US Foreign Aid

Aid to Ukraine has been in the news a lot, lately; now there is word that there is an aid package due to be sent to Lebanon. My post has nothing to do with aid being withheld to Ukraine or the impeachment flap.

What I wonder is what are we (US), doing sending almost half a billion dollars to Lebanon and Ukraine, combined, when our financial house is not nearly in order. This is only for fiscal year 2019.

Rexedgar said:

Aid to Ukraine has been in the news a lot, lately; now there is word that there is an aid package due to be sent to Lebanon. My post has nothing to do with aid being withheld to Ukraine or the impeachment flap.

What I wonder is what are we (US), doing sending almost half a billion dollars to Lebanon and Ukraine, combined, when our financial house is not nearly in order. This is only for fiscal year 2019.

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The answer is quite simple. We do it in order to advance our own global strategic interests. However, if you're saying that we should care less about power projection, and more about domestic affairs, I'd be inclined to agree.

Rexedgar said:

Aid to Ukraine has been in the news a lot, lately; now there is word that there is an aid package due to be sent to Lebanon. My post has nothing to do with aid being withheld to Ukraine or the impeachment flap.

What I wonder is what are we (US), doing sending almost half a billion dollars to Lebanon and Ukraine, combined, when our financial house is not nearly in order. This is only for fiscal year 2019.

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Because cash diplomacy is cheaper than bullet diplomacy.

US foreign aid to Israel for 2019 is cumulatively almost $5 billion.

Relatively speaking, what Ukraine and Lebanon receive per year is couch change.

Lebanon has over 1M Syrian refugees. I assume that is part of the reason.

Rexedgar said:

Aid to Ukraine has been in the news a lot, lately; now there is word that there is an aid package due to be sent to Lebanon. My post has nothing to do with aid being withheld to Ukraine or the impeachment flap.

What I wonder is what are we (US), doing sending almost half a billion dollars to Lebanon and Ukraine, combined, when our financial house is not nearly in order. This is only for fiscal year 2019.

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Federal spending for 2018 was $4 trillion.

$500 million is a freaking rounding error for the US federal budget.

We aren't running deficits because of foreign aid. The amount we spend on foreign aid is chicken scratch. Seriously. 75% of federal spending is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, interest on the debt, and the Veterans Administration.


As to why? We sent military aid to Ukraine because the Russian army already annexed a part of Ukrainian territory (Crimea) and is itching to take more. Ukraine is screwed without aid from the US and Europe.

We're sending military aid to Lebanon so that it is less dependent upon Iranian aid, which is mostly going to Hezbollah. Lebanon also is not a threat to our biggest ally in that region (Israel).

We should also keep in mind that foreign aid isn't strictly transactional. It is rarely so blunt as "we give you military aid, therefore you will vote with us every time at the UN." A lot of it is about promoting US influence and goodwill in indirect ways, being a good ally, and building ties. In that respect, foreign aid is usually a bargain, especially since not spending it that way can end up creating multi-trillion dollar military quagmires.

Visbek said:

Federal spending for 2018 was $4 trillion.

$500 million is a freaking rounding error for the US federal budget.

We aren't running deficits because of foreign aid. The amount we spend on foreign aid is chicken scratch. Seriously. 75% of federal spending is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, interest on the debt, and the Veterans Administration.


As to why? We sent military aid to Ukraine because the Russian army already annexed a part of Ukrainian territory (Crimea) and is itching to take more. Ukraine is screwed without aid from the US and Europe.

We're sending military aid to Lebanon so that it is less dependent upon Iranian aid, which is mostly going to Hezbollah. Lebanon also is not a threat to our biggest ally in that region (Israel).

We should also keep in mind that foreign aid isn't strictly transactional. It is rarely so blunt as "we give you military aid, therefore you will vote with us every time at the UN." A lot of it is about promoting US influence and goodwill in indirect ways, being a good ally, and building ties. In that respect, foreign aid is usually a bargain, especially since not spending it that way can end up creating multi-trillion dollar military quagmires.

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You are describing the US Postal Service model of fiscal responsibility! That won’t last either........the music is playing faster now.


A “musical chairs” reference.......


Edit: all the programs you pointed out are domestic programs.

Rexedgar said:

Aid to Ukraine has been in the news a lot, lately; now there is word that there is an aid package due to be sent to Lebanon. My post has nothing to do with aid being withheld to Ukraine or the impeachment flap.

What I wonder is what are we (US), doing sending almost half a billion dollars to Lebanon and Ukraine, combined, when our financial house is not nearly in order. This is only for fiscal year 2019.

Click to expand...

The U.S. sends aid to many countries, over 200 of them. You might be surprised at who the top five countries are that the U.S. sends aid to. The top five all receiving over $1 billion per year as of 2016: Iraq ($5.3 billion), Afghanistan ($5.1 billion), Israel ($3.1 billion), Egypt ($1.2 billion), and Jordan ($1.2 billion) Foreign aid is a drop in the bucket. Less than 1% of the budget.

So why does the U.S. send all that money to other countries? Every dollar the US spends on foreign aid advances US interests in the world. Not to mention actually occasionally doing some good. A whole lot of foreign aid dollars stay right here at home in the US - used by the recipients to purchase things from US corporations, like military weapons, medical supplies, etc. A good chunk of the money that went to Ukraine was spent on our U.S. Javelin missiles.

A lot of the non-military foreign aid money is spent on things that threaten the US, like helping other countries fight drug cartels that are producing drugs that end up here; or stopping diseases like HIV/AIDs, Hepatitis B, malaria, TB, etc., because disease doesn’t pay attention to national borders.

Rexedgar said:

You are describing the US Postal Service model of fiscal responsibility! That won’t last either........the music is playing faster now.

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What on Earth are you talking about?

Edit: all the programs you pointed out are domestic programs.

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Uh, yeah, that's the point. The US isn't running a deficit because of foreign aid. If you are complaining about "our fiscal house not being in order," then you need to understand where the money is actually going, as well as the results of cutting federal taxes for most of the past 50 years.

Visbek said:

As to why? We sent military aid to Ukraine because the Russian army already annexed a part of Ukrainian territory (Crimea) and is itching to take more. Ukraine is screwed without aid from the US and Europe.

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Indeed. Ukraine is now the first line of defense in Europe against an expansionist Putin regime. There is a hot war going on with UA soldiers KIA virtually every week.

Almost 14,000 dead, 25,000 wounded, 714 missing, 1.5 million displaced, 192 children killed by land mines, massive environmental damages, and the grim statistics go on and on.

Foreign aid

We send foreign aid because Congress is in bed with the corrupt leaders of the countries,the UN,IMF, and most importantly the money majicians (better known as the Federal Reserve) that are making loads of interest on every counterfeit dollar that Congress borrows from them each year. Read " The Creature from Jeckyll island by Edward Griffin. It is over 500 source filled pages and explains everything. No it's not a conspiracy theory because it is backed by over 1500 reliable sources. Someone mentioned that over 75% of the nation's debt .is interest payments.
..That is no accident and it is no accident that Congressmen amass millions of dollars on a salary of only $200,000 per year.