Posted on 09/19/2016 7:00:04 AM PDT by VitacoreVision
Last week’s announcement of a record-breaking US aid package for Israel underscores how dangerously foolish and out-of-touch is our interventionist foreign policy. Over the next ten years, the US taxpayer will be forced to give Israel some $38 billion dollars in military aid. It is money we cannot afford going to a country that needs no assistance to maintain its status as the most powerful military in the Middle East.
All US foreign aid is immoral and counterproductive. As I have often said, it is money taken from poor people in the US and sent to rich people overseas. That is because US assistance money goes to foreign governments to hand out as they see fit. Often that assistance is stolen outright or it goes to the politically connected in the recipient country.
Just as bad is the fact that much of what we call “foreign aid” is actually welfare for the wealthy here at home. The aid package to Israel is a very good example. According to the agreement, this $38 billion will all go to US weapons manufacturers. So the real beneficiaries are not the American people, and not even Israeli citizens. The real beneficiaries are the US military-industrial complex. Perhaps the money won’t even leave Washington – it may simply go across town, from the Fed to the Beltway bomb-makers.
While even US government aid to desperately poor countries should be opposed on moral and practical grounds, it is even harder to understand US aid to relatively rich countries. At a nominal per capita GDP of over $35,000, Israel is richer than Japan, Italy, and South Korea. Not long ago Business Insider published a report by the Institute for the Study of War showing that the Israel is the most powerful military force in the Middle East. We know they have hundreds of nuclear weapons, a sophisticated air force, drones, and even nuclear weapons-equipped submarines.
So why is the US giving a rich and incredibly well-armed country a record amount of military aid? Part of it is that the US government believes it can coerce Israel to do Washington’s bidding in the Middle East. History shows that this is a foolish pipe dream. If anything, US aid subsidizes Israeli human rights abuses in Gaza and elsewhere.
Another reason is a very powerful lobby in Washington, AIPAC, that pressures Members of Congress to focus on Israel’s interests instead of US interests. Members of Congress should look at our economy, with effectively zero interest rates, an anemic non-recovery from the 2008 crash, historically low participation in the work force, and inflation eroding the value of the dollar and conclude that this might not be the best time to start handing out billions of dollars in foreign aid. Unfortunately most Members of Congress find it impossible to say no to special interest groups like AIPAC.
Here’s a better aid package for Israel: free trade, travel, friendly relations, and no entangling alliances. Israel should be free to pursue its national interests and we should be free to pursue ours. If individual Americans feel compelled to provide assistance to Israel or any other country or cause overseas they should be allowed. But the rest of us should not be forced to do so. Trade, not aid.
Dear Mr.Paul,
my question is why are we sending 75 million dollars
to Mexico to help build a wall on their southern border?
Less than one percent of our budget goes overseas
Afghanistan
Israel
Egypt
Top three
The rest of the top ten are Muslim or drug interdiction recipients
They certainly sucked you in.
The reasons it’s a BIG aid package..., it’s a ten year deal.
Genesis 12:2-3New International Version (NIV)
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
I believe Netanyahu was born in Philadelphia, attended high school there and college in Massachusetts before emigrating to Israel. Dual citizenship is possible.
EVERY country we send money to should be reviewed and vetted EVERY year. If the monetary support does not meet the criteria of “is this best for the USA and close allies” then they get nothing.
37 Billion? I'm pretty sure we've spent far more than that on Germany, Japan, South Korea, England, and so forth.
I think you are missing my point. If people are pushing for the reduction of expenditures on behalf of foreign governments, we should start with the most costly.
If there exists strategic arguments for spending this money in these other countries (such as Germany and Japan) then this same argument would very likely justify expenditures in the only stable place *IN* the middle east.
But again, if we are worried about money, let us first discuss England and Japan, etc.
As far as I know, the only agreement that would pertain here is the Camp David accords, which involves only Israel and Egypt. The U.S. basically makes an annual payment to Israel and Egypt. In exchange, Israel agreed to give the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt, and Egypt agreed to allow free passage through the Suez Canal (for all commerce, not just U.S. ships) in perpetuity.
The money that was given to the Iranians was “returned” to them, more than “given” to them. The U.S. government had frozen their assets in the U.S. since 1979 when they sacked the U.S. embassy and overthrew the Shah.
So they don’t need our money then.
I don’t think Ron Wants to give money to any foreign nation though
“So they don’t need our money then.”
Just for protection. And with the way Obama treated them, 38 billion isn’t enough.
I respect that position. But someone who is serious about such a position does not start the conversation with "Israel."
Because 100% of the money is tied to buying American Armaments (thereby propping up one of our key industries, and paying for a surrogate for the US, in order to secure the west’s oil supply from the Middle East. On the other hand, how much of the 1.3 Billion that we pay to the Palestinians is returned back to us for any benefit? Certainly not to buy peace, as it was supposed to do..
Israel is the ONLY US ally who always fought her wars with her own fighting men. USA NEWER had to sent combat troops to Israel. This is unique.
Israel is the only US ally who always fought her wars with her own fighting men.
USA newer had to sent combat troops to Israel. This is unique.
You don't have to sell me. I support Israel, and I support providing them with Military Aid to insure their survival.
Screw you, RP! It is money well spent!
For any country BUT, Israel and South Korea, I agree. And this includes well-to-do NATO countries.
“Why are we sending $150B to terrorist Iran?”
You question actually contains the answers to Small Paul’s question [see how fast I stole that?].
We are sending $38 billion to Israel over a period of years because the Obama administration got caught laundering $30 billion to Iran to fund terror against Israel and the United States. Announcing the dribs and drabs to Israel is purely a smoke screen.
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