Two places to look for extra sources of US foreign aid

From Prof Jeffrey D. Sachs.

Sir, Congressman Jim Kolbe's attempt to explain America's miserable foreign aid record (just 0.22 per cent of gross domestic product, the lowest of all rich countries) because of social entitlements spending is off the mark ("Baby-boomers threaten the war on global poverty", July 27). The US consistently has the lowest gross national product share of domestic social spending as well as the lowest share of foreign aid of all the rich countries. The simple fact is that the US political system utterly neglects America's own poor as well as the poor abroad.

If Mr Kolbe wants to find some places to increase America's disgracefully low Dollars 4bn a year of aid to Africa (out of a Dollars 1,200bn economy, so just 3 cents for every Dollars 100 of income!), let me suggest two.

First, the recent tax cuts for America's rich have reduced government revenues by around Dollars 250bn a year. Second, US military outlays are now more than Dollars 500bn a year, probably more than all of the rest of the world's military spending combined.

Just one day's spending by the Pentagon, equal to Dollars 1.5bn, would finance four years' protection of anti-malaria bed nets for all of Africa's children in need.

Jeffrey D. Sachs,

Director of the Earth Institute,

Columbia University,

New York, NY 10027, US