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Europe
France: We're the No. 1 Aid Donor
2004-12-31
I can think of few pursuits more trivial than arguing over who's the most generous. If I was Bush, I'd remind myself that I have too much dignity to respond to such drivel.
One-upping the United States, France said Thursday it is the No. 1 donor for the Asian disaster — pledging 42 million euro ($57 million) — following barbs from Washington about the extent of French generosity.
These folks are not our friends! Wonder how much the people of France are donating? Check out Amazon...
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's boast that France was vaulting to "the head of all the contributors" appeared to respond to comments from Andrew Natsios, chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes American aid. In a FOX News interview this week, Natsios said France tends not to be a world leader in foreign aid and often packages its help as loans, which he suggested were inappropriate in emergencies. "The aid program in France is not that big," he said. "They do not tend to be dominant figures in the aid. The British are, the European Union is, the Japanese are, we are, the Canadians are."

In Paris, France's Foreign Ministry shot down those aspersions. Spokesman Herve Ladsous said French aid for tsunami victims "is clearly donations and not loans." He also said France gives more development aid than all other members of the Group of Eight industrial nations — which includes the United States — when measured as a proportion of its economic output. "The figures speak for themselves," said Ladsous. France allotted .41 percent of its gross national income to development aid in 2003, nearly triple the .15 percent from the United States, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But the United States led in dollar terms, donating US$16.2 billion (euro 11.9 billion) to France's US$7.2 billion (euro5.3 billion) — which ranked third among G-8 nations, OECD figures show. Japan ranked second.
We also put in billions in direct food aid (not counted), and more in military-provided aid (not counted). Funny, a lot of what we do never gets counted.
Posted by:Sherry

#43  Chuck - don't forget to factor in the carrier group. I'd mark that down as worth at least $500M. And that doesn't include the opportunity cost.
Posted by: lex   2004-12-31 11:07:18 PM  

#42  I think Chiraq meant that France was the Number 1 AIDS donor. Remember, Patient Zero was French.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2004-12-31 10:30:09 PM  

#41  I'm working with a spreadsheet now, to keep track of American donations. As of this afternoon:

$158,285,000.00

Don't forget that no amount of money given to the Red Cross or the UN can sortie the Lincoln Battle Group and put it offshore of Indonesia.

About that "stingy" $35 million, it was PETTY CASH for the Marines and the USAID assessment teams. It was always intended to give more.
We have committed $35 million into what is basically a drawdown savings account and the teams in the field, as they do their assessments, can pull down that money and spend it right on the spot.
LINK
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2004-12-31 10:29:17 PM  

#40  Another interesting comment, joe. Do you know Rex, by any chance?
Posted by: .com   2004-12-31 9:04:04 PM  

#39  Bush doesn't play that game.

Oh please. Stop with the sanctimonious support of George Bush. GWB responds to the Western white man's guilt complex with $ to assuage those icky feelings like the best of the lot. For example, which Western politician pledged $15 Billion in taxpayers'money that will be undoubtedly pissed away to "fight" AIDS in a continent that has brought this epidemic on itself due to its population's own sexual promiscuity? And be advised that in 2005 budget inspite of the lack of suport from the UN re: Iraq and inspite of the oil for food scandal, Congress had to cut GWB's overly generous $ slotted for the UN. Congress cut $12 Million from voluntary dues payments to the UN et al and $160 Million from the peacekeeping assessments for the UN.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/docs/2004/1210fy2005.htm
Posted by: joeblow   2004-12-31 9:02:16 PM  

#38  In a follow-up, it has been reported that the offer was turned down. "Mssr Chirac is, how you say, high maintenance, no?"
Posted by: .com   2004-12-31 7:52:02 PM  

#37  Guilt only works if the victim is willing to feel guilty. Bush doesn't play that game.

Separately, I did remember rightly about P&G water purification. P&G's water-purifying packets shipped as fast as they're made Right now I'm proud to be American (not to mention grateful that we didn't travel farther than CO for our little vacation -- there but for the grace of God, and so forth)
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-12-31 7:52:01 PM  

#36  It's a slow news day when anyone outside of France bothers to listen to Chirac, a truly world class putz.
Posted by: RWV   2004-12-31 7:48:20 PM  

#35  Bulletin: In response to the US government upping its contribution to $350M, Chirac is now donating the only thing left that he considers France has to offer: himself.
Posted by: Capt America   2004-12-31 7:18:30 PM  

#34  "Of course there needs to be a humanitarian action coalition — as President Bush just proposed," (French Foreign Minister)Barnier said. "But there also needs to be another international coalition against poverty, for development."
Oh brother, I know where this is heading...this is not just one time thing-y with aid to tsunami victims - the bleeding heart rich politicians around the world want an int'l coalition against poverty. Yes siree, and why are we not surprised?

Get your wallets out folks - more success "guilt" money from the USA will be flying out of your wallet soon and don't for an instasecond tell me that it's only the socialist Phrog politicians that are bleating about shoveling $ to the Third World. The GOP & Dem politicians will soon be tripping over themselves to make sure they look "compassionate" in front of the media microphones - compassionate with US citizens' $, that is.


Posted by: joeblow   2004-12-31 4:41:31 PM  

#33  Right on JQC (31),
You hit it right on the head. 'The Arab Street' sits back, have themselves fanned by palm leaves, eating grapes, and enjoying belly dances to give a s***! NOT A DIME from me!
Posted by: smn   2004-12-31 3:17:39 PM  

#32  Hi Lucky!
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-12-31 2:43:43 PM  

#31  Corporate America has contributed heavily also--somewhere to the tune of $100 million as of yesterday.

What are the muslim countries doing to help other than fuguring out how to support the people that are shooting at our guys in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Posted by: John Q. Citizen   2004-12-31 2:41:01 PM  

#30  WorldVision is in all the affected countries. I'd have preferred to see donations through there exceed the millions pledged by any single government. $350 million will be a pretty tall order to exceed.
Posted by: eLarson   2004-12-31 2:34:53 PM  

#29  "Spokesman Herve Ladsous said French aid for tsunami victims "is clearly donations and not loans."

The current UN/France Oil for Food Scandal is going to be small potatoes compared to the up and coming "Tsunami for Food Scandal."

Coming oon to a town near you!! "Plundering and Pillaging" Rated R for, extreme blackmail.
Posted by: Poison Reverse   2004-12-31 2:23:24 PM  

#28  Merry New Year, Lucky!
Posted by: Frank G   2004-12-31 2:10:41 PM  

#27  As always, General Lucky speaks wisely.

You doing okay, sir?
Posted by: .com   2004-12-31 2:05:58 PM  

#26  Calm down Ship, PACOM is all over this. It's their baby now.
Posted by: Lucky   2004-12-31 1:53:56 PM  

#25  PACOM officials also have summoned eight maritime propositioning ships

Not sure I like that... those are war reserves. How long to reload I wonder?
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-31 1:11:05 PM  

#24  In a surprise press conference today, Satan announced the relocation of major parts of Hell to France. He said the move was in response to the fact he simply wasn't able to make Hell bad enough for anyone but the Americans, and all the rest felt right at home.

"We just weren't getting enough complaints from people other than the Americans, so it was decided that we'd move to France and give all the Damned American accents. We believe this will generate the level of punishment we should be achieving. On the plus side, even the Americans will continue to complain as they all hate France. Except for the Democrats. To deal with them, we've had to open a branch office in Kennesaw Georgia. This lets us force them to own firearms, which has produced stellar results."

While we could only reach a press relations angel for God, they hailed the move as long overdue and felt that perhaps now they could bring back HellTV, Heaven's reality TV show where viewers can view the people in Hell being tormented.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2004-12-31 1:10:55 PM  

#23  Hey jock; Your take from the oil for food deal was how much? Hmmmm?

other peoples money.... is always the best spendin.
Posted by: Ebbeath Gleart2775   2004-12-31 1:03:54 PM  

#22  CNN is reporting that the US commitment will be upped from $35 million to $350 million. I'm glad to see it being done, but I think the President should have let the UN/media/leftist-carping continue a bit longer.
Posted by: Tibor   2004-12-31 12:53:19 PM  

#21  Lets see now: Who is getting aid: The UN, Indosia, and a bunch of other countries, which together with the UN make the honor list of the most corrupt on earth. Let the corrupt frogs help their corrupt friends.
Posted by: Slomorong Choque7331   2004-12-31 12:40:12 PM  

#20  Just read this:

"PACOM officials also have summoned eight maritime propositioning ships — large cargo vessels packed with food, fresh water and other relief supplies — to the impacted areas. They should arrive in a week to 10 days from Guam and Diego Garcia.

“These are commercial ships that have been leased to the Military Sealift Command,” Strong said, “and they serve as floating warehouses for our expeditionary forces.”

They can carry up to 450,000 gallons of fresh water and generate up to 90,000 gallons of potable water each day, she added. They also haul heavy transport and relief equipment such as bulldozers, generators, five-ton trucks, amphibious vehicles and Humvees."

And all the personnel needed to make each piece of equipment work! That's 8 of these big guys!
Posted by: Sherry   2004-12-31 12:04:57 PM  

#19  Nah....France is just pissed that they weren't even asked to join the coalition helping the victims. They much prefer to turn it down.
Let's see how much is actually delivered.....
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2004-12-31 10:58:55 AM  

#18  I get the feeling from this that France's 57M will be the sum or the total of their contribution.

While the US's 'measly' 35M is the initial package with about 1.6B (that's 1,600M) to follow.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-12-31 10:45:33 AM  

#17  If I want any lip from the French I will scrap it off my zipper.
Posted by: Raptor   2004-12-31 9:54:03 AM  

#16  The only things the French are good at giving are (in alphabetical order): attitude, grief, and lip.
Posted by: Darth VAda   2004-12-31 9:28:38 AM  

#15  More information on contributions world-wide, here.
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-12-31 8:57:26 AM  

#14  This seems to be an argument over how much money each government contributes.

What happens to the comparison when non-monetary contributions (like the US carrier group being diverted to the disaster area, to provide helicopter transport services and drinking water generation capacity) are factored in? And what about monetary contributions by private citizens in the two countries? The disaster-relief collections taken by www.amazon.com in the last couple of days, to pick just one private US effort, are already over $7,000,000-- nearly one-eighth the entire contribution of the French government. What are French citizens contributing privately?
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-12-31 8:37:28 AM  

#13  smn,
About $1.6 trillion vs. $11 trillion
CIA Factbook-France
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2004-12-31 3:58:59 AM  

#12  Does anyone know what the GDP of France is (in US dollars)?
Posted by: smn   2004-12-31 3:19:54 AM  

#11  The french love to declare they will give X amount but rarely give that amount. Ask Afghanistan how much of the money the French have pledged they actually have got.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-12-31 2:34:23 AM  

#10  One-upping the United States, France said Thursday it is the No. 1 donor for the Asian disaster — pledging 42 million euro ($57 million)..

Nobody of any importance gives a rat's ass how much the Phrench donated.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-12-31 2:31:20 AM  

#9  Hey, we know they are a bunch up tight, pricks, but they were goaded into giving a good chunk of cash. Hopefully, the check won't bounce.

It is amazing that in the face of a horrendous death toll, the French like the CLintons can't resist the urge to bash the Bush Administration. EVen the tamil Tigers managed to figure out that this might be time for a truce.
Posted by: Doug De Bono   2004-12-31 2:15:54 AM  

#8  France's giving.41% of it's declining morbund economy is a drop in the bucket to the US total aid. France can't stand to be seen a losing face. Japan beats them hands down in foreign aid and every other instance. If I was in a foxhole with a Nipon and a Frenchman and there were only room for 2 the frenchman would get tossed. Sorry Jacques you and you buddy Jean-Pierre are assclowns by trying to "make face" in this situation.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-12-31 2:06:48 AM  

#7  Excellent - I had heard this $35M number on Fox in the early afternoon PST. Apparently the Amer Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way, even Amazon are being swamped with donations.

Awesome! It makes me feel incredibly humble to see the quiet inherent goodness of the people... when you donate as we do in the US, no one knows except you and your IRS Tax Examiner, lol!

I love America!
Posted by: .com   2004-12-31 1:44:31 AM  

#6  The private US contribution is well over $150M already and will probably double within 48 hours.

France's attempts to bash the US on this are beneath contempt.
Posted by: lex   2004-12-31 1:34:27 AM  

#5  Sea - The Femalians here must get a pretty good giggle on when the males start measuring their members in public.

Regards Chirac's statement, he's just admitting that France has expropriated more citizen tax money to bolster his ego, thus far, than others.

The US contribution is well over $70M - $35M from the Gov't and over that amount from charities, already. Our people choose to donate - out of the goodness of their hearts. The French may also have good hearts, but they had no choice in the matter - they, quite literally, gave at the office.

So who's member is bigger? Who cares as long as the job is being done as well and as quickly as possible. That means, of course, keeping the cash stream and the decision processes out of the hands of the professional bureaucrats - morons like Claire Short and Jan Egeland, who are probably not qualified to run a lemonade stand.

Hell, the person probably most qualified to run this operation on the planet is some hardball 30-year Sargeant from the Quartermaster Corps who has a system and takes no shit from anyone.
Posted by: .com   2004-12-31 1:30:44 AM  

#4  Has China donated anything at all? Money, supplies, people? For example, they could give some of the money I "donated" via Wal-Mart this Christmas...
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-12-31 1:12:13 AM  

#3  Wow that's impressive. It is even more than his dinner bill.
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American   2004-12-31 1:07:53 AM  

#2  I think it is all a big misunderstanding. France is the biggest AIDS donor.
Posted by: Capt America   2004-12-31 12:54:58 AM  

#1  phrancistan, (formerly known as france), simply makes me sick. I'd love to see G. W. punch that coward SOB, chirac, in the mouth. Wouldn't that be something to see?
Posted by: Floting Granter5198   2004-12-31 12:45:10 AM  

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