Fundmastery Blog

Kurt Brouwer June 23rd, 2008

This is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek post on an AP article that has deservedly received quite a bit of criticism in the blogosphere [emphasis added]:

Media To America: Disaster Seen As Catastrophe Looms (U.S. News - Capital Commerce Blog, June 23, 2008, James Pethokoukis)

“I know you’re just a reporter, but you used to be a person, right?” is a quote from the film Deep Impact and immediately came to mind after I read this article from the Associated Press. (It actually took two people to write it.) The “article” made me weep for my chosen profession. The absolutely disgraceful lead:

Is everything spinning out of control? Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism. Horatio Alger, twist in your grave. The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country’s sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.

I dunno, maybe contributing to our low national morale are media that 1) compare a weak economy—although one that has yet to suffer even a single negative quarter—to the disastrous economies of the 1930s and 1970s; 2) forget to mention that the average person buying a home in, say, January 2000, is still sitting on a 66 percent gain; 3) ignore the economy’s sky-high productivity, which helps make it the most competitive in the world; 4) ignore a global economic boom that is pushing up gas prices but also raising hundreds of millions of people out of poverty; and 5) for the heck of it, perpetuate the myth that college is unaffordable…

…America’s “can-do” attitude? We are coming off a record year for initial public offerings. I mean, I could go on and on here. I don’t know anyone who is giving up, other than the AP.

I always enjoy a good rant and Jimmy P. is on it today. Here is a previous post about his ongoing series on the economy:

Dude, Where’s My Recession?

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Kurt Brouwer June 23rd, 2008

Despite Economic Dip, Giving Rose In 2007 (Washington Post, June 23, 2008, Philip Rucker)

Americans donated $306 billion to charities in 2007, as U.S. philanthropic giving rose to a record level despite a downturn in the national economy, a survey being released today has found.

Charitable giving increased 1 percent last year, when inflation is taken into account, and surpassed $300 billion for the first time, according to the Giving USA survey.

But experts said that the growth may be short-lived, as many charities reported concerns that rising gas prices and turmoil in the housing and credit markets could hamper their fundraising this year.

In 2007, most of the donations, about $229 billion, came from individuals. But after years of steady growth, that figure remained stagnant last year, a sign that the softening economy may be pinching charitable contributions. Giving by corporations totaled $15.9 billion, an inflation-adjusted decline of 1 percent from the year before.

Meanwhile, giving from private foundations increased 7 percent and through personal bequests 4 percent, adjusted for inflation…

Despite the ‘experts’ gloom and doom about this year, the fact is that U.S. charitable donations hit a record high last year. And, donations have been growing steadily for years as you can see from a post we did last year:

Americans Gave More in 2006 (Fundmasteryblog, June 17, 2007, Kurt Brouwer)

You don’t see stories like this one from the Associated Press (via CNN) too often. Our media seem to present ‘ugly American’ type stories far more often than positive ones like this. Maybe I’m being a bit unfair. Nonetheless, it was great to see that ordinary Americans were again the most generous people in the world in 2006. What you didn’t know that Americans were the most generous people in the world in 2005 too [emphasis added]?

‘Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a new record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma — and the Asian tsunami…’

‘…”What people find especially interesting about this, and it’s true year after year, that such a high percentage comes from individual donors,” Giving USA Chairman Richard Jolly said.

Individuals gave a combined 75.6 percent of the total. With bequests, that rises to 83.4 percent…’

‘…[Professor Claire] Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7 percent. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73 percent, while France, with a 0.14 percent rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany…’

Just to put this year’s number — $306 billion — in perspective, let’s make a comparison. Compare U.S. giving to the total economic output of some well-known countries listed (here) in order of size of their economy. For example, Austria’s GDP (total economic output) for 2007 is estimated to have been $317.8 billion and that placed it 37th in the world:

37 — Austria …………..$ 318 billion

38 — US Charity…..$ 306 billion

38 — Switzerland ……$ 300 billion

39 — Philippines ……..$ 300 billion

40 — Hong Kong …….$ 293 billion

So, if our charitable giving were a country, we would rank 38th in economic output in the world. Not bad.

Via: BrothersJuddBlog

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Kurt Brouwer June 23rd, 2008

Source: Mackinac Center

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Kurt Brouwer June 22nd, 2008

Source: NASA / Michael Ledeen at The Corner

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Kurt Brouwer June 19th, 2008

I think you can get the message from this chart even though the resolution is not so great (due to the size and width of the original). It is from an excellent study, titled Education & Economic Mobility by Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institute. The study can be found here.

• Business , Economy , Geopolitics , Money , Personal Finance
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