Hyman Stingy with the Facts

Whatever your feelings about the amount of foreign aid the U.S. should be contributing to the rest of the world, one thing that’s inescapable is that Hyman’s commentary on the subject is rife with deception.

Sure, we’ve an example of a typically Hymanesque epithet in the first line, “French-convict George Soros,” but this is just a throwaway line. The real spinning comes later.

Hyman argues that Americans give generous amounts of aid to foreign countries. True, we don’t come close to the 0.7 percent of GDP that the U.N. suggests as a goal for industrialized nations’ giving, but then again, neither do most other countries. On the other hand, Hyman claims “U.S. individuals, corporations, groups and other governmental assistance was about $80 billion in 2004.” Conclusion: Americans are exceedingly generous; they just express this generosity through private channels rather than through their government.

I agree that we Americans are, in general, a generous lot, and that if we were told what our generosity could do for impoverished people around the world, we’d be more than happy to give more than we do. That we don’t is the fault of some of our more isolationist leaders who foster myths about the amount of foreign aid we already give and present false dilemmas between helping others around the world and helping Americans.

And when it comes to his commentary, Hyman is firmly in the camp of these deceivers. For example, Hyman trumpets the fact that the U.S., while not meeting the 0.7 percent goal, gave $27.5 billion, more than any other country.

That’s true, but misleading. Yes, the U.S. gave more in raw dollars than any other country, but when measured against other industrialized nations in terms of contributions as a percent of GDP, the U.S. has consistently finished last in recent years. This is a national embarrassment, only made worse by folks like Hyman spinning it into something to be proud of. To wax rhapsodic about American’s generosity based on the raw numbers is a bit like Bill Gates bragging about writing a $100 check to his favorite charity while someone making minimum wage forked over $10 for the same cause. Who’s really being more generous?

But that’s only part of Hyman’s deception. Remember the “about $80 billion” in private giving Hyman cited as evidence of Americans’ generosity? First, it’s actually $71.2 billion, or “about $70 billion.” More importantly, two-thirds of this money is not given by Americans at all; it’s money earned by immigrants in this country that is sent back to their home nations, usually to their families. That is, Hyman is counting as American generosity huge sums of money earned by non-Americans (many of whom are the people Hyman derides as lazy and shiftless bums looking for free handouts).

I agree that Americans aren’t stingy. But a significant number of our most influential leaders are. The undeclared and unilateral war against Iraq will probably clock in at around a trillion dollars before things are all said and done, but our government can only cough up the tiniest fraction of that to help the rest of the world.

This is not merely immoral; it’s plain stupid. Just from an investment point of view, how much talent is going to waste because so many people in other countries have to spend all day simply trying to feed themselves and their families? How much creativity has failed to flower because so many millions die in childhood? How much innovation across the globe is stifled because there is no educational or economic infrastructure to nurture it? In terms of our global human capital, we’re wasting a huge percentage of it. Doesn’t it make sense to help tap it by investing in it?

And that’s not even bringing up the moral imperative to help others. Most Americans would likely recognize the need, duty, and benefits of helping their fellow human beings. It’s often noted that America is by far the most religious of the world’s industrialized nations. Given that the main teaching of the dominant religion in our country is to help the poor and less fortunate, I can’t help but think Americans of all stripes would put other nations to shame with their generosity if called upon.

What we need now are more public voices to foster that latent passion, to enflame the hearths of charity.

And that’s The Counterpoint.

Hyman Index: 4.71