Ok lets say we quit giving money, troops, supplies, etc to other countries (even through the UN, IMF, World Bank, whatever) who would make up that large amount of money that would no longer be donated or loaned to other countries to improve their standard of living, increase thier security or improve thier infrastructure...without our equipment and ability to mobilize the UN loses its ability to do anything (provided a vote in the council would ever actually accomplish anything) the reason is Russia doesn't have the money to keep thier vehicles moving and they are the only ones with the equipment and the population to provide what we do...I do feel that if Russia could have kept the states together even after the fall of the government they could have kept thier superpower status but when one destroys the infrastructure without a new plan in place it can become difficult to finance the country. I view the necessity of multiple large industrialized countries as a much better choice, but since there are no other options at this time given China's Laze Fare concept for international aid we are the last superpower remaining...which makes us both loved and hated throughout the world

OK, I agree with you here.

I think you fail to realize the reason for all of this aid...

Our government does not do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Foreign Aid in the Federal Budget is basically corporate welfare with an excuse. Our government never just gives money to other countries. There are always strings attached.

90% of the money we give is in the form of military aid. The money never even goes to these countries. Instead, the money goes from the State Department to the American military contractor, and the weapons are sent to the country. In the Federal Budget, this appears under "foreign aid", but it is nothing more than a bone for the military contractors.

Likewise, 90% of the money that has been designated for "rebuilding Iraq" is more of the same. The money is simply being paid to American firms like Bechtel and Haliburton, even though there are Iraqi firms (who hire Iraqi employees) that can do the same work for less money. And even though Iraq has an unemployment rate of around 50%, Bechtel and Haliburton bring in workers from the Burma and Indonesia to do the work because they will work for less money.

And the worst part about this all is that these contracts are never bargained and there is no bidding process. The State Department vastly overpays in these contracts. Because the goal here is not really to provide aid, but instead to find a way in which more of our taxpayer dollars can be given to these large corporations.

And I'm sure you have read the articles over the last few years how Haliburton has been caught overcharging the government. Do you know what the penalty was? Nothing. They did not even have to return the money. The Justice Department never prosecuted anyone, and it was simply forgotton.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

while a large part of our self administered aid goes to these people moneys send through the world bank are administered for national infrastructure projects...Brazil had a loan in this manner, held by the united states that allowed them to get in more business to drive thier economy, and create the gasahol programs that have allowed them to claim oil independence 4th qtr of last year...that loan was held by the United States so a much as you like to vilify our government blanket statements are ballsy at least and ignorant at best

cheers
J

those "LOANS" to countries like Brazil were *NOT* asked for by those countries: they were forced upon them, with impossibly high interest rates, under the guise of "helping" the countries to modernize, usually by building out electrical infrastructure, etc. What result? Those countries are forever indebted to us allowing us to install more puppet governments.

Seriously, until there is explicit evidence to DISPROVE his account, read CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN.

I don't understand why there's such an infatuation with presuming that our country -- MERELY because it is OUR country -- is doing the right things for the right reasons??

__________________
MARC/CROSVS | UCLA Bruin, B.A. Econ, Aug 2004 | J.D., Thomas Jefferson School of Law, May 2008 -- MEMBER: California State Bar, December 4, 2008

2005 BMW 645 Cabrio | Black Sapphire Metallic, Ti trim | 6AT | fully loaded sans HUD

2000 Ford Mustang V6 | laser red on tan | 5-spd | track-prepped

how many people cheer when they have money forced to them and impossibly high interest rates....besides the interest rate thing with the world bank was broached and fixed about 6 or 7 years ago

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2899637.stm

http://www.aceee.org/press/brazil.htm

http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/Externa...7?OpenDocument


I am not saying that everything is done for the right reasons merely stating that they are always done for the wrong reasons is not correct

and I had to read Confessions for my international finance class great book lots of information and I by no means discount it just saying that while some of the moves made are quite unethical some things are actually done for the right reasons...

Amazon.com: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.

Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

thank you for that, eric

__________________
MARC/CROSVS | UCLA Bruin, B.A. Econ, Aug 2004 | J.D., Thomas Jefferson School of Law, May 2008 -- MEMBER: California State Bar, December 4, 2008

2005 BMW 645 Cabrio | Black Sapphire Metallic, Ti trim | 6AT | fully loaded sans HUD

2000 Ford Mustang V6 | laser red on tan | 5-spd | track-prepped

(p.s. funny how the usual suspects have dropped out of this discussion it seems like........)

__________________
MARC/CROSVS | UCLA Bruin, B.A. Econ, Aug 2004 | J.D., Thomas Jefferson School of Law, May 2008 -- MEMBER: California State Bar, December 4, 2008

2005 BMW 645 Cabrio | Black Sapphire Metallic, Ti trim | 6AT | fully loaded sans HUD

2000 Ford Mustang V6 | laser red on tan | 5-spd | track-prepped