Why we can't have nice things, part MCMXIII

[elfs]

I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and pointed out an article about how silly Americans are fretting over how much we spend in foreign aid. "Good," he said. "We ought to stop sending so much."

"How much do you think there is? What percentage of the annual budget do you think goes to foreign aid?"

He paused for a second. "20 percent?"

"Most people think it's about 20%," I said, "and those who think it's a good idea still think that 15% is the right amount. The real number is less than 1%."

This is a guy who thinks he's politically savvy. He listens to NPR. He reads the news. And he still has no idea how much we spend in foreign aid.

Comments

[dossy.livejournal.com]

"He listens to NPR."

And people wonder why folks are fighting to de-fund it ... ?

Ineffectual liberal white noise.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I'll argue in favor of defunding NPR when FOX affiliates are threatened with losing their broadcast licenses for reselling Fox News as "news."

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm wholly in favor of bringing litigation against Fox News for misrepresentation in advertising with their "fair and balanced" slogan, too.

I paint with a really broad brush. ;-)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Your comment makes no sense. It's red-staters who hate foreign intervention (unless we're bombing them into freedom (http://www.slate.com/id/2288879)), and want foreign funding rolled back.

Still, I don't expect consistency.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

I highly doubt that "folks are fighting to de-fund it" because Elf's friend listens to it.

And there will always be a couple of people fighting to defund anything. As an example, there are some currently trying to defund the national Tsunami and Earthquake emergency system. Considering that largest damage done by tsunami's is usually to the assets of the wealthier in our country, that quite surprises me.

My cynical view...

[pakraticus.livejournal.com]

Trying to de-fund drop in the bucket programs like NPR and NEA is a better investment in political advertising than actual ads.

I keep thinking the best idea is to pay off an intern responsible for spell checking a bill to tack in a "Any member of the house or senate that fails to bleat like a sheep before voting on a piece of legislation is to be immediately tarred and feathered."
(Because a rather nasty piece of cable and signal theft legislation was put into place that way in the 90s)
It won't fix anything, but watching CSPAN might be hilarious.

[blaisepascal]

Your source from the NYT is 16 years out of date. It may still be accurate, but it can't be relied upon for the current situation.

Does that 1% figure include the cost of military interventions intended to aid democratic efforts in foreign countries (like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc)?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

The 2007 outlay (the last year for which I have records) indicates that foreign aid was 0.78% of the budget. That's 21.3 billion out of a 2.73 trillion dollar budget. An additional 11.2 billion was spent on the upkeep and maintenance of our embassies worldwide.

The cost does not including bombing states into freedom and democracy.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

The following article has the most recent info. It places the amount at 1%.

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brunitedstatescanadara/670.php

You can find specific numbers for 2000 - 2009 here:
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/foreign_commerce_aid/foreign_aid.html

"Military interventions" are not considered aid. Aid is in the form of health care, construction aid, finding clean water, education, etc.

[lovingboth]

There are people who think the US government spends one fifth of its budget on foreign aid?? Do they think the military come free?

[gromm.livejournal.com]

I think that developing countries wouldn't be developing anymore if 20% (or even 15%) of the US government budget were spent on foreign aid.

But then, those with an axe to grind about government spending typically fantasize that enormous amounts of their taxes are going to the projects they hate, and thus justifies their reasoning to hate said projects. It's more of a self-fulfilling prophecy, really. Ask anyone who hates welfare or NASA or the military what percentage of the federal budget they receive, and I'm sure it will be either 20% or 15%.