AMerican foreign aid

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I was in a debate with another person, from America, who claims that they give foreign aid to "almost every country in the world".

I told him it was doubtful, that would be a lot of money. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks

Overheal

We give AIDS to almost every country in the world, but I dont know about Aid. Eejit needs to go fish some facts.

SoupyNorman

Well the $500billion bailout will be sure to hit most banking systems in the world at one stage or another.


And on a more personal note, it's a disgrace that countries (or citizens) would want to brag about their donations...Have some grace and class and donate as 'Anonymous' :

Húrin

well if an american said it it must be true

Overheal

Húrin wrote: »

well if an american said it it must be true

Pi is exactly 3

Húrin

Overheal wrote: »

Pi is exactly 3

*physics collapses*

SoupyNorman

Overheal wrote: »

Pi is exactly 3

Take it back, TAKE IT BACK, you bastard creature from the loins of Satan...

Manic Moran

I'm inclined to think it's true. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of countries in the world receive aid of some sort, be it military, food, medical or simply financial from the US.

A general Google search finds the following.

A: According to the Congressional Research Office, in fiscal year 2004 the United States donated some sort of financial aid to about 150 countries. That assistance ranged from food, clothing and shelter for natural disaster victims to guns, tanks and other military aid.

told him it was doubtful, that would be a lot of money.

It is a lot of money. That's part of the problem. GW took no small amount of flak from his base over the amount of aid he was giving out, particularly the tripling of aid to Africa. "Why should we be helping out other countries when we have problems of our own here?" sort of thing.

NTM

Overheal

Trust NTM to represent Intellectual America in 7 different ways I will never be able to match

read: googling - im just too lazy

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Google tells me there are 195 countries approximately, I always thought there was about 260ish countries... hmm...

ART6

Manic Moran wrote: »

I'm inclined to think it's true. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of countries in the world receive aid of some sort, be it military, food, medical or simply financial from the US.

A general Google search finds the following.

A: According to the Congressional Research Office, in fiscal year 2004 the United States donated some sort of financial aid to about 150 countries. That assistance ranged from food, clothing and shelter for natural disaster victims to guns, tanks and other military aid.

It is a lot of money. That's part of the problem. GW took no small amount of flak from his base over the amount of aid he was giving out, particularly the tripling of aid to Africa. "Why should we be helping out other countries when we have problems of our own here?" sort of thing.

NTM[/quote]

Enoch Glamorous Violet wrote: »

Google tells me there are 195 countries approximately, I always thought there was about 260ish countries... hmm...

Presumably it was the gift of American tanks and guns that accounted for the other 65?

Overheal

or that 65 countries may not have needed aid or were not given aid for whatever political reason.

/whoops this isnt politics

I'll tank you@!

ART6

Overheal wrote: »

or that 65 countries may not have needed aid or were not given aid for whatever political reason.

/whoops this isnt politics

I'll tank you@!

If you are given a gun and a tank, you can help yourself:)

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

If you kill a man's enemy he will be happy for a day, if you give him a tank, he can kill his enemies and be happy for life.


/gets coat...

rossie1977

http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/us-and-foreign-aid-assistance breakdown of aid from the US and other foreign countries, most US governmental aid goes to iraq/israel and afghanistan

in terms of per capita US is very low compared to the biggest aid contributors both governmental and private

most of us aid becomes "phantom aid", meaning it is either lost or never reaches its intended target

breaking down further to a single major world event like the tsunami in 2004 http://blogger.xs4all.nl/marcone/archive/2005/01/03/19687.aspx

javaboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q_iqrvnC_4

GhostInTheRuins

javaboy wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q_iqrvnC_4

Holy christ, that must be a piss take.

Obviously it is :P

toiletduck

rossie1977 wrote: »

breaking down further to a single major world event like the tsunami in 2004 http://blogger.xs4all.nl/marcone/archive/2005/01/03/19687.aspx

Aid is all well and good, but in a disaster like that the aircraft carrier group (Lincoln I think?) were able to offer help almost immediately which seems far more beneficial.

shock_value

Enoch Glamorous Violet wrote: »

Google tells me there are 195 countries approximately, I always thought there was about 260ish countries... hmm...

I'll be dead and buried before i recognise Belgium as a country :mad:!

Cuddlesworth

shock_value wrote: »

I'll be dead and buried before i recognise Belgium as a country :mad:!

I'm sure Belgium care what you think.

Manic Moran

toiletduck wrote: »

Aid is all well and good, but in a disaster like that the aircraft carrier group (Lincoln I think?) were able to offer help almost immediately which seems far more beneficial.

Not a bad point. All those aid airlifts and helicopter rescues came out of the US Dept of Defence budget, not from USAID. And the Red Cross just doesn't have the capability to rescue persons, or transport and distribute aid like the US military. Frankly, nobody does. Ireland, for example, can donate all the aid it wants, but did they have the equipment able to get it there? And did they provide such?

The other point is that the American aid system for cases like natural disasters is a little different from most countries and a lot tends not to be reported. It relies on individual donations to charities such as the Red Cross more than a simple cheque written by the government. The majority portion of these individual donations can be written off as a tax deduction, so in effect, much of the money going to these aid organisations actually does come from the US Government, but it is not accredited to the US Government. In effect, as an earlier poster apparently both satirically and unkowningly accurately put it, the US Government does make many of its donations anonymously.

For example, I donate $100 to the Typhoon Relief Fund (Or whatever), a registered US Charity. I get about $60-70 back in my tax refund.* So of that $100, I've effectively paid $30-40, but Uncle Sam has paid $60-70. That $60-70 is not reported to Congress as aid as it's leaving the Government Purse as a tax refund, neither is it listed in any of those handy charts on the Web as they're not reported in any official government report. The IRS knows how much was spent on refunding donations, but it doesn't know what the money was ultimately spent on. That decision is left to the organisations in question, and the organisations are chosen directly by the People.

read: googling - im just too lazy

Dude, I've been working 5am-9pm without a day off since 19January. You may have noticed I've been absent for a few weeks? Not only am I tired, I'm also short on time.

NTM

*Actual amounts vary. See http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/a/CharityDonation.htm. Eg. Cash donations of up to 50% of your income can be fully deducted. This does not equate a full refund, it means that your reportable taxable income effectively drops. So instead of being taxed on 20% of $50,000 (Or whatever) I'm taxed on 20% of $49,900), hence the true amount of the refund varies on many other factors.

Overheal

Manic Moran wrote: »

Dude, I've been working 5am-9pm without a day off since 19January. You may have noticed I've been absent for a few weeks? Not only am I tired, I'm also short on time.

WELL IT MUST BE NICE TO HAVE A JOB!!

dcukhunter

Overheal wrote: »

WELL IT MUST BE NICE TO HAVE A JOB!!

Ya its not too bad but working 6-7 nights every week doesn't give ya much time to do anything.

Overheal

Because an empty wallet does so much for your ability to do anything with all your free time anyway. At this point I'm completely stir-crazy.

dcukhunter

Damned if you do and damned if you dont.:pac:

ronbyrne2005

One thing about america is a lot of their aid is given by private individuals and groups as Americans generally hate big government more than most of world. Lots of religious groups there send money and people to likes of Africa.

Manic Moran

Overheal wrote: »

WELL IT MUST BE NICE TO HAVE A JOB!!

Well, we're recruiting, unless there's some medical or security reason which makes you ineligible. Hours are long at times, but the money's good.

NTM

lostexpectation

you mean the dump their goods on every country on the world eg gm corn to zambia


most of its done by the dod

Overheal

Manic Moran wrote: »

Well, we're recruiting, unless there's some medical or security reason which makes you ineligible. Hours are long at times, but the money's good.

NTM

Not that im ruling that out or anything but I made a promise to my mammy to give it another year before I thought about it again

FruitLover

Overheal wrote: »

Intellectual America

Isn't that an oxymoron?


*Stir....

Overheal

FruitLover wrote: »

Isn't that an oxymoron?


*Stir....

And im sure if you asked them on the street most americans would think it means somebody who doesnt know how to use oxyclean

5starpool

We'll need aid from them soon at this rate