Another Example of the Continuing Relevance of the United States
A few days ago, I noted that Prince Charles made the following appeal to President Bush:
So many people throughout the world look to the United States for a lead on the most crucial issues that face our planet and indeed the lives of our grandchildren.
Truly the burden of the world rests on your shoulders.
Another example comes from Oxfam. Based upon a UN request for Asian earthquake relief, and an Oxfam calculation of how much each government should pay ("based on the size of their economies"). As of late October, these calculations showed that the US had given 6.9% of its "fair share" to the UN appeal, while Sweden had given 169.2%. The monetary unit used to state these "fair share" amounts? No, it wasn't Euros; it was US dollars.
Or maybe that doesn't illustrate our relevance; maybe it just illustrates that we have a lot of money. (Or more accurately that there's a lot of US money - that doesn't mean that we have the money.)
Comments