pledged by Buffett Foundation.</div>
<div>• Donates 5% of its worth/yr, invests 95% (typically for charities).</div>
<div>• At least 41% of its assets are invested in companies that counter the foundation's charitable goals or social concern philosophy, e.g., oil and chemical companies, agrobusiness, pharmaceutical industry; see</div>
<div>– <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story</a></div>
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<div>You may want to visit Martin Donohue's blog: Public Health and Social Justice: <a href="http://phsj.org/" target="_blank">http://phsj.org/</a></div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><span id=""></span><br>You can also see this comment here:<br><a href="http://www.socialmedicine.org/2009/08/11/globalization-and-health/an-indictment-of-foreign-aid-is-it-too-late/#comments" target="_blank">http://www.socialmedicine.org/2009/08/11/globalization-and-health/an-indictment-of-foreign-aid-is-it-too-late/#comments</a><br>
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