Why do we have to send so much foreign aid.

[Comrad]

Why do we waste so money by sending so many other countries "aid" when everyone is pretending as if money is hard thing to come by these days ?

What makes me wonder even more is why WE have NEVER received foreign aid ourselves.
It would be such a cool thing to see one morning--a crate/box in my back yard filled with goodies packed in them. Would be cool to see a school bulidt or something the people could benefit from.

Basically, those people can take care of themselves.
People are always speaking of ways to cut budges and save money and yet we are continuously just giving away money to other countries for no real reason other than "they need it" fuck that!
What kills me the most is how much they hate Americans and the government continues to give them aid...Why.Im sure when we had our disasters those fools were probably kicking back and watching the TV while cackling as the events unfold. I believe if we stopped with this "foreign aid" bull shit we would be in a better place.

 

[fetaby]

Couple things...

We do receive foreign aid. We get ours from China. We use it to fund wars.


And the aid we send out, accomplishes more than food drops. It keeps those countries dependent on the aid. Because in the case of a short term disruption in aid, the results can be catastrophic for those countries' populations. Food perishes and has to be replenished, and a disruption in that process leaves people starving....

And given time, those people could take care of themselves. But what you aren't quite getting is that it's in the best interest for American companies to keep those countries right at their current level of economic development. These countries are the same countries that corporations like Walmart, American Eagle, Pier One, etc. employ to manufacture many of the consumer goods we enjoy. If we took away the aid, and those countries had to develop their own economies... Do you think they'd allow their people to work as wage slaves? Of course not. But while we control their money, we (in essence) control their country. And we can send in our companies to take advantage of the resources there, be it slave labor or wide open spaces to pollute with questionable manufacturing processes.

Trust, the whole point of "money" is to "buy". And we are getting more than a fair deal for the money spent.

If our government wanted to "balance the budget" they'd go after the pork spending in the defense budget. One day in the Iraq war costs the same as one year of food stamp assistance programs...

 

[pat grimshaw]

…And given time, those people could take care of themselves...

My grandmother said she was so happy when the big new glossy United Nations building was built in the centre of the Land of the Free. She said it was to house all those different departments. One department to end war, another department to preserve culture, another to cure all diseases, and another department to solve 'the Africa problem' so that given time, all those people could take care of themselves.

 

[Telstra]

Because we breathe from the same atmosphere.
If we breathe different air, we don't need to give aid.

 

[refujiunderground]

Why do we waste so money by sending so many other countries "aid" when everyone is pretending as if money is hard thing to come by these days ?

What makes me wonder even more is why WE have NEVER received foreign aid ourselves.
It would be such a cool thing to see one morning--a crate/box in my back yard filled with goodies packed in them. Would be cool to see a school bulidt or something the people could benefit from.

Basically, those people can take care of themselves.
People are always speaking of ways to cut budges and save money and yet we are continuously just giving away money to other countries for no real reason other than "they need it" fuck that!
What kills me the most is how much they hate Americans and the government continues to give them aid...Why.Im sure when we had our disasters those fools were probably kicking back and watching the TV while cackling as the events unfold. I believe if we stopped with this "foreign aid" bull shit we would be in a better place.

excuse me but have you been to anywhere outside the united states? it's time for you to take a vacation.

what you FAIL to realize is that not all places are like america or western europe. you sound like someone who doesn't even have the slightest idea of what you're talking about let alone, you sound someone who hasn't had to do without period. maybe you should see what these people are going through before you talk.

here's what gets me about this whole foreign aid mess. look @ the whole "stop kony" bullshit. you have these people coming out the woodwork taking advantage of these people that are coming out of conditions that are set up that way by countries like america or europe. so basically you have some leader being put in there by the us government through the cia, they basically tear the country up and put it to a state where it's complete hell on earth all just so the us could stay the way it is. so after awhile when our government let's that pawn run things for awhile, our government suddenly turns from heel to face sending in our troops to rid the place of whoever and then you have these organizations coming around on some "savior" shit.

what i'm saying is it's not the people that reside in that country's fault for the hell they have to live in when they're not in control of the things going on. LOOK AT US. we all would be working but look @ how things are right now. there aren't that much places hiring and the economy is shot to pieces. is it OUR fault?

 

[fetaby]

what i'm saying is it's not the people that reside in that country's fault for the hell they have to live in when they're not in control of the things going on.

Typically, when the people tire of the shenanigans it's Viva la Revolución.

Arab spring roll? They're yummy!

 

[refujiunderground]

Typically, when the people tire of the shenanigans it's Viva la Revolución.

Arab spring roll? They're yummy!

sure why not, thank you. you got some robitussin? i think i'm coming down with something. been sneezing my head off since 6 in the evening.

 

[fetaby]

My grandmother said she was so happy when the big new glossy United Nations building was built in the centre of the Land of the Free. She said it was to house all those different departments. One department to end war, another department to preserve culture, another to cure all diseases, and another department to solve 'the Africa problem' so that given time, all those people could take care of themselves.

Allow me to update my post?

And given time, those people could take care of themselves... Provided everyone else left them the fuck alone.

That's what people do, they survive.

 

[fetaby]

sure why not, thank you. you got some robitussin? i think i'm coming down with something. been sneezing my head off since 6 in the evening.

No robo for you.

But if you feel a sneeze coming on, try saying "cauliflower". The word makes you move your mouth in a way that makes sneezing stop. It works sometimes...

 

[The_Reaper]

Lots of things to say here, and a lot of people have already covered a lot of good points, but I'll throw in my two cents.

For starters, a lot of Western Nations have received foreign aid. The big difference is that the bulk of that aid comes in the form of loans that eventually (though unlikely) will have to be paid back at some point. That's part of why nations have national debt, as we owe money to other countries for a variety of reasons.

Some of these poorer countries also have been given aid on the condition of repayment; but that is never going to happen, hence why there is a move for third-world debt relief, as the repayment of the interest (not even the principle) on the 'loan' is not allowing these nations to get out of debt.

And then there's the fact that places in Africa are in the state they're in partially due to Western interference. Africa was THE place for imperialism, and dozens of European nations expanded their reach into the area and sucked what resources they could out of the place and left it in worse shape than when they came.

Granted, there were African rulers in those days who also did harm to their region (People like Mansa Musa of the Mali, who depleted massive amounts of gold resources on gifts, and construction efforts, simply because he could.) But our failed imperialistic policies, not to mention the current attitude of trade relations with these poor countries, keep them poor and in dire straights.

We provide foreign aid because it is the right thing to do. We are partially responsible for the mess they are in, and we should be doing what we can to help get them on their feet.

This aid is not going to nations who are already feeding and looking after their people; it's going to nations that are failing and we're hoping to get them to that point. But the aid isn't designed to last forever either; once a nation has found its legs, then we need to implement policies to keep them there while slowly scaling back aid so that we can focus on helping another nation.

This is the right thing to do.

And besides, if you took 1/2 of what the US spending on military spending and put it towards poverty, we could likely wipe out the need for foreign aid in under 5 years.

 

[kevin23]

A chart of foreign aid U.S. Foreign Aid Summary , even Russia who never agrees with us on any issue gets 67 million. But Isreal and Egypt are the big winners.

US gives billions in foreign aid to world's richest countries then asks to borrow it back | Mail Online

Colombia $461.2m

Mexico $316.7m
Egypt $255.7m
Philippines $128.2m

India $126.6m
Russia $71.5m
China $27.2m
Brazil $25m
Thailand $16.75m
Turkey $8.2m
.

 

[Telstra]

A chart of foreign aid U.S. Foreign Aid Summary , even Russia who never agrees with us on any issue gets 67 million. But Isreal and Egypt are the big winners.

US gives billions in foreign aid to world's richest countries then asks to borrow it back | Mail Online

Colombia $461.2m

Mexico $316.7m
Egypt $255.7m
Philippines $128.2m

India $126.6m
Russia $71.5m
China $27.2m
Brazil $25m
Thailand $16.75m
Turkey $8.2m
.

Thats not much. The amounts are peanuts compared to trillions of dollars spent on Iraq war.

 

[evanrick]

a better question is why we spend 50% of our entire budget on the military?

 

[Corny]

It's just so that at least a few other countries still like you