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Foreign Aid (Three Minutes to Read)

9/17/2012

 
Even though we have no money to spend we’re still sending $53 billion of borrowed money to other countries. Keep in mind that every dollar that goes out in foreign aid doesn’t come back so our economy/GDP shrinks. This is how it’s broken out:
     
Altruistic purposes ($11.7B)     
Economic/Political interests region stabilization and ally support ($33.9B)      
Military interests ($13.7B)

Israel receives a majority of the aid followed by Egypt (where our Embassy is being attacked). The other big recipients include: Africa, Columbia, and Pakistan. Keep in mind this budget is for aid only we also lend countries money which in most cases isn’t paid back. 
 
We have loaned over $1 billion dollars to Egypt that they haven’t paid back. This is a game played by our federal government to where they can post a budget that reflects $53 billion dollars for
Foreign Aid but the budget also includes a discretional fund that can be spent however our government sees fit. Basically it makes tracing money that goes over seas practically impossible; so much for transparency. This isn’t a new practice as it has been going on for years.      

It’s recognized that most of the aid we send doesn’t reach our intended target due to corruption. Plus let’s face it, when it comes to the Middle East a friend today can become your enemy tomorrow. We helped the Afghanis defeat Russia and it came back to bite us as the people
we trained turned their weapons on our troops. Even recently an Afghani solider who was going through military training killed his American instructor. 
 
My policy would be to not provide any country in the Middle East with military training, money, and/or weapons. They’ve been fighting amongst themselves for thousands of years; we’re not going to change it. I hate to say it but in some of these countries a dictator is the best way to stabilize their country. Human rights would be negatively affected but that’s happening now because of Islamic extremist. If another country wants to learn from us in order to pursue a democratic government then fine but Muslims want no part of Western culture so it’s ludicrous for us to try and force it; this only increases they’re hatred towards us. 
 
Our government is allied with various Middle Eastern leaders the problem is that we don’t have an alliance with their citizens and that’s why they do what they do to us. I believe that our Ambassador of Libya getting murdered sent us a clear message. Pictures taken of Hillary Clinton with various leaders in the Middle East are just for political purposes. It makes it look like we are forming good relationships over there when it certainly isn’t the case. The Obama Administration hasn’t done anything to effectively move our relationships forward; my question is if it’s even possible? 

President Obama recently said he didn’t know if Egypt and Libya were our allies and he received a lot of flak for saying it but I’m with him on this one. It might not have been politically astute for him to say these words out loud (outside of his administration) but what he’s saying is the truth. I’d rather these countries know we aren’t stupid. Most Muslims don’t want us there. Those who do are mostly in the business world but unfortunately there aren’t enough of them to protect our interests. American tourism is big business in Egypt so these business owners hate what’s happening. 
 
I guess what it boils down to me is how many civilians and soldiers have to be killed before we say we get it? What more can they do to communicate they don’t want us? It’s kind of like we're stalkers who just don’t take no for an answer. We are giving billions of borrowed money to these countries and what exactly are we getting in return? The regions certaintly aren't stabilized. Pakistan put the doctor in prison who helped us get Osam Bin Laden; what kind of an ally is this? I think it makes us look like idiots to continue sending money that is used to against us in the end. The only three countries I'd work worth at this juncture are Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and let the rest of the Middle-East companies fend for themselves. The only one I'd really trust as an ally is Isreal as they've constantly proven their loyalty. I wish I could say the same of us towards them.  
Damon
9/24/2012 01:52:09 am

Why in the world are we sending money to people who hate us? I certainly wouldn't do it in my personal life...it's absolutely ridiculous!

Tyler
10/24/2012 04:04:06 am

I never understood why we give money to countries who hate us. It might not be the best foreign policy but I'd like to pull all funds except to countries like Israel who would really appreciates us and would fight for us.


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    Author: John Mann

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