4 Reasons Americans Aren't Giving for Pakistan - International - The Atlantic

4 Reasons Americans Aren't Giving for Pakistan - International - The Atlantic: "The two most common answers are the poor economy and donor fatigue. While they are certainly playing a role, these two factors provide an incomplete picture. The economy was just as bad in January as it is now, with U6 joblessness unchanged and unemployment actually decreasing from 9.7 to 9.5 percent. The much-cited 'donor fatigue' claim argues that people are currently short on expendable cash or even human sympathy after the Haiti earthquake of seven months ago. However, if donor fatigue were really such a powerful force, then the world would not have responded with an overwhelmingly generous $5 billion in aid to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which occurred just over nine months after the 2004 tsunami. Clearly there is something more at play. Here are four factors more plausibly contributing to the low individual U.S. giving rate in response to the Pakistan floods."