So, I guess Americans aren't all bad...Follow

Sure. But that's government spending. Even if we add up the .41% your government spends on aid, and the .14% your people donate to charity, it's still less then the 1.7% that our people donate all by themselves. In fact, the private citizens of the US donate nearly 3 times as much even if we add up France's private donations *and* government aid programs.

And that's measuring as a percentage of GDP, so I'm not sure what point you were trying to get at. Unless maybe to show that when you give people the choice of where their money goes, they'll give it more freely. Go figure!

I'm sure you're aware that most of the "charitable donations" are home-bound, whereas most of the Aid relief is abroad.

But this doesnt change the fact that Americans give more the charity than the French.

Of course, you can choose to intepret this as a proof that:

a) The minerals in the American soil makes people more generous.
b) If you break it, you fix it.
c) French people are mean-spirited and tight.
d) We spent it all on perfume and Louis-Vuitton bags.
e) We are por cos of socialism, but are also brain-washed so we don't realise, liberal-socialist conspiracy, etc...

or...

e) That countries which have high levels of taxation will obviously give less to charity, since this is meant to be taken care of by the state.

Who cares? We're still next door to them so they'd still be buying stuff from us.

Fixed for accuracy.

You forgot Liberia and Cote D'iviore. Though technically we just sent planes in to get people.

I can't see any reason what so ever why that would be true.

If you mean that people who pay high taxes expect good services in return, then sure. But that's not just "what is in it for me?", it's "how are they spending my money?"




Both are completely linked, though. It's not hard to udnerstand that the healthier the society, the healthier the individuals. Individuals are not seperated from the world around them. So the "greater good" directly or indirectly affects them, and most people with half a brain understand that.

It's obvious that rich people in France would be better off if they lived in the US. When you earn over $90,000/year you get taxed for just above 50% of your income. That's very high, and it's obvious they "lose out" in the "bargain". Whereas poor people, those who are struggling, gain more than what they put in.

Everyone in France understands that, and most people are happy with it. Why? because they know societies are meant to be homogenous. That if your neighbours are starving, chances are they'll attack you. That if poor kids are unhealthy and uneducated, then the whole of society will suffer from it. That, in a word, we are all on the same boat together.

Call it "greed", "practicality", "self-interest disguised as brotherhood", whatever you call it, that's the main reasoning behind it all.



It depends on how wealthy/needy/greedy the individual is, I guess.

It's blatantly obvious that if the government said to the French "No more free créches and no more free hospitals, cos we're sending that money to some Congolese dictator instead", then of course most people would not be happy. But that's normal, you can't tell me that if the cost of living rose considerably in the US, most people would sacrifice their health in order to keep on giving the same amount of money to charity.

Giving aid, while totally necessary, is still, mostly, the preserve of the rich, whether they be individuals or nations. When money gets tight, only Mother Theresa would sacrifice her basic well-being in order to help some people on another continent.

And most Frenchies are not Mother Theresa.

If that's where you were trying to get too, then sure, though most people won't be surprisd by that revelation.

And yet you still have to wait 6 weeks for an MRI or CT scan. I'll take our busted health care system over being over-taxed any day.

As far as federal income tax goes, our tax only reaches 29% at the highest bracket which is income over 120k.

No. You shut up.

Haha, I am afraid they'd have to win 4 more and very quickly.

Why is everyone so proud to be the most 'giving'? Can't you see that if these charities really wanted to they would take care of themselves rather than relying on the kindness of others! Clearly charities are slowly destroying the national character.

Pick yourself up by the bootsrats, that's what I say to stem cell research.

Did I bold Chile? Did I talk about them at all? relevance please?

What you're doing here is grouping all military action into a single unit, saying that it is all bad, and suggesting that the U.S. attacks other countries in order to steal their resources/just for the fun of killing innocent people.