America is the place that the rest of the world looks to for help. Where do our own citizens look when they are hungry, homeless or affected by a natural disaster?
We give billions of dollars to countries all over the world, many of which are countries where terrorism flourishes. Countries like Egypt ($1.5 billion in 2010), Jordan (per the Jordanian government from 2007 to 2011 reached 2.4 billion), Pakistan ($855 million in fiscal year 2011, not including emergency humanitarian aid), Gaza/West Bank ($500 million annually over the past decade), Not to mention that countries like Jordan and Egypt, as well as other middle eastern countries that receive US aid, are rich in oil, so why are we sending them more money?
Not all aid to foreign nations is a bad thing, but after four years of difficult economic times the question we should be asking is if we should be spending billions of dollars helping others when so many of our own are hurting?
Let’s take a look at the US economy and how those billions could help at home. Let’s start with the housing crises.
According the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the average foreclosure costs $77,935 while preventing a foreclosure runs $3,300. There were 918,000 foreclosures in 2009, 1.05 million in 2010, 1.2 million in 2011 for a total over 3 years of 3.17 million homes foreclosed. It would take trillions to bail them all out, and doing so isn’t the issue. The issue is the trillions that it cost the US in lost tax revenue and lower property values, not to mention programs that then had to be burdened with the then homeless.
How about feeding hungry Americans?
Feeding America, a food relief agency in the US (for the US), did a study in 2010. They found that Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. One in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America, or charities like them, for food and groceries, and 36% of the households served by food charities have at least one person working. This charity serves the working poor, who most likely don’t qualify for food stamp programs. Speaking of food stamps, 46.7 million Americans were using them in June of this year, the highest number ever, and food stamp benefits cost a record $71.81 billion to US taxpayers.
Should we even mention the fiscal cliff? Spending cuts and tax hikes will affect the working middle class. Businesses hit the hardest will layoff or close down. Jobless numbers will be astronomical. It will throw us into another recession, possibly a depression. Yet we continue to spend and pledge billions overseas, when cutting programs here will throw millions of Americans into financial ruin. Why?
Why are we sending billions of dollars to other countries when our own people are jobless, homeless and hungry? The aid that bothers me the most is the aid to places where they foster US hatred and attacks against us, places where terrorism flourishes. But any aid that could be used to help U.S. citizens who generated the money in question is questionable at best.
You can read Suzanne Olden’s article in full at this link.
Foreign aid is taking from poor people in a rich country and giving it to rich people in a poor country. It’s nothing short of international welfare. No way should the United States government be sending money to governments who are not our allies, who blatantly do not respect our country, and who work to compromise the safety of our allies and citizens abroad.
On what moral grounds can our government take from us in taxes to give to foreign countries in order to fulfill its own geopolitical agenda? How can we even spend money on foreign aid when we are $16 trillion in debt? Shouldn’t the government have other priorities?
