In Reply to: RE: We all made this bed. Now we have to lie in it! posted by Inmate51 on March 29, 2012 at 21:06:45:
"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money." :-)
But seriously, foreign aid is a small part of the federal budget, about 1%. The average American thinks it's 25% of the budget, and believes that it should be reduced -- to a level higher than it actually is. Go figure.
Hey, I saw the Hilton in Cairo once. I asked where the Nile was, and the guide said "behind the Hilton."
Anyway, I think you'd find that foreign aid buys us an awful lot. Pakistan, for example, would be an enemy without it -- this way, it's only half an enemy. That money gives us a lot of leverage in a part of the world in which business is done through palm greasing.
Somalia doesn't really have a government. I think Libya's doing well, that was a foreign policy triumph. The Egyptian dictators have been our allies for many years now.
Also, I think it's an exaggeration to say we don't have any money. We're still far and away the world's richest country. From an economic perspective, the domestic federal debt should be larger than it is, not smaller, because the economy is currently demand limited and monetary policy has been tapped out. The recession would have been over a couple of years ago if we'd taken the advice of economists, rather than demagogic politicians.
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Follow Ups
- RE: We all made this bed. Now we have to lie in it! - josh358 05:29:21 03/30/12 (2)
- RE: We all made this bed. Now we have to lie in it! - Inmate51 08:20:53 03/30/12 (1)
- RE: We all made this bed. Now we have to lie in it! - josh358 09:37:16 03/30/12 (0)