The perspective you have is simple and quite compelling, however as in all things (where humans are involved), it becomes far more complicated. Most people are basically good, they can also be selfish when essentials are sparse. It is quite easy to be generous when you have a surplus of resources, and this is where you typically find the generous side of most people. I believe the argument is that we currently have a deep lack of resources to be giving away financial aid to other countries when we have indebted ourselves to near the point of bankruptcy. I also would argue that philanthropy is not the duty of the government without the approval of its constituents. It is nice of them to profit off of payouts to other countries and corporations, however; we have significant infrastructure and social issues at home. I agree that it is a wonderfully generous act to loan your fire extinguisher to your neighbors, however it isn't very prudent when your house has just started to catch fire.