Posted by Bignuncio at 10:57pm Feb 8 '11With the recent trouble in Egypt one of the many interesting facts to come to light is the fact that Mubarak has sixty billion dollars that was given to him over time by the U.S. government as financial aid.
This is hardly a unique case either. We give away thirty three billion dollars in foreign aid every year and the vast majority never gets past those governments who are in power in those countries.
This is not a secret or in any new, it's simply something that nobody really wants to talk about. Certainly some of that money that we give away is actually going to directly fight our interests such as in Pakistan where our tax payer money is going to their government, much of which sympathizes with the Taliban and even funds them.
I've been critical of our foreign aid for a long time and just wish more people would pay attention to this issue. I understand the intent and the reason people might think it is a good idea. When it becomes so painfully clear that this money is not going to poor people and not helping other countries in any way other than to make their leaders quite wealthy why do we still give it a pass. I also realize that this steady funding of the rich and powerful leaders of other countries can be a string that our government can attempt to use so our government can turn theirs into a sort of puppet.
With all this nonsense going on about cutting the budgets not one word has been said about foreign aid. Is there any way to defend this practice?
This is hardly a unique case either. We give away thirty three billion dollars in foreign aid every year and the vast majority never gets past those governments who are in power in those countries.
This is not a secret or in any new, it's simply something that nobody really wants to talk about. Certainly some of that money that we give away is actually going to directly fight our interests such as in Pakistan where our tax payer money is going to their government, much of which sympathizes with the Taliban and even funds them.
I've been critical of our foreign aid for a long time and just wish more people would pay attention to this issue. I understand the intent and the reason people might think it is a good idea. When it becomes so painfully clear that this money is not going to poor people and not helping other countries in any way other than to make their leaders quite wealthy why do we still give it a pass. I also realize that this steady funding of the rich and powerful leaders of other countries can be a string that our government can attempt to use so our government can turn theirs into a sort of puppet.
With all this nonsense going on about cutting the budgets not one word has been said about foreign aid. Is there any way to defend this practice?
Link: News about the issue.