Friday, December 31, 2004

Via Dean, comes a link to Chuck Simmins’ post that lists corporate America’s stinginess. And then Chuck inserts this gem.

By my count, that right there is $107,000,000 U.S. dollars. From private sources. Don’t forget, the people of the United States are the most generous people in the world. We don’t expect our Government to spend our money for us. We take care of that ourselves.

The list goes on and on. We don’t need the Government of the United States to take our money and give it away. We are perfectly capable of taking care of our charitable choices ourselves.

So as Americans give from their hearts, in the hundreds of millions of dollars, don’t call us stingy. We are not. And don’t tell us we don’t care. We do.

BTW, the above looks like over $127 million dollars U.S. Not too shabby, huh?

A U.S. Air Force plane arrived in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, bringing 26 medical specialists from the Army, Marines and Air Force. American planes have delivered 1,400 body bags to southern islands in Thailand.

Up to 1,000 U.S. military personnel are likely to arrive in Thailand in the next week, Lt. Col. Scott Elder said. A U.S. Navy aircraft-carrier battle group is heading from Hong Kong to the shores of Sumatra. And the first of many Air Force C-130 cargo planes has landed in Indonesia with blankets, plastic sheeting and medicines.

I don’t know why I’m still amazed at the folks who think that just throwing money at something is helpful. You have to have a plan for that money otherwise it will just get picked off. This is why Americans prefer to give to the charities and organizations who specialize in this kind of thing. They already have the infrastructure to handle the cash resources that are pouring in. The red tape and bureaucracy involved with government money means that it’s less effective. Where our government works best is by providing more tangible things - aircraft, supplies, manpower - that’s the best use of government money in these initial stages.

You who criticize America’s response can quote all the statistics you want. It’s not about percentages. It’s not about how much our government gives in cash. Americans are a generous people - we will give from our own pockets freely and that money will be much more effectively used. And that’s why we do the things the way that we do them.

We’ve had plenty of our own disasters here and we don’t go to the world looking for aid - we take care of our own quite nicely, thankyouverymuch. And we manage to provide a lot of help around the world at the same time. So do not criticize us, please. When you’re constantly holding out your hand for gimmes, it might get smacked back at some point. A little gratitude would be appreciated.