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Showing posts from July 9, 2005

U.S. not much help at G8

[My response to this years news coverage of the G8 Conference] Tony Blair at the 2005 G8 Conference in Gleneagles, Scotland failed to get all the G8 summit countries to commit to boosting foreign aid to an amount equal of 0.7 percent of national income by 2015. The United States did not make any additional pledges. There's no doubt that the United States of America is the largest contributor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to some of the worlds poorest, underdeveloped countries. But before you start patting yourself on the back for a job well done, consider this: The U.S. giving is currently at .16% of gross national income, the SMALLEST percentage of any G-8 country. The U.S. is "2nd to last" out of 22 countries in giving as a percent of GNI. The U.S. only beats out Italy by .01% of GNI for last place among the 22 countries. Norway (.87%), Luxembourg (.85%), Denmark (.84%), Sweden (.77%) and the Netherlands (.74%) are the TOP 5 contributors as a percentage of GD