You sometimes hear the suggestion that cutting off foreign aid would go a long way toward balancing the federal budget. The United States is the world’s leading donor of government aid to other countries, distributing twice as much as any other nation. But its $38 billion contribution in 2010 equaled less than 1 percent of federal spending. Private international investment dwarfs government aid; businesses worldwide poured $1.22 trillion into foreign investment in 2010, nearly 10 times the total amount of all official governmental aid. Coca-Cola alone plans $30 billion in direct foreign investment over the next five years.
Click on today’s infographic to see it full size and get more details, then get into today’s discussion below. Do you think business investments in other countries can be compared to foreign aid from governments?
