Comments on: Sheiks and Sultans - Have Opened Their Wallets ! http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their.html Real Time News and Satire harvested daily from around the Blogosphere... Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:23:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Patrick ASD http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their.html#comment-24 Patrick ASD Fri, 31 Dec 2004 01:59:00 +0000 http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their-wallets.html#comment-24 I commend you on your quick update, not everyone would do this so promptly (or at all).<br /><br />I didn't get the same impression from the <a HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fenglish.aljazeera.net%2FNR%2Fexeres%2F3FEBA6A3-D338-4176-860E-8BEE68C83127.htm"> Aljazeera article</a> that you did. Although it does refer to Saudi Arabia as 'oil rich' I just read that as being a contrast to the poverty of Cambodia who also donated funds rather than any barbed comment. That is, I read the article as saying that nations rich and poor have been moved by this disaster.<br /><br />Regarding your point about currency normalization. Well I'm no economist so I can't answer very usefully. The CIA Factbook provided the estimated 2004 GDP figures which I used in my calculations. The figures are calculated using the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) method. (details can be found under 'GDP methodology' on the CIA Factbook <a HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cia.gov%2Fcia%2Fpublications%2Ffactbook%2Fdocs%2Fnotesanddefs.html">notes and definitions page</a>.) Whether this method of calculating GDP would significantly skew the apparent size of the donations I'm really not qualified to say. However I think that they probably still offer some useful insight into the relative 'generosity' of different nations, which is what I was looking for. I commend you on your quick update, not everyone would do this so promptly (or at all).

I didn’t get the same impression from the Aljazeera article that you did. Although it does refer to Saudi Arabia as ‘oil rich’ I just read that as being a contrast to the poverty of Cambodia who also donated funds rather than any barbed comment. That is, I read the article as saying that nations rich and poor have been moved by this disaster.

Regarding your point about currency normalization. Well I’m no economist so I can’t answer very usefully. The CIA Factbook provided the estimated 2004 GDP figures which I used in my calculations. The figures are calculated using the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) method. (details can be found under ‘GDP methodology’ on the CIA Factbook notes and definitions page.) Whether this method of calculating GDP would significantly skew the apparent size of the donations I’m really not qualified to say. However I think that they probably still offer some useful insight into the relative ‘generosity’ of different nations, which is what I was looking for.

]]> By: ZZ OpenWeb Staff http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their.html#comment-23 ZZ OpenWeb Staff Fri, 31 Dec 2004 00:19:00 +0000 http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their-wallets.html#comment-23 You know Patrick you make a good point. We stand corrected. Will edit to reflect your insight. Wonder why Al-Jazeera chose to list this information the way they did? Have you left a comment on their site as well? -- zzb You know Patrick you make a good point. We stand corrected. Will edit to reflect your insight. Wonder why Al-Jazeera chose to list this information the way they did? Have you left a comment on their site as well? — zzb

]]> By: Patrick ASD http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their.html#comment-22 Patrick ASD Thu, 30 Dec 2004 20:47:00 +0000 http://zardozz.com/zz/2004/12/sheiks-and-sultans-have-opened-their-wallets.html#comment-22 'Oil Rich Middle Eastern Nations...Your governments are an embarrasment to your people. Impovrished countries like Cambodia gives what it can.'<br /><br />So it seems like you are reading the table you quote from Aljazeera as showing that Cambodia and the U.S. are giving aid generously while those 'oil rich nations' are being mean. But here are some calculations I have done based on the GDP of the countries using the same aid figures from Aljazeera to calculate the aid pledged as a proportion of GDP (ie how much they are giving as a proportion of how much they have, simplisticly put):<br />USA - 0.00031%<br />UK - 0.00174%<br />Canada - 0.00344%<br />UAE - 0.00347%<br />Saudi Arabia - 0.00347%<br />Kuwait - 0.00500%<br /><br />Notice anything about that list. What I see is that, as a proportion of what they have, the 'oil rich nations' are being relatively generous in what they give. Also I notice that the USA are an order of magnitude behind those 'oil rich nations' when their generousity is measured this way.<br /><br />I'm not certain that it is up to me to judge whether people in other countries should be embarrased by the international aid decisions made by their governments. But if I did I might look a little harder at my own government before pointing my finger elsewhere. I can say that the country of which I am a citizen does relatively well in that list and I still think that they can and should do a lot more. ‘Oil Rich Middle Eastern Nations…Your governments are an embarrasment to your people. Impovrished countries like Cambodia gives what it can.’

So it seems like you are reading the table you quote from Aljazeera as showing that Cambodia and the U.S. are giving aid generously while those ‘oil rich nations’ are being mean. But here are some calculations I have done based on the GDP of the countries using the same aid figures from Aljazeera to calculate the aid pledged as a proportion of GDP (ie how much they are giving as a proportion of how much they have, simplisticly put):
USA - 0.00031%
UK - 0.00174%
Canada - 0.00344%
UAE - 0.00347%
Saudi Arabia - 0.00347%
Kuwait - 0.00500%

Notice anything about that list. What I see is that, as a proportion of what they have, the ‘oil rich nations’ are being relatively generous in what they give. Also I notice that the USA are an order of magnitude behind those ‘oil rich nations’ when their generousity is measured this way.

I’m not certain that it is up to me to judge whether people in other countries should be embarrased by the international aid decisions made by their governments. But if I did I might look a little harder at my own government before pointing my finger elsewhere. I can say that the country of which I am a citizen does relatively well in that list and I still think that they can and should do a lot more.

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