Just a note,I do remember countries donating for 911.Not much though,simple because the US had the image that it didn't need much finacial aid.

I agree that comparing who donates the more is really,'unhealthy'.The highest average donation per person is in Hong Kong.About 17$ per person.I remember a few days ago Japan donated the most.Not sure now.
Australia is definitely a good neighbour of southeast Asia.

US wasn't the only country being accused of being 'stingy',no big deal.The amount of money that should be donated depends on your role in the international society,some countries do carry more responsibilities,it's not only about your economics.

If anyone's wondering,China didn't donate much in your standard,and was accused of being stingy at first as well,though a developing country.Since China could take that,I hope Americans could as well do.
The government donation was 500 million RMB,about 62.5 million US dollars.Our GDP is about 1000 USD,and the donation over many years of the Hope Project,which pays the schooling of children who can't afford education,is merely 1700 million RMB.Any country with 1.3 billion people would have a large DNP.Notice that we have 160 million people under poverty,

The country that donated the most is Australia, I believe.

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Originally posted by DrStrangelove:
This is total speculation and is most likely based completely on your own biases.

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Er, yeah. That's why I put "I think." The original question of this entire thread was "Do you think the US is 'stingy' and should donate more money?" and I was just stating my opinion on the why the US has donated what it has. I'm not trying to pass off my position as fact. Everyone on YN does HAVE personal biases.

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As for Canadian donations, how much money have private Canadian corporations donated? What about the thousands of troops, tons of material, and vehicles, equipment, and expertise that the US military is contriubuting?
Have you considered all this?

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CNN just said Canada donated $345 mil and that the US had donated $350. I'm not sure whether corporations are included in both numbers, but I doubt it - if you want to look it up, go ahead. Actually, I'm rereading this article, and apparently Australia sent $810 mil, which blows both countries' donations out of the water, especially considering how Australia is doing financially, in comparison. I haven't seen how much China has donated, but they haven't broadcasted themselves as the large altruistic force in the world.

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The fact is, the US has consitantly contributed huge amounts of cash for international aid and forgiven many forgien debts. We are the largest contributer, by far, to other nations, and the grandstanding taking place by other nations after this disaster will not change that.

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But a lot of that international aid has been seen by the world as selfish and questionable - like the money we spend in Iraq. Contributing to the tsunami effort is one of the only completely non-military, completely selfless things that the US could do, to improve itself in the eyes of the world. The money spent on the tsunami pretty much goes directly to help the people who most need it.

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And I think a lot of what contributed to the US raising our donation, moreso than the coming news of casualties, was international criticism.

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This is total speculation and is most likely based completely on your own biases.

As for Canadian donations, how much money have private Canadian corporations donated? What about the thousands of troops, tons of material, and vehicles, equipment, and expertise that the US military is contriubuting?
Have you considered all this?

China has a huge GNP also, how much have they donated?

The fact is, the US has consitantly contributed huge amounts of cash for international aid and forgiven many forgien debts. We are the largest contributer, by far, to other nations, and the grandstanding taking place by other nations after this disaster will not change that.

What the US settled on pledging isn't a small amount...but in percent with our gross national product, it's not the best we could do. Canada just announced it's donating $345 mil, and they have a much lower gnp than we do. And I think a lot of what contributed to the US raising our donation, moreso than the coming news of casualties, was international criticism.

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Originally posted by maharini15:
Considering the fact that we started with donating something like &8 mil...and then got criticized and changed it to like 35...and then got criticized again and THEN donated the 350, yeah. I'd say the US is stingy in certain areas. Tax cuts? not stingy. Tsunami? Stingy, unless shamed out of it.

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The reason we only pledged 8 million in the first days is because no one knew the scale of the disaster. The 8 million was one of the highest initial donations and at the time the death toll was only at 7 thousand or so. You don't just blow millions and millions of dollars as soon as something happens. That's called being reactionary. No one who knows anything about how disaster aid and international politics works thought that 8 million was the final offer.

Considering the fact that we started with donating something like &8 mil...and then got criticized and changed it to like 35...and then got criticized again and THEN donated the 350, yeah. I'd say the US is stingy in certain areas. Tax cuts? not stingy. Tsunami? Stingy, unless shamed out of it.

The US isn't stingy. But Pres. Bush may be. I've heard he donated $10,000 from his personal money for the relief. But I think the pledging for relief is getitng out of hand. It's become a bidding war between countries to see who can pledge more. It makes you wonder as if the US suffered a major natural disaster like an earthquake or tsunami that would kill that many people, how many countries would pledge the amounts of money they have for southeast Asia?

I don't think the US is stingy. On top of the government aid for the tsunamis, have you seen the number of independent groups raising money. At my public high school of 1200 we raised 1400 dollars in one hour. If we can collect that much money, think about what an entire town can do. Sunset, you make a good point when you say that other countries never help us out. They are being hypocritical in a sense.