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Originally Posted by Ak Mike
tompe - no, the original post was not about foreign aid. That was your interpolation, presumably arising from your "priors" as the economists call them.
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I think you are wrong here. What I commented was:
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Of course the USA is also the most generous country in the world, and gives more in charity than any other nation on earth. I very much appreciate you bringing that up. A great point.
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A country cannot give to itself. Also this quote seems to indicate that it is the country (and not individuals) that gives. I think it is impossible to read this as referring the donations inside a country.
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You say if you wish to use terms you have to understand them. Your use of the term "egoisim," though is irrelevant, unless you can distinguish "egoism" that leads to selfish actions from "egoism" that leads to virtuous actions such as donating to charity. You can use any term you want to smear the motivations of those who do good; the point is that private donation to charity is virtuous in a way that paying taxes is not.
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A "good" action done for the wrong reasons is not an example that can be used to support that the action was done for the right reasons. For this thread it is the motivation to do something that is important and not the outcome.