I read this morning that Australia has committed to contributing $1,000,000,000 to the tsunami victims. Probably more importantly, along with the United States, they are one of just a few countries with a large relief effort on the ground.
What studs. No wonder they have so many good athletes.
I will have to visit that country sometime soon and go walk about.
And what an opportunity to make their presence felt in the an area of the globe where they can be the main power… oooooops, I just turned this into a political thread, my bad…
It is their back yard and these countries are their nearest neighbors. Kinda like when Mitch hit central America the US was there first and with the most cash, or when the 1999 Izmit quake hit Turkey the European Union kicked in the most cash.
Just the neighborly thing to do.
Well done Aussies, keeping the backyard in order!
Sorry guys
Ex-pat Aussie here living in the US - I can’t help but chip in.
Yes - Australia dumped $1 billion in Aust Dollars
Germany threw in $860,000,000 Aust Dollars
Japan $633,000,000 AUD
US - $450,000,000 AUD
This is an outstanding amount and response globally - there are countless other countries but I won;t list them all - sorry to any people offended - I just chose the big four.
What angered a lot of people was the original offer of $15 mill by the US. Michael Schumacer (spelling sorry) the Formula One Champ donated $10 mill personally.
Anyway - to put things in perspective a little - there are 20 million people living in Australia - compared with almost 300 million here in the US.
I love the US but find it difficult to swallow that so many people look at anything from other countries and compare it with the US - we are not talking apples and apples - and yes - the affected areas are closer to Australia than the US - and yes - a lot of Australians were killed and injured there - many, many more are still missing.
So too Germans and countless other Europeans
People - this is not a regional disaster relief effort - it is global and every country is throwing in what they can to help - and yes this will be in caps for a reason - DON’T ASSUME THE AUSSIES CAN AFFORD TO - OR SHOULD FOR WHATEVER REASON - put in the most amount of cash for these efforts. This is discretionary and not at all proportionate
This is a humanitarian issue and goes across all borders and races. Australia’s contribution - be it twice that of the US - is HUGE for a country with so few people. Yes - the land mass is about the same size - but just as many people live in NY as the whole of Australia.
It really angers and disgusts me that anyone on this forum should assume that due to geographic proximity - any one country should pitch in more than another.
I can tell you - the US can absorb $1,000,000,000 much faster than any other country in the world.
Don’t make this about one country or another having to shoulder the load - I have chosen my words carefully - I have not attacked the US - rather I have defended the Aussies - and I am correct in doing so.
Think about who the first country was to assist the US In this ridiculous war that has cost the US and many other countries, thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Yes - the Aussies - and if we want to talk geographic proximity - Australia cannot be any further AWAY from Iraq than what it is.
Not to make it political but how do you think the Aussies felt three months ago when George W and his administration backflipped on a $1 billion dollar contract that had been extended to Australian businesses in the rebuilding of Iraq. Nice thank you for your assistance
I love this country and the people here - but what I cannot tolerate are the narrow minded people living among us. This world is an enormous place and as much as I love the US people and the country - it never ceases to amaze me how few people look at life in a global sense.
And yes - I contributed to the funds and Yes - I contribute to World Vision every month and have done so for many years.
Sorry folks - I may just have ended any chance of posting on this forum again - but if it was ever true that you have to pick your fights - this fight - the defense of the Australian people and country - is the one I choose to fight.
Come after me - I won;t fight back now - I have said my piece
If nothing else you have fired me up enough to do an extra hour on the trainer tonight
AJ
I’m sorry…did anyone attack Australia???
I’m an Irish ex-pat living in the US, I have no idea what Ireland has given to date but I’d hazard a guess that its probably more per capita than the US has pledged. Immaterial if you ask me.
What bugs me about this whole fundraising thing is that it has become more an exercise in one upmanship than a genuine desire to do good. A dick measuring contest if you will.
I’m waiting for the first country to “go all in”…here’s our full annual GDP…top that America!!!
I will try to keep this short…try hard…cuz nothing pisses me off like holier-than-thou non-US troops trumpeting about what their country (their gov’t, more specifically) donates to this or that country/region/disaster relief and bitching about the US likewise. two reasons:
the official GOV’T amounts pledged, cited, whatever, are made up of TAX $$. socialist entities like Sweden who take 80cents of every $1 their workers make can easily afford to pat themselves on the back for the “highest $ per capita” donations for that reason. are the Aussies in this boat too?
in conjunction with #1, what nobody ever gives the US credit for is the level of non-Gov’t donations. the private citizen donations to Red Cross and the like, the company pledges. those will FAR outstrip the gov’t TAX $$ when it’s all said and done. can the Aussies (or anyone else) say the same?
general annoyance: pledges (incl ours) mean nothing. show me boots on the ground, tents in the fields, and bowls full of food in their laps and that’s when it’s real.
Matt
Thanks for your response - out of Interest there have been $133 mill from the UK
I am trying to not make it about one up manship.
AJ
Why do the Aussies need defending? Did I miss something? Anway, you bring up something that has bugged me for a while - It makes me cringe everytime they list “American” casualties in any disaster, be it a plane crash, earthquake, whatever. Like it is any greater or lesser tragedy because of the nationality of those who were killed or injured.
-zoe
Carl
I just had that exact conversation with someone here in my office - the dollars are great - the execution of the relief efforts are more important.
The Aust tax system is not far removed from the US - so it is apples and apples there.
The Australian people - independent of the govt have donated millions - they collected 7 mill from the crowds around Sydney harbor on New Years Eve. Per capita - the Aussie private contributions are way up there.
I know I have opened up a hornets nest - but fairs fair
Francois and Zoe have hit the nail on the head - it is not about nationality - this is a global issue and yes - many many more people die every year in other third world countries - look in our own backyard - could more money not be made available to the homeless and sick here in the US?
The news agencies that list American casualties are American agencies numb nuts. If you go to a British agency they will list British casualties, Aussie …Aussie, South African…South African and on and on and on. Why is it a crime to worry about your own a little more than “others”.
I think what the Aussies are doing is wonderful. I also think what the other countries are doing is great. Everything in the world is not a pissing contest. Sometimes circumstances allow you to carry the bulk of the weight sometimes you have to let somebody else pull the load. Everybody is doing what they can.
Australia did not dump in 1 Billion, the actual cash is less than $350Million, the balance is low interest loans, dropping current loan interest, military aid and clearing debts outstanding relating to Timor.
In return Indonesia agreed to a lot of things Australia wanted secured that relate to ‘terror’ intelligence, like allowing Australia to operate an intelligence gathering service within Indonesia, agreeing to stop pressure on Timor over allowing Australian companies to operate their etc etc.
The USA is no longer a weathly country and they cannot be expected to donate huge sums of money when they have so much more they need to clean up, like the mess they made in Iraq and Afganistan.
Wow. . . I like a good argument as much as the next guy, but this thread is flat out depressing. I put forth a personal request that we drop it.
I take nothing back, but I do also thank you for educating me on the state of things in Oz w.r.t. taxes and private donations. Has the $1B figure been greeted with howls of protest in-country too, or just on this forum 
? I’d like to think that if our gov’t had waited this long to come up with a figure (yeah, that’s a jab…tho I’m not sure at who), and had quoted something in the 10-digit range, the populace would not have risen up.
That is, until the politically-minded “free press” got hold of it. Or the nearest congressperson. Yeah, there’d be screaming…even if we can afford it.
Sorry guys
Ex-pat Aussie here living in the US - I can’t help but chip in.
Yes - Australia dumped $1 billion in Aust Dollars
Germany threw in $860,000,000 Aust Dollars
Japan $633,000,000 AUD
US - $450,000,000 AUD
This is an outstanding amount and response globally - there are countless other countries but I won;t list them all - sorry to any people offended - I just chose the big four.
What angered a lot of people was the original offer of $15 mill by the US. Michael Schumacer (spelling sorry) the Formula One Champ donated $10 mill personally.
Anyway - to put things in perspective a little - there are 20 million people living in Australia - compared with almost 300 million here in the US.
I love the US but find it difficult to swallow that so many people look at anything from other countries and compare it with the US - we are not talking apples and apples - and yes - the affected areas are closer to Australia than the US - and yes - a lot of Australians were killed and injured there - many, many more are still missing.
So too Germans and countless other Europeans
People - this is not a regional disaster relief effort - it is global and every country is throwing in what they can to help - and yes this will be in caps for a reason - DON’T ASSUME THE AUSSIES CAN AFFORD TO - OR SHOULD FOR WHATEVER REASON - put in the most amount of cash for these efforts. This is discretionary and not at all proportionate
This is a humanitarian issue and goes across all borders and races. Australia’s contribution - be it twice that of the US - is HUGE for a country with so few people. Yes - the land mass is about the same size - but just as many people live in NY as the whole of Australia.
It really angers and disgusts me that anyone on this forum should assume that due to geographic proximity - any one country should pitch in more than another.
I can tell you - the US can absorb $1,000,000,000 much faster than any other country in the world.
Don’t make this about one country or another having to shoulder the load - I have chosen my words carefully - I have not attacked the US - rather I have defended the Aussies - and I am correct in doing so.
Think about who the first country was to assist the US In this ridiculous war that has cost the US and many other countries, thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Yes - the Aussies - and if we want to talk geographic proximity - Australia cannot be any further AWAY from Iraq than what it is.
Not to make it political but how do you think the Aussies felt three months ago when George W and his administration backflipped on a $1 billion dollar contract that had been extended to Australian businesses in the rebuilding of Iraq. Nice thank you for your assistance
I love this country and the people here - but what I cannot tolerate are the narrow minded people living among us. This world is an enormous place and as much as I love the US people and the country - it never ceases to amaze me how few people look at life in a global sense.
And yes - I contributed to the funds and Yes - I contribute to World Vision every month and have done so for many years.
Sorry folks - I may just have ended any chance of posting on this forum again - but if it was ever true that you have to pick your fights - this fight - the defense of the Australian people and country - is the one I choose to fight.
Come after me - I won;t fight back now - I have said my piece
If nothing else you have fired me up enough to do an extra hour on the trainer tonight
AJ
The word angered by the $15 mill was not the right choice of words - perhaps humored would be a better choice.
Not sure how much foreign media you follow - but the rest of the world thought it was a very token effort in the first instance.
This has obviously changed over the past week
I live in a country where there is so much opportunity - and yet - as some of these other posts have confirmed - there is too much of a nationality/race issue attached to too much going on in this world.
Let’s just accept that wherever we live - whatever country - that we all owe it to each other to help one another - because one day - it could be one of us on the receiving end and at that time - we won’t care where the help is coming from - we’ll just be relieved it is here!!!
I’ll take Vitus’ suggestion and drop it
AJ
And then we have this group of whacko conservatives (my way of acknowledging that not all conservatives are complete nut jobs whom the world would be better off without)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1311135/posts?q=1&&page=1
Some of these folks are arguing that is illegal (read as unconstitutional) for the U.S. to use tax dollars for the tsunami relief effort. These are the folks who give Americans a bad name.
Jay
I really wish I had never started the thread. The idea was to praise the Aussies. They are awesome. I hadn’t expected the whinning, though I guess I should have.
I hope the tri season starts up again soon. Too many people with too much time to complain here right now. Happens every year.
(sarcasm filter on)
Everybody is comparing contributiond to GDP.
I bet you dollars to donuts the US has given more than any country in the world if you compare the contribution to our $7.4 trillion national debt.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t sending helicopters full of IOUs over there.
(sacrasm filter off)
And AJ I wasn’t singling you or Australia out, apologies if it came across that way. It just bugs me to see league tables of who gave what.
In 6 months it will all be fish wrap and the governments of the US, Germany France the UK and Russia et al will be back to their old business of selling expensive weapons to 3rd world dictators to repress their starving populations, and bilking the developing world out of their natural resources and fleecing them on insane debt repayment schemes.
If the 1st world was serious about saving lives in the 3rd world they’d immediately begin a comprehensive program of debt cancellation. But that will never happen. Francois is dead on, this is the sexy issue of the day because a lot of fancy beach resorts frequented by western tourists were destroyed. If it was just Banda Aceh, or Somalia, or some other unheard of place on the map, it would have been a 2 or 3 day story period.
I can see this one moving to Tibbs room
Hey Art do feel like you were just bitch slapped for trying to compliment someone? I would.