I think this is the way of people generally. When the tsunami hit, when other disasters hit, money flowed in from around the world. I dont know the proportions but I would suspect that they would be more or less equal when taking into account population size, education, infrastructure, and economic means of the donors.

What I dont think happens is when economically wealthy countries suffer a disaster that donations flow back again eg Katrina. But I again suspect this has less to do with the US or western countries per se and more to do with the fact that the poorer countries simply dont have the money to send.


>You keep forgetting that the majority of donations and aid from the U.S. come from her citizens as private donations, not public money. That has always been our way throughout history.
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>>>Riiiight. Ok so it's only .17% of our GNI - but its still the HIGHEST dollar amount of any country. So we give more $ than anyone - yet it's still not enough huh? Maybe instead of the Netherlands giving .81 they whould try to give 10.0 so you guys can catch up to us.
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>>Lets see, the US has approx 18-20 times the number of dutch citizens. So how would you expect giving more than the US?? Our GNI simply is much less. All has to be seen in proportions, and that is not too favourable to the US.
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>>Anyways, the argument was whether the US is exceptional generous in terms of financial aids. The answer is: not compared to other western countries.