The Money Wave

The Turks have offered 18 cents a person. But their per capita income is only about $3000 per year, or a tenth that of an average American, so this plege is equivalent to an American one of $1.80. That is, the Turks are giving one and a half times what Americans are if everything is taken into account.

The current Australian pledge of $60 million is about $3.00 per person.

It is obvious that if we take their populations and actual per capita income into account, the offers made by many of these governments are generally more generous than that of the United States. A lot of Middle Eastern countries have small populations, so even if they gave a lot per capita, it would look small in absolute numbers. Apparently US pundits don't know things like the citizen population of Kuwait or the per capita income of Libya, and can't be bothered to look them up.

Informed Comment