"No, go find the stats. You know why I don't believe you? Because you are wrong, dead wrong."
If there was any chance that you would believe it, I might, but it takes time and energy, and it would be a waste here and I’m trying to write a book. We all know statistics can be interpreted different ways, so nothing I can show you would be definitive- unless we set up some parameters first, which also isn’t worth the effort because even that is subject to bias.
Besides, I haven’t even provided any data and already somebody is trying to qualify the results:
"The US gives all over the world, not just domestically. When 9-11 happened, Americans gave until the coffers ran over and they had to start throwing blood away and the Red Cross got a new computer system. What other country does that for its citizens? Answer: none. They come to the US with their hat in their hands looking for assistance from us. And, PS, usually we give it!"
So now I have to find statistics on how much blood everybody gives? And what if I were to say that say, Sweden, as a country, gives a higher % of GDP to charity than we do? That wouldn’t be good enough, would it?
"For one thing, stats from the IRS show that *middle-income* Americans give the highest percentage of their income to charity. 3/4ths of all charity comes from the top 1% - it might not bite them hard - but it's a lot of money. American charities *dwarf* the rest of the globe to the tune of around 200 billion annually, most of it from personal private donations. When it comes to time, money, energy and volunteerism, no other nations comes even CLOSE."
I never denied that wealthy people give more dollars, but poorer people give a higher percentage of their income. That should be worth something. My stats would show international charity as a % of GDP. So we can see where this is going to end up already.
"When a country gives as much as the US does, only to have liberals say it's not enough or try to downplay it, what message does that send?"
What message does it send when we take the sanctimonious attitude that we are better than everybody else? I was merely responding to Larry (?) who claimed that we were the most generous people ever.
This is the worst part about this community- twisting what others say and then attacking, and a reason why I sometimes question why I spend time in here.
I’m not saying it’s not enough, and I’m not downplaying anything- just calling somebody else on what I consider a mistaken perception. From my point of view, it’s not helpful to claim we are so good when maybe we aren’t. Do we give a lot? Yeah. Is that commendable? Of course. Do we give as much as other countries? Depends on how you want to measure it I guess.
"Krebs, you read all of Jets post? Care to take issue with any of it?"
Scanned it, didn’t read it all. Nothing to add at this time.
