Acceptable face of capitalism

Giving by Bill Clinton; Alfred A. Knopf; Rs.900; 240 ppOne of the great lies spread around the world by communist propaganda and swallowed by the great majority of naƒÆ’‚¯ve liberals, is that America is a selfish, exploitative nation because it has consistently failed to donate one percent of its GDP by way of foreign aid to developing countries as stipulated by a United Nations resolution passed way back in the 1960s. For decades, self-righteous commies and fellow-travelling academics have been peddling UN data highlighting that the Netherlands, which contributes about 0.75 percent of its GDP, is the worldƒšžs most generous and caring nation. Yet although itƒšžs true that as a percentage of its massive $10 trillion economy the US government dishes out less of its GDP as foreign aid to third world countries than several other European nations, in absolute amounts official US foreign aid is much greater than of other countries because its GDP is the largest worldwide. Moreover UN statistics donƒšžt report that private charities of America ƒš‚ especially its much maligned capitalists and lay, non-official citizens ƒš‚ give more to global charitable causes than the rest of the world combined. For instance last year American businessmen, housewives and boy scouts and girl guides collected and donated a humungous $300 billion (Rs.1200,000 crore) ƒš‚ a sum equivalent to 30 percent of Indiaƒšžs GDP ƒš‚ to good causes around the world.Thatƒšžs why every sentient Indian ƒš‚ especially post-liberalisation Indiaƒšžs business community which is prospering like never before ƒš‚ needs to read Giving, a compelling account of how Americaƒšžs huge and extraordinarily efficient charity and philanthropy industry works. Indeed the greatness of America is not its massive arms stockpile or productivity of its world-beating business corporations, but in the millions of acts of intelligent caring, sharing and effective charity that American voluntary organisations practise on a daily basis around the world. If America has survived the worst efforts of nazis, communists, anarchists and jihadists for over 200 years, and is still the most attractive emigration destination of people around the world, the enlightened capitalism that hard-headed American businessmen, voluntary organisations and community leaders practise on an everyday basis is the prime cause. In particular this lucidly penned account of American philanthropy in action recounted by former two-term US president, Bill Clinton, needs to be read by captains of Indian industry and leaders of the trading community who even as they prosper mightily in the fast-growth Indian economy, are incrementally revealing the ugly face of uncaring Indian capitalism. Yet this marvellous book written by Clinton after he served the maximum permitted two terms in the White House, and later “narrowly escaped what could have been a fatal heart attack”, is not just fixated upon the magnanimity of the great and the good such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who have constituted huge charitable foundations with corpuses of $28 billion (Rs.112,000 crore) and $35 billion (Rs.140,000 crore) respectively. “In this book youƒšžll encounter givers old, young, and in between, rich, poor…