This past week's 20/20 explores some of the myths of who gives and who doesn't in America and in the world.  It was a fascinating look at the giving habits of different segments of society.

A few points that were brought up:

• The working poor give the most (as a % of income)
• The non-working poor (welfare people) give the least, even as a %)
• Rich people give more (as a %) than middle class people.
• Conservatives give a lot more than liberals
• Americans give 7 times more to charity than Germans
• Americans give 14 times more to charity than Italians
• The US government gives less as a % of its income than other countries but more when considering the size of the US government as a % of GDP (in other words, its citizens do the giving instead).
• Americans gave away nearly $300 billion last year
• Giving to charity and helping others improves the health of the giver according to studies
• 28 of the 29 most charitable states as a % of income are red states.

One of the most interesting experiments they ran was a Salvation Army charity drop in front of the busiest places in town in San Francisco CA  vs. Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  In San Fran, it was in front of the Macy's. In Sioux Falls it was in front of the Walmart.

At the end of the experiment, the Salvation Army had collected twice as much from their location in Sioux Falls than the one in San Francisco despite the per capita income in San Fran being twice as much and the number of people who were near the Salvation Army spot significantly higher as well.

Other interesting research included a survey that showed that the more socialist the responder to the survey, they less they tended to give voluntarily. The people who want higher taxes tended to give less themselves.

It was a really fascinating episode.  The results weren't terribly surprising over all.