He has his flaws but is NOTHING like his caricature.
Hmm he is worse!
He distorts the truth in ways that the dimwitted amongst us cannot seem to parse.
Take for example his assertion that:
Americans also don't need to be taught how to give. We don't need to be taught how to take care of each other, or how to be charitable. We're charitable automatically. Why? We're Americans. In 2008, the American people gave $307 billion in charity. It was the second year in a row this is the last statistic that we have. The 2008 second year in a row that it was over $300 billion. Per capita, that's ten times the giving power of the people of France. Ten times the amount. Don't tell me we need to be more like Europe. Europe should be looking over here. How do we do it?
This line generated applause and chanting as though it was some kind of proof of something yet it is a sinister twisting of the facts.
How do we do it? We tie our aid to conditions that they buy our products! Maybe if he made his comparison to ALL Europe compared to America instead of tiny France he may have had a point. But, he didn't Japan is more generous than America per GDP and it is smaller..conveniently that point was neglected entirely.
The most generous countries are also the ones that do not tend to tie aid to their own products and services. The stingiest countries also, almost spitefully and nastily, force countries to buy their own services and products with the aid they give; which reduces free trade and commerce and harms the countries economy, as well as being simply selfish and conceited. Thankfully, many countries do not tie their aid. Countries that tie less than 10% of aid include Ireland, Norway and the UK, then Belgium, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden. The USA is the worst, and ties nearly 90% of its aid to developing countries. Italy is the second worst with 70%. The two worst countries for this obnoxious practice in aid-giving are also the two countries out of the most developed countries, who give least generously!
another inconvenient fact avoided
www.vexen.co.uk
America is not the most generous if measured by percentage of GDP. In fact, America is near the bottom next to Italy.
According to the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US gave between $6 and $15 billion in foreign aid in the period between 1995 and 1999. In absolute terms, Japan gives more than the US, between $9 and $15 billion in the same period. But the absolute figures are less significant than the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP, or national wealth) that a country devotes to foreign aid. On that league table, the US ranks twenty-second of the 22 most developed nations.
Rcade - I am surprised at your analysis. After reading Becks rantings and then that of Sirota I can see easily see how one looks like the ravings of a madman and the other is a short but reasoned analysis and an attempt to alert Americans to the dangers that Becks' foray into the depths of Fascism entails.
