[Buddha-l] Re: "So much for tsunami dana"

[curt]

Andrew Skilton wrote:

>On 11/10/05 JKirk rewrote:
>
>: The more local the organizing, the better chance they might have to escape
>: corruption because the more local, the more visible.
>: In the case of Sri Lanka and other Asian areas, I doubt if such organization
>: will happen or that any of it will be corruption-free. Civil society in
>: these countries is weak. 
>
>I recall a recent UN report that estimated that, of the 10 billion dollars sunk
>into Cambodia by international agencies over the last decade, only 1 billion had
>reached the target - i.e. desperately poor Cambodian people. Spectacular!
>  
>
File this under "Yes, but...." The current US military budget is approx. 
$560 billion (http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm). The rest of the 
world put together spends about as much - so lets round it off to an 
even $1 trillion per annum. If that money were instead spent on wasteful 
aid programs in which only 1/10 of the money went to the people who 
needed it, that would still be $100 billion a year going to people who 
desparately need it. If the $$$ were specifically targeted at the 
poorest 1/3 of humanity it would come out to about $50 per person a 
year. Doesn't sound like much, but in 10 years, or 20 years, or even 50 
years it would do more to "save all beings" than has ever been done by 
all the world's religious do-gooders put together. Throwing money at 
problems is better than thowing bombs and guns at them. Besides, if I 
were poor I would definitely want people to throw money at me.

- Curt