You may have noticed that one of the post categories for this blog is “U.S. Aid” and posts under that category are devoted to news and commentary about U.S. efforts to provide financial and humanitarian assistance to other countries. I see this as one of the pillars of the traditional U.S. role in the world. We like to see ourselves as a generous and compassionate country, always willing to help in times of need. That self-image is reflective of a deeper set of charitable values and a philanthropic spirit that finds prominent recent examples:
More interesting from our U.S. Role perspective, Gates and Buffet have now attempted to export their “philanthropy challenge” to China, a country with a distinctly different culture. This Washington Post report notes that although they have been well received in China, their effort has also been met with suspicion and skepticism born of a culture that does not have a tradition of individual giving, preferring instead to rely on the government for assistance. The report, though, notes optimism that China may well rise to the challenge:
It began with an idea as simple as it was well-meaning. Fresh off a successful tour pushing philanthropy among the rich in the United States, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett proposed another trip – to visit newly minted billionaires in China and get them more involved in charitable giving […] As in America’s era of robber barons, new titans of industry are emerging every year in China. But in the United States, the industrial age also ushered in a generation of philanthropists – names such as Carnegie and Rockefeller that still resound today – and it is unclear whether the same is happening, or will happen, in China. China now has one of the world’s largest collection of billionaires, second this year only to the United States, according to Forbes. But giving away that wealth has proved more difficult at times than earning it […] Still, Chen said he believes Chinese can become world-class philanthropists, given the benefit of time. “In the U.S. you had more than a hundred years to develop this idea,” he said. “In China, people haven’t even come into wealth until these past 20 years. Our speed has been very fast, and, who knows, in the next 10 years, we have the potential to become the best givers in the world.”
This Reuters video provides insight into how Gates and Buffett view the obstacles they face in bringing American style philanthropy to China:
I should probably note, for the sake of fairness, that there are those who do not believe that charitable giving is a virtue, as CNN explains. Wild-eyed Objectivists aside (and I can say that having survived my Ayn Rand phase), we have agreed, as a country, that Americans are a charitable and giving people. But, do we put our money where our mouth is? Where would you say the U.S. ranks in terms of the most generous countries in the world? According to a recent Gallup survey of 153 countries (PDF) the U.S. comes in at #5. The U.S. is not #1? Australia and New Zealand tied as the most generous countries on Earth, followed by Iceland, Canada, Switzerland, and then the U.S. The Netherlands, Great Britain, Sri Lanka, and Austria rounded out the top ten.
So, are you in the mood to help boost our generosity rating? You could donate to flood relief in Pakistan using this helpful website sponsored by the State Department. Or, if you have issues with Pakistan (and who doesn’t?), donating to the Haiti earthquake relief effort may be a wiser use of your private aid dollars.
