To obtain a realistic picture of the importance America places on other countries in International Affairs it is instructive to do as âDeep Throatâ suggested: follow the money. A quick review of available documents from the CIA Worldbook, FAS, Census Bureau and others reveal that in 2001 American spent 0.11% of that yearâs GDP, US Gross Domestic Product, on ODA, (Official Development Assistance), a.k.a. second-tier âForeign Aidâ, which was approximately one-third what Japan spent in the same period, or less than one-tenth what Norway spent. Using the same time period and data sources, America came in 22nd in amount spent in development aid to the World as a percentage of GDP. Just two years earlier Japan spent almost six times more than America did in that year.
In a report by the Federation of American Scientists a more vivid picture appeared by comparing the amount of funding from all sources sent to other countries per capita. For example: Israel obtained $2.82 billion dollars in 2001 for its 5.9 million citizens, while Egypt received $1.99 billion for its 70.4 million citizens, and the whole of Latin America, including Mexico received $0.71 billion for its 530 million citizens.
Quick calculations yield:
Israel $477.97 per person per year
Egypt $28.22 per person per year
Latin America: $1.33 per person per year
No current data is available for estimating the ODA headed for Iraq, so just using the figures that have been thrown around by the administration, Operation Iraqi Freedom should involve about $200 billion dollars spread over three years for its 23.3 million inhabitants, and while it not particularly useful comparing oranges to apples, that amount works out to about $2,861.26 per Iraqi per year.
But the bulk of the appropriation for OIF is not going to the citizens of Iraq, it is being spent supporting the two hundred fifty thousand US troops in the theatre; and the bulk of that allocation is being spent for acquisition and transport of military logistics. Of the $87 billion requisitioned by the Bush Administration for OIF this year, approximately $15 billion is alledgedly for actual repairs, reconstruction, and management, for perhaps as little as $643.78 per person during 2003. Still it is several hundred times more than what we spend in our own hemisphere, even in countries like Venezuela that export oil to world markets. The Heritage Foundation used somewhat similar figures to advance a significantly different perspective than offered here.
How can the average American citizen be asked to support such gross inequality, or even be willing to acknowledge that the numbers shown above are representative of America's priorities.
posted by Richard at
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home