Why do we send so much money overseas??

[bridgetender]

Moderate Democrat here, I'll be voting for Harris. The hurricane disaster relief money coupled with the widespread inflation we are all dealing with really makes me question why we send so much money overseas for humitarian efforts. We have a lot of needs in our own country that don't get taken care of. What would happen if we scaled back a lot of the money that we send to other countries??

Lol at calling yourself a moderate Democrat. You were consistently spouting right wing media talking points on IC.

With that said, welcome! I hope you will enjoy the board.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

It is also important to note that almost 90% of the military aid to Ukraine is actually spent in America as the military systems given to them are largely manufactured domestically by US companies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/29/ukraine-military-aid-american-economy-boost/

I continue to be amazed at the opposition to what we've been doing in Ukraine. Had Putin overrun the country and conquered it in a few weeks as most thought he would, there is no doubt in my mind that he would now be targeting (and perhaps invading) other neighboring states in an effort to rebuild the Soviet Empire. Instead Ukraine has humiliated the Russians repeatedly, the Russians have suffered heavy losses and become bogged down, and therefore much less likely to invade or seriously threaten any other neighboring state, and all we've had to do is arm the Ukrainians without losing a single American life. A great deal for us, imo. Yet Trump and his supporters want us to cut off all aid to Ukraine and basically let it be overrun, thus allowing Putin to focus on "absorbing" other neighboring states. Does anyone actually think that Trump, as President, would do anything to stop Putin from attacking other nations after conquering Ukraine?

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Moderate Democrat here, I'll be voting for Harris. The hurricane disaster relief money coupled with the widespread inflation we are all dealing with really makes me question why we send so much money overseas for humitarian efforts. We have a lot of needs in our own country that don't get taken care of. What would happen if we scaled back a lot of the money that we send to other countries??

What makes you think that Congress - and Republicans in particular - would take the money we supposedly "save" by not sending it overseas and give it to needy Americans here at home, or to other pressing needs? Republicans have certainly not shown much interest in providing serious funding to solve any of the domestic needs that we have, and in fact many of them have voted to cut funding for FEMA and other emergency and relief government agencies. Most likely they would do nothing with the money we save, except maybe to provide more tax cuts for the wealthy.

 

[Calheel]

Lol at calling yourself a moderate Democrat. You were consistently spouting right wing media talking points on IC.

With that said, welcome! I hope you will enjoy the board.

Saying he/she is a moderate Democrat is like the Woody Allen joke: “I am a reform Jew. Very reform. A Nazi.” The non-military aid we give to foreign countries is not even a rounding error in the federal budget.

 

[Duke Mu]

We don't. The military-industrial complex gets $800B+ a year.

 

[ColdBlueSteel]

What every American should know about US foreign aid

George Ingram provides explanations for popular myths surrounding U.S. foreign aid policy and its impacts.

www.brookings.edu

Myth #1: America spends too much on foreign aid​

Opinion polls consistently report that Americans believe foreign aid is in the range of 25 percent of the federal budget. When asked how much it should be, they say about 10 percent. In fact, at $39.2 billion for fiscal year 2019, foreign assistance is less than 1 percent of the federal budget.


Now I would be all for cutting all aid to Israel until they change leaders and stop bombing their neighbors.

That’s an interesting framing. Americans don’t understand how massive the federal govt spend is, and that was 2019…!

 

[mpaer]

Take NC for example We announce every year our 30 billion dollar budget (whatever it is ) That is actually very untrue We spend twice that...But the legislature announces the State Tax portion.That is half of what we spend, the other half is Federal tax $

 

[rodoheel]

It surely seems as if the GOP is down to just a few core assumptions and strategies:
(1) Assume that a large slice of voters are just ignorant. They don't understand how budgets work; they don't understand how inflation works; they have no idea when they are being lied to

(2) A large slice of GOP voters - also wildly ignorant - are driven by irrational fears. They used to be afraid of gay marriages. And they were afraid of men going to the bathroom in women's rooms, Now they are afraid of transsexuals. (And, God help them, drag shows.) These people are just stupid

(3) And the GOP can always count on a large chunk of voters just being racists,

I would call those things "facts" not "assumptions"

 

[DrillAndFillHeel]

Lol at calling yourself a moderate Democrat. You were consistently spouting right wing media talking points on IC.

With that said, welcome! I hope you will enjoy the board.

I think you have me mistaken with another user on IC. I didn't post much on IC, when I did, it was mainly asking questions. I'm not very political and don't watch much of the news

 

[DrillAndFillHeel]

What every American should know about US foreign aid

George Ingram provides explanations for popular myths surrounding U.S. foreign aid policy and its impacts.

www.brookings.edu

Myth #1: America spends too much on foreign aid​

Opinion polls consistently report that Americans believe foreign aid is in the range of 25 percent of the federal budget. When asked how much it should be, they say about 10 percent. In fact, at $39.2 billion for fiscal year 2019, foreign assistance is less than 1 percent of the federal budget.


Now I would be all for cutting all aid to Israel until they change leaders and stop bombing their neighbors.

Thank you for this link, this is exactly the info I was here seeking, as well as the wikipedia article on the Marshall Plan

 

[BlooVooDoo]

Moderate Democrat here, I'll be voting for Harris. The hurricane disaster relief money coupled with the widespread inflation we are all dealing with really makes me question why we send so much money overseas for humitarian efforts. We have a lot of needs in our own country that don't get taken care of. What would happen if we scaled back a lot of the money that we send to other countries??

IMO, and I think history bears this out, soft power is a better value than hard power, if not as sexy. Assuming your concern is actually expenditures and not just the idea of giving someone something without an obvious and immediate benefit (i.e. the freeloader argument), what it would mean is a decrease in our influence around the world - everything from maintaining friendly business relationships with countries that have natural resources our economy depends on to keeping Russian and Chinese military assets out of some areas of significant strategic importance.

 

[UNCRx85]

... what it would mean is a decrease in our influence around the world - everything from maintaining friendly business relationships with countries that have natural resources our economy depends on to keeping Russian and Chinese military assets out of some areas of significant strategic importance.

Hence why Putin and Xi would like Trump back in the White House. And why we know Russian bot farms actively push to prop up other right-wing jackoffs running for office in the US. Incompetent leadership up and down the government makes the US more dysfunctional and thus less reliable, globally. A weaker USA is in the best interests of China, Russia, Iran, etc.

IOW, we've enjoyed an unprecedented run of wealth/success/comfort in modern times - especially since we were first to the bomb in 1945. Us remaining the global leader in diplomatic influence and military/intelligence is not an immutable law of physics. The world order since 1945 has been incredibly good to the USA and it's allies.

It's easy to see why foreign adversaries see so much value in convincing Americans to feel (and vote) otherwise.

 

[dukeman92]

People who pose the question why are we sending aid to Ukraine should educate themselves on Vladimir Putin, his relationship with Mohammed bin Salman and how Russian-Saudi cooperation impacts the United States.

 

[BlooVooDoo]

People who pose the question why are we sending aid to Ukraine should educate themselves on Vladimir Putin, his relationship with Mohammed bin Salman and how Russian-Saudi cooperation impacts the United States.

And the Budapest Memorandum. If we walk away from a country that willingly gave up the 3rd largest nuclear arsenal in their time of need, there is no hope of ever offering similar security promises to a nuclear Iran or NK in exchange for disarmament.