I agreeto Idea Eliminate foreign aid to nations with corrupt leadership
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Eliminate foreign aid to nations with corrupt leadership

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How many times do we have to give millions of dollars to nations that repeatedly funnel money into their own pockets? The American people opened their wallets to the devastation following Haiti's earthquake yet were less than forthcoming to help following the Pakistan floods. Why? Because we as a nation have repeatedly given money to the Pakistani government only to have it not reach the people in need. We see the same thing happening in Afghanistan. We need to hold leaders accountable for every dollar of tax payer money we send overseas and cut off those governments that refuse transparency of their records. We would save BILLIONS as a nation and would not be contributing to corrupt regimes around the world.

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Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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Comments (7)

  1. Community Member

    Two comments in response:

    1. Most US foreign aid monies do NOT go to host country governments. The money is typically spent via contracting mechanisms to provide particular goods or services. There are problems with the procurement process, yes, but admitting that is quite different from the blithe and incorrect assertion that we're simply shoveling money wholesale into the pockets of foreign governments.

    2. Still, it remains true (and the spirit of this post gets to this) that we really aren't able to give adequate account of tax payer money spent in places like Afghanistan. That's a problem of US government staffing, not NECESSARILY an inherent problem in aid. Consider: USAID manages approximately $1 billion in Afghanistan, with only a meager skeleton crew keeping that ship afloat (several hundred people). Yet USAID itself has virtually no control over where its money goes. Most US government employees who work in foreign aid recognize that the system would be more effective and accountable if there were more money dedicated to staffing and less money for program expenses.

    Taxpayers and congressmen balk at this for natural reasons, akin to how you and I react when we see nonprofits with large overhead expenses. We intuitively want the majority of our aid money going to do what we want it to do, not managing overhead. But managing that sum requires overhead - financial controls, project managers, and the like.

    2 years ago
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  2. Community Member

    Simply looking at the way we handle all foreing aid would be very helpfull.

    Instead of making one huge lump of money available to virtually every nation on earth we need to exclude the countries who are our enemies. If their human rights, ecomonic and other country policies are directly detramental to the United States then they get NO aid from us.

    Pretty simple really.

    2 years ago
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  3. Community Member

    I agree with the above statement, exclude the enemies, the countries that hate us, the countries that harbour terrorists, violate human rights, etc. It would save billions.

    2 years ago
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  4. Community Member

    I don't think we should be giving any money to anyone outside of the U.S. until we take care of our own, our starving children, economy, middle class and unemployed deserve this money more than anyone outside of our country. I think it is time to get things straight, how can we take money from our employees and pass it right to other country who, I am sure would not readily help us in our times of need (Because as some say we are so rich!). With all the millions upon millions given away, we could easily be out of debt soon if there was a moratorium on funds or limited funds going out of the country for a period of time. I wonder if the need for political control could be overlooked for just a little time?

    2 years ago
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  5. Community Member

    Wow, you folks are really nailing it on the head. I can't believe we still ponder the notion of lending a hand to a hostile or human rights violating country. If we took this stance perhaps it would set the tone for the rest of the nations.

    2 years ago
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  6. Community Member

    I disagree.

    First, foreign aid is less than 1% of the federal budget. Even if you could somehow eliminate foreign aid spending 200 times over, you still wouldn't have eliminated the national debt.

    Second, what we do spend on foreign aid is money well spent. For example, it's cheaper for us to support stable governance than it is to be in conflict with a failed state. If we help developing countries learn how to respond to medical crises, we're less likely to have to respond to a global pandemic at home. And strengthening emerging economies helps to develop markets for the goods we're trying to export.

    By spending money on foreign aid, we're actually saving money, in the long run.

    2 years ago
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  7. Community Member

    Why make the people who have no vote or say so in who is incharge suffer? The U.S. Gov is selfish and money hungry thats why we are in the situation that we are in now.

    2 years ago
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