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| Economy |
| ‘Why All This Foreign Aid?' |
| 2024-07-19 |
| [AmericanThinker] Many people are justifiably tired of failed overseas wars, fought by men who were lions but led by donkeys, in which defeat was consistently wrested from the jaws of victory. These conflicts led to trillions of dollars in wasted money, over 8,000 lost American lives, and entire regions upended and sent into the chaos, which has fueled the current immigration crisis in Europe and, partially, the United States. It can be tempting, with the current "Specter of the Global War on Terror" under which we live, to be cynical: "No more overseas bases" and cries to eliminate our military presence in over a hundred countries can be a seductive reaction to the abject failure of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I served in both conflicts as a soldier in the United States Army, and the day Kabul fell was similar to how many Vietnam veterans felt when they witnessed the fall of Saigon. INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY The economic lifeblood of a nation like the United States in 2024 is international trade — both the import and export of goods. To start: It is an abject crime against the national security of our nation that we have exported our manufacturing jobs overseas since the 1970s. Although this is a key factor in many of the problems affecting the U.S. today (see the cultural decline of the Rust Belt), it is not the most important theme in this article. Even if the United States can manage to return manufacturing jobs to the USA, we will still need to safely and securely export those manufactured goods to other nations. And unless we are exporting to Mexico and Canada (and in some cases, even then), those goods must be transported using naval ships. There are four key "chokepoints" to global trade: the Strait of Malacca in Asia; the Panama Canal in Central America; the Suez Canal in Africa and the Middle East; and the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the gate between the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Many billions of dollars in U.S. overseas trade traverse all of these, and there are many other sea lanes important to U.S. trade that I do not have the space to elaborate on (Hormuz being one of them). Although one might ask, "Why not just go around them?," it is important to remember that operating a ship costs fuel, pay and medical insurance for the crew, and maintenance. Without the use of these sea lanes, the price of international trade would go up significantly. |
| Posted by:Grom the Reflective |
| #4 |
| Posted by: Jack+Creanter7508 2024-07-19 21:39 |
| #3 ^ Where's the graft in that? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2024-07-19 12:13 |
| #2 has fueled the current immigration crisis in Europe and, partially, the United States. Might that have been the real reason all along? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2024-07-19 12:12 |
| #1 After working in an Embassy, I realized that USAID was a money laundering event, FMS was a bribery tool, and none of them worked. We need to end ALL foreign aid. There is no return on the dollar. Take the money we spend on water in other countries and fix our broken water systems. Fix our roads, end our national debt. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2024-07-19 10:39 |