So nice to be back at home, with what remaining family I have. I’ve been very tired… too tired to do much of anything. I can barely sit up to type these words but I will keep this blog up for as long as I can.
Every breath hurts. Every time I inhale, I feel like I’m drowning. I have decided that my mask is no longer needed. I am going to say whatever I want to whoever I wish… but I’m going to do it as me. Atticus. I am ready to die.
(via iamrusticus)
This is one of those graphics that disturbs me for perhaps surprising reasons. It is unquestionably true that the United States is, on a per capita basis, among the lowest nations in supporting global aid programs.
(As a complete aside, this is one of the reasons that whatever the fantasies of the tea partyists, you can’t balance the US budget on cuts in foreign aid.)
The thing is, I’m not sure these graphics are entirely fair. Such information is usually presented to say “shame on the US.” If only the US cared about people more, the argument seems to be, the US would support global aid programs. Its comparative lack of support for these programs is thus proof of its global indifference.
But it seems to me that such graphics miss a component of international affairs that used to be called “burden sharing.” Put simply, after WWII the United States shifted the costs of building and maintaining the security of its allies onto the United States’ budget. The United States took core responsibility for guaranteeing the security of its European allies (both from the Soviet Union and from each other), and offered similar guarantees to US allies across Australasia.
This isn’t to say that the United States’ allies didn’t also contribute to the global security coalitions of NATO, SEATO and similar organizations. They surely did. But it is to say that in relative terms the average Western European nation had to pay less per capita for defense than they would have had to pay had they not benefited from the American security umbrella. In other words, a Europe sufficiently armed to fight the Soviet Union or each other would have had vastly higher defense expenditures than they in fact had.
One consequence of this shift in security responsibilities can be seen in the relative size of the European and Australasian welfare states. The European nations had what amounted to spare cash: their security dividend derived from living in the American coalition. For various and complex reasons, the Europeans and Australasians invested in their social security systems. As I told a group of students I once lectured to in Leicester, UK, my tax dollars have subsidized their social programs.
Another consequence has been the emergence of European-led global aid programs. The US did the muscle; the other members of its coalitions did aid—especially those rich countries, like Denmark and Norway, that contributed comparatively little to European defense.
None of this means that the US should continue to spend the ridiculous amount of money it continues to spend on defense, of course. Nor does it mean that the United States was a benevolent father in the post-WWII world: the US did what it did because it perceived such arrangements to be in its interests. And it certainly doesn’t mean the security versus aid deal negotiated/imposed after WWII has to continue in its current form.
But it’s still true.
You have to look at the whole reasons things have come to be the way they are if you are to have any meaningful chance to change those things.
As per the graphic, the US government contributes very little in foreign aid relative to the size of our population and economy. We’re below the global average. Norway appears to be 10X (!) as generous on a per capita basis.
One possible conclusion is that we suck at helping poor people.
But! The greatest anti-poverty program in the world isn’t a loan from USAID, a grant from the Gates Foundation, or even free trade. The most effective anti-poverty program is a visa to a rich country. The world’s most precious resource is human labor/talent/ingenuity and it travels very, very well. Mexican laborers improve their productivity and earnings 10-15 times just by crossing the border into the United States; the benefits compound if their families are allowed to emigrate and establish themselves in the US.
The US by no means the number one destination for immigrants on a per capita basis, but we’re still an out-lier relative to other highly developed nations. 13% of the US population is foreign-born compared to just 6.6% for Denmark. We should allow even more immigration and we can be more generous with foreign aid, but at the same time we should celebrate the accomplishments of the most powerful anti-poverty program in the world.
A look at which countries give the most foreign economic aid.
(via curiositycounts)
I have been out cold for a few weeks. I woke up yesterday. I don’t know if any of you out there are familiar with the experience… but I have been left feeling very disoriented.
I am off to England in one week and it just can’t come soon enough. If I only ever get to see it one last time, I will be happy enough to see my home again.
To the many friends I have made in the US, I can sincerely say I will be missing you. But those of you who know me well, know how miserable I have been in Kansas. If there is anything you want to say to me, now might be a good time. I am not trying to be dramatic… just trying to be real. I have lived a lot longer than anyone expected me to but I know that it won’t be long before I am set free of the misery I have been living with for so many years.
For the time being though… I will keep shedding light on the truth and I will keep fighting for freedom with every ounce of strength that remains in me.
Opinions? Thoughts? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind… or… do unto others… What do YOU think about bringing Osama down? I for one think it’s brilliant. Osama bin Laden killed Muslims, Americans… whoever he felt like killing. If you ask me, he was a wild dog that had to be put down. Good on you, Obama.
I have been greatly encouraged by a friend of mine in Chicago, whom I had begun to grow close with via facebook until I was cut off. I was ready to give up. As some of you reading this blog well know, I am not the picture of health… That being said, I did consider closing my blog and letting go… but… then… I got a message on this blog from my friend… Rusticus.
He uploaded a picture of his very own Guy Fawkes mask… a sign of taking up the torch of battle! I feel newly invigorated and am committed to the cause more than ever. Thank you, Rusticus. You are a true friend.
