If the USA is the Dad of the World, It's a Deadbeat Dad, Prone to Violence

Some people seem to have missed the point of this entry. The point was not that the United States spends too little on foreign aid but that it invests vastly more in a stunningly unpopular war. Since the United States is by far the richest country in the world, imagine the difference it could make if its leaders were genuinely interested in bettering the world, rather than making sure Halliburton executives have enough ivory back-scratchers.

But calling the United States "the most generous country in the world" is plainly ridiculous.

According to the World Bank, the United States had a Gross National Income of 10,945,792 million dollars in 2004.

Norway's GNI in 2004 was 197,658 million dollars. Which is about one fifty-fifth of the USA's.

And now you're trying to tell me that America contributing $350 million to tsunami relief is more generous than Norway contributing over $180 million? Excuse me?

Credit where credit is due, for fuck's sake. God bless Norway.


Footnote: I should add that I haven't been able to verify the numbers used in my co-blogger's post, and, in fact, some of them strike me as pretty unlikely. If it turns out they were fabricated, Superblog!! will of course be discontinued.