Might Romney's debate actually encourage Iran to get nukes?

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Well, the idea that the US gives too much in foreign aid is generally (as far as I know) advanced by the right wing, and its leaders tend to be very friendly to Israel. Unlike aid to various other countries, it is simply not something to galvanize the electorate, and the strength of the Israeli lobby is an additional factor why it is not discussed too much (except by non-mainstream figures like Ron Paul). Many of the key political issues are chosen for their political benefits, not economic ones - and criticizing the aid to Israel will likely carry large political losses and little economic benefit.

Let's be frank - in the overall US budget, especially when compared to defense spending, the money given to Israel is not a really huge feature. Personally, I consider most of the talk about deficits in the US simply political posturing. Just look at the US military spending - it's higher than that of most other contenders combined, and that's still never enough. Any potential slowing in the growth will cause hand-wringing and chest-beating. Infrastructure repair or public education, ironically, end up a lot more controversial than the growth in spending. Just because it is nonsensical to me does not make it any less truthful to millions of people.

 

I would have said the exact opposite. Or maybe I'm not interpreting what you're saying the way you intend. The right wing is certainly more friendly to Israel (not that Obama or Democratic presidents in the past have been unfriendly), but I don't think the right wing is all that emphatic about giving "too much" foriegn aid.

And has been pointed out, cutting out a few billion here and there isn't going to make a big dent in US spending or the federal debt. We've reached the point that anything on the order of less than a hundred billion isn't going to make much of a difference.

 

Sorry, for some reason while I've been getting the daily digest alerts for the games forums, I didn't get the "instant notification" alerts for this thread. I'm going to try changing my subscription to digest, and yes, I did check the junk folder.

Anyways, this probably belongs in another thread, but how can we justify giving aid out at all in light of the size of our own debt. Last year we nearly defaulted on our loans, so if anything WE are the ones needing aid. With both sides saying there need to be cuts, shouldn't the first thing we cut be aid to other countries so we can take care of ourselves? Balance the budget and then put the money you would have given to other countries towards paying down that darn debt. It may only be a drop in the bucket, but a little bit here and there can add up to a lot of savings.
As for the political fallout, just say "Look, we're broke. We need to bail ourselves out before we can bail you out. It's time you stand on your own two feet like we're expected to. "
At the very least, cut the amount of aid down to something comparable to the average paid out by other countries like China. Let somebody else foot the bill for once.

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Just to clarify, my talk of slashing AID is NOT limited to Israel, but for ALL countries we dole out money to. At the very least instead of giving them the money, make it a market rate (or at the very least prime rate) loan with a set timetable for repayment.

 

"At the very least, cut the amount of aid down to something comparable to the average paid out by other countries like China."

It depends on whom you make your measuring stick. If it is the EU countries, the US is pretty much in line. If it's China, then yes, you can cut back... though China is getting a fair amount of pull due to its investments in various developing countries.

I tend to view US aid as tied to US geopolitical interests first. It tends to go to places where the US wants to buy influence or has other interests it wants protected.

 

I remember watching the early Race, while Bachman and the other toons were still around.

In one debate that i watched, they all - save for Ron Paul - were gung-ho on war and Iran, that I had a moment of doubt, one that made me believe it was all a show and acting. Bad acting at that.

Going on and stirring the Ruskies and the Cold-War mentality all the time.

It creped me out to see such people represent the World-Power Nr.1.

They might invade or nuke your country if you disagree...

 

I was looking at things like this www.oecd.org/dac/aidstatistics/50060310.pdf among other sites that seem to indicate that we give out twice as much aid as other countries. Finding an actual comparison with Google took some doing and I admit I'm not 100% certain I have gotten the correct data for what I was looking for.