Sweden donates more than the US

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article321700.ece

The Swedish donation to the survivors of the devastating disaster in South East Asia is more than twice the amount donated by the United States, the world’s richest nation.

Sweeden is donating SEK 500 million (USD 75.6 million) in relief aid, reported the Swedish paper Aftonbladet. The US is donating USD 35 million. Norway has decided to increase its donations by doubling the original amount and has now allocated NOK 100 million (USD 16.5 million) to the survivors of the disaster.

The amount the US decided to donate has created reactions. The Norwegian UN Undersecretary Jan Egeland, who is in charge of UN’s emergency relief coordination, stated Monday that rich countries are too stingy when it comes to emergency aid. "I don’t understand why they are so stingy. If a country donates 0.1 or 0.2 percent of GDP in foreign aid, I don’t think that is particularly generous," Egeland said at the press conference Monday.

[ps1074]

1. This is quite normal

Hundreds of swedes died there. Thailand is one of the busiest tourist destinations for the scandinavians during the winter months.

[cornermouse]

2. Of couse the Swedes give more than we do.

We have a government which has decdicated itself to a goal of near abolition of taxes and those things which taxes pay for. Its not an accident that they are simultaneously pushing dependence on charity.

Do you really think they're trying to get out of paying taxes only to give the money to charity? Nope. They plan to give only that the amount that they can deduct and which will look nice for PR.

[Robeson]

3. Typical Socialist country trying to act like they are better than we are..

...by actually giving a shit about somebody else but themselves....:sarcasm:

[rman]

4. Sweden (and Denmark): higher taxes, stronger economy

then US, UK, most Eu nations.
</off topic>

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. And probably doesn't spend billions upon billions on defense,

or unnecessary wars based on lies, therefore freeing up tax dollars for more peaceful ventures and humanitarian aid. What a great concept. :think:

[KDLarsen]

29. Unfortunately..

.. Denmark is also bogged down i Iraq, with no signs of us leaving any time soon. Then again, our "force" is currently a few hundred men, not really a strain on our defense budget.

[SouthernDem2004]

5. Misleading stat. We gave alot of material aid not just cash. /nt

[NNN0LHI]

10. Yea we were sending old used winter coats by the boatload to Indonesia

Until they asked us to please stop sending them.

Don

[Judi Lynn]

11. Better believe it! Also, there were the tons of boxes of stiletto heels

as well as the mountains of cans of tuna which were past the expiration date.

No, _Bush's administration bent over backwards trying to bring non-financial aid in addition to the stunning $35,000,000.00.

What did they expect? After all, they weren't W.A.S.P.'s.

[Benhurst]

12. I somehow missed this story. Thanks for the catch.

Here's a link for those, like me, who missed the story:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6954302/

[Judi Lynn]

27. Thanks for posting this story. It seems even worse the second time

I read it!



Eranga Jayawradena /

a country where most people wear flip-flops or
sandals, some boxes of aid contained used shoes,
including soccer cleats, boots and silver evening
with 4-inch heels.

The nice winter coats, thong skivs, and Viagra will surely be of great comfort to the tsunami victems, as well.

[SouthernDem2004]

13. Well there was the transport using military aircraft, the naval vessels

uses offshore to supply water etc

[arwalden]

16. And We Sent Missionaries Too!

:bounce: :eyes:

[Sgent]

6. In all fairness

These type's of reports should include individual donations as well. We will still come up short, but I'm willing to bet that ARC spent more than the US amount by itself.

[neweurope]

7. Probably, But the Europeans donated individiually, also.

----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[bennywhale]

20. If i remember correctly, unfortunately the US came out near bottom of both

government donations and personal and charity donations out of all western nations.

UK's population for example gave approx £100million ($300million) with a population a 6th of the US

The media coverage maybe had something to do with it plus the fact that Europeans travel extensively to South East Asia.

[DuaneBidoux]

23. We come out near the bottom in absolute terms. In relative terms (i.e.,

population size, ability, etc.) it is down right embarrassing.

[indepat]

8. Stark example of compassionate conservatism hard at work

[2Design]

9. * spends it on bombs, guns, and ammo to kill n/t

[James T. Kirk]

14. I think the US donated more than Sweden.

Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#List_of_major_donors

According to the chart, the US donations are more than Sweden's.

Also, the US military was on the spot with helicopters, relief supplies, and instant hospitals. I think Americans can be proud of the job our military did.

[bennywhale]

21. In terms of % of GDP its very stingy. Don't forget Sweden has a population

of less than Chicago.

Its the isolationist mentality of the US that facilitates this. there's a place called rest of world where shit happens.

In Europe the view is more one world and a lot of the public wouldn't let their gov's not donate their money massively

[DuaneBidoux]

24. I believe your stats are wishful. That doesn't take anything away from,

as you point out, those individuals that did come to the aid of people in need.

[aion]

15. Sweden still respects Royalty, people -- ignoring NGOs is propagandistic

I suppose you could consider a compelled taxation to be a 'donation' if the country receiving it isn't required to pay it back. It is a donation between countries, but it is nonetheless compelled.

NGOs are far more efficient, and far less coercive. That's a true donation -- state to state, as well as the collection plate.

[Deja Q]

17. Exactly. People also fawned over Bill Gates during the Dec tsunami incidnt

so when people say they like him for donating, he is not all that generous.

With the same donation/gdp ratio, anyone making $50k/yr could donate a NICKEL ad should deserve the same response.

[James T. Kirk]

19. This is not late breaking news and the premise is bogus.

If you look at the date on the article, you can see it was written months ago. The United States has donated more than Sweden since then.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_response_to_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#List_of_major_donors

[bennywhale]

22. Yes but Sweden's p[opulation is under 10 million. Its tiny.

America was the last country to pledge and hasn't actually payed the pledged amount like a lot of countries.

The isolationism of the US is evident here.

[James T. Kirk]

26. Isolationism?

Isolationism would have been to do nothing. As you will recall, we sent aircraft carriers.

[bennywhale]

28. Only after global pressure and pressure from the UN

The US is isolationista and is the last to act when shit happens in that place called "rest of world"

[James T. Kirk]

30. I think the US response, including on-site resuce teams was fast.

I think you are mistaken.

[bennywhale]

31. I think you are mistaken. The response may have been fast by US standards

but if you'd taken notice of the reaction of the rest of the world's governments and the rest of the world's peoples, the US's response was embarrassing.

Its what the US does worst. Give a shit about anyone else.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DuaneBidoux]

25. you're comparing a country of less than 10 million to a country of 320

million. How embarrassing to even have to debate it.

[Barkley]

32. Swedes are not as racist as Americans

I lived in Sweden sometime ago. Because these people did not have slavery (which used race determine who was enslaved and who was not) the Swedes by and large are not as racist as Americans.

Their attitude toward people of color is completey different than here in America

Although cities like Stockholm are ethnically diverse, there are not urban "ghettos" as we have here in America.

This is not say that Sweden is completely free of racism. Its just that unlike America, Sweden doesn't use race to allocate wealth and resources.

This attitude toward people of color ultimately shows up in their generosity those in need.

[93ncsu]

33. I hate to be picky, but ...

this story is from Dec '04.

I believe the US ended up earmarking around $1 Billion for the relief effort.

[RatRacer]

34. Here is an exhaustive list of donor countries and amounts

It appears the US gave the most in raw dollars, approaching $2 billion in total relief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donations_for_victims_of_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#Contributing_countries_and_supra-national_organisations

That total is for gov't and private donations combined. As of February 2005, the US Govt portion of that was $950 million:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4252171.stm

[Pacifist Patriot]

35. I wonder what the comparison is per capita to date.

[RatRacer]

36. Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donations_for_victims_of_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake#List_of_major_donors

Scroll down. There is a list of donations sorted on a per capita basis. The US was middle of the pack. But the original article did not argue per capita. It argued raw dollar amounts and in that sense, the US total (private and govt combined) was over eleven times more than Sweden. And just the gov't portion was still over 5 times that of Sweden.

[Pacifist Patriot]

37. Yes, I realize what the OP was arguing.

Mine was just a curiosity question. Thanks for the link!