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The US has raised its tsunami contribution to $350 million. Though Japan has pledged $500 million. I'm sure the change is due to the loud expressions of disgust that followed the previous announcements.
Now, when the US pledge was $35 million, $20 million of it was in loan guarantees. That's brutal. I'm trying to find out, so far with no success, how much of the present amount is supposed to be loans.
True to Republican form, the main thrust of the relief effort in the US is private donations. We'll see how that goes. The more the government has been officially relying on private donations to cover public expenses within the US, the more private donations have been dropping in the US, especially remarkable because the tax cuts and business practices of the last 20 years have favored those with the money to make large donations. Maybe an acute disaster of this scale can dislodge more money than the everyday chronic disaster of regular capitalism.
It's not a good sign that Clinton and Bush Sr are heading up the appeal for private donations -- I mean politically: it's a sign that the Democrats are willing to do bipartisan crap and I really wish they wouldn't. I wish they'd be independent in every way. No, I don't think it would be petty in this case. I think it would be a strong message, especially since I think Clinton will outperform Bush in every way -- people like him, he has the energy, and his friends and cronies are more generous than Bush's.
Oh, and Shirley Chisholm died. Now there was a good politician.
Now, when the US pledge was $35 million, $20 million of it was in loan guarantees. That's brutal. I'm trying to find out, so far with no success, how much of the present amount is supposed to be loans.
True to Republican form, the main thrust of the relief effort in the US is private donations. We'll see how that goes. The more the government has been officially relying on private donations to cover public expenses within the US, the more private donations have been dropping in the US, especially remarkable because the tax cuts and business practices of the last 20 years have favored those with the money to make large donations. Maybe an acute disaster of this scale can dislodge more money than the everyday chronic disaster of regular capitalism.
It's not a good sign that Clinton and Bush Sr are heading up the appeal for private donations -- I mean politically: it's a sign that the Democrats are willing to do bipartisan crap and I really wish they wouldn't. I wish they'd be independent in every way. No, I don't think it would be petty in this case. I think it would be a strong message, especially since I think Clinton will outperform Bush in every way -- people like him, he has the energy, and his friends and cronies are more generous than Bush's.
Oh, and Shirley Chisholm died. Now there was a good politician.