US House Republicans planning to end all US foreign aid

[Jeneral2885]

http://www.devex.com/en/blogs/development-assistance-under-obama/house-republicans-open-proposed-us-aid-cuts-to-public-vote

unlike their conservative friends in the UK who are increasing it:

http://www.dfid.gov.uk

The funny world of global conservativsm

[habitual]

1. great, i bet our aid to israel is off the table tho.....

bullshit

[Jeneral2885]

3. depends which department they end

US foreign aid--development or non-development--comes from all the departments--state, defence, agriculture, HHS etc etc. At least inthe UK most of the development aid (proper dev aid) comes from DFID.

[SharonAnn]

23. Most of our aid to Israel and Egypt goes to defense contractors for weapons.

That will cause some big layoffs at the defense contractors.

Hmm, that would be interesting.

[NorthCarolina]

28. AIPAC funnels a hefty portion of those funds back to the US to line pockets in DC too though. nt

[Leithan]

31. If we don't help Israel destroy Palestine,

then we are obviously supporting genocide against the Israelis. Uh, I think...

[ananda]

2. How about ending deregulation and funding the welfare of ...

... Wall Street, bankers, and corporacrats?

That would save billions.

[golfguru]

17. Yes---TARP+STIMULUS=$1700 BILLION = Unemployment no better

[boppers]

21. 1.7 trillion?

Please show your work.

[CreekDog]

25. i hate to agree with Boppers but TARP + Stimulus wasn't 1.7 Trillion

stimulus was $787 Billion and TARP cost $25 billion, though originally, 750 Billion was to be authorized over a couple years.

[karynnj]

27. completely agree with you, but the second part is a Republican talking point and it too is untrue

Without Tarp and the Stimulus, unemployment would be much much higher. the Republicans created a "fact" that 8% was where unemployment would be and claimed Obama said the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8%. He never said that and they sound have pushed back on this about 9 months ago when they claimed that.

We have NO idea where unemployment would have gone had TARP not happened. What we know for fact is that many companies would have gone out of business. First the financial companies but then many capital dependent businesses. Then consider all the service businesses that go under as their customers no longer can afford them.

[CreekDog]

29. Well the first part was undeniably wrong, the second point they made was arguably wrong

I went for the easier one:D

[Skink]

4. unless they vote with us at the UN.

[Jeneral2885]

7. ?

?

[RollWithIt]

5. If its a complete cutoff for ALL countries until our budget is balanced...

Then I'm all for it.

[Jeneral2885]

6. cutting aid

is miniscule compared to say the subisidies US Farmers get which keep other global producers in poverty or the US defence budget. Aid is a necessary weapon to improve global cooperation

[robinlynne]

13. theoretically. But not in reality. We send billions to prop up military regimes.

There are a few projects, like working against hunger or HIV whihc are fantastic, but those are mostly non profits and private groups sending the aid, not our government.....

We send billions to Pakistan. It doesn't go for food. It goes for weapons and corruption.
Iraq, idem.

[Jennicut]

8. A drop in the bucket in order to balance the budget. It will do little to help.

Once again, medicare, medicaid, the military budget all contribute way more. Always false crappy arguments about how to really get the deficit under control. Also, addressing the tax issue would have a big effect on the deficit as well.

[Jeneral2885]

9. Aid can work

The UK's case shows it can. The problem is that US aid is disorganised from the start. Adn if you want to blame the Republicans, during Clinton's time, USA foreign aid was the most ineffective and the lowest amongst the OECD countries. Go read Riddell, R., 2008, Does Foreign Aid really work? and not Dambisa Moyo's nonense.

[Cali_Democrat]

12. chump change

The only way to truly balance the budget is to raise taxes, particularly on those making more than $250,000/year.

[Badfish]

10. Next step...

redefine 'foreign aid'

[BlueMTexpat]

11. It must be "forcible." nt

[mistertrickster]

14. Of course, foreign aid is really money given to gov'ts to buy our military stuff. nt

[Jeneral2885]

15. Aid has many definitions

ODA as defined by e the OECD is only for development.

The US a gives so many kinds of aid.

[azul]

16. To suppress their populations. Which creates extremists.

Which causes cowardly congress to spend more on wars and security. Thereby creating busy-work jobs and using up limited resources that should be directed toward stabilizing the population and avoiding destruction, if we had any brains.

Circle of bankrupting madness that profiteers promote with gusto.

[Jeneral2885]

18. ahem

the lame excuse of foreign aid propping up military regimes--any clear case studies? I'm sure you wouldnt have argued that during the height of the Cold War. Aid can work for development is used properly--such as inthe case of the UK and Nordic Countries.

[mistertrickster]

22. Everyone is for the IDEA of aid. Trouble is, it usually isn't aid.

Noam Chomsky . . . US aid has tended to flow to Latin American governments which torture their citizens. It has nothing to do with need, only with willingness to serve the interests of privilege. Broader studies reveal a correlation between torture and US aid and provide the explanation: both correlate with improving the climate for business.

[Jeneral2885]

24. If the US will follow the OECD

guidelines as their special relationship friend the UK does aid will be defined as official development assistance and no more.

[Citizen Worker]

19. The MICC won't stand for it. This is nothing more than grandstanding directed at the t-baggers

[vaberella]

20. Oh right...that means letting Haiti die...once again America helps!

Got to love the ways it's fucked up Haiti.

[high density]

26. Does that mean we're pulling our troops out of the DMZ, Germany, etc?

That seems to account for most of our "aid."

[craigmatic]

30. Ok as long as Isreal and Egypt are first.