Just so you are aware of how much we are spending on foreign aid (much of which is nothing more than selling arms/weapons to other countries), here is some information:

Who Gets U.S. Foreign Aid The U.S. will give an estimated $26 billion in foreign aid in 2008—70% more than when President George W. Bush took office (the figure doesn’t include funds related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). More than 150 countries get financial assistance from the U.S. Here are the six that received the most this year. COUNTRY AID PURPOSE Israel $2.4 billion Virtually all of this money is used to buy weapons (up to 75% made in the U.S.). Beginning in 2009, the U.S. plans to give $30 billion over 10 years. Egypt $1.7 billion $1.3 billion to buy weapons; $103 million for education; $74 million for health care; $45 million to promote civic participation and human rights. Pakistan $798 million $330 million for security efforts, including military-equipment upgrades and border security; $20 million for infrastructure. Jordan $688 million $326 million to fight terrorism and promote regional stability through equipment upgrades and training; $163 million cash payment to the Jordanian government. Kenya $586 million $501 million to fight HIV/AIDS through drug treatment and abstinence education and to combat malaria; $15 million for agricultural development; $5.4 million for programs that promote government accountability. South Africa $574 million $557 million to fight TB and HIV/AIDS; $3 million for education. Mexico $551 million Click here for details. Colombia $541 million Click here for details. Nigeria $491 million Click here for details. Sudan $479 million Click here for details. *Source: Estimates based on figures and documents from the U.S. Department of State. Click here for more information. — Rebecca Davis O'Brien

http://digg.com/...

It is interesting to note that the USA spent $84.8 billion in aid to Israel from fiscal years 1949 through 1998, and the interest the U.S. paid to borrow this money, has cost U.S. taxpayers $134.8 billion, not adjusted for inflation. Or, put another way, that is nearly $14,630 for every one of 5.8 million Israelis received from the U.S. government by Oct. 31, 1997 has cost American taxpayers $23,240 per Israeli.

Let's also consider the population of the top three countries:

keep in mind the sizes of the populations:

Israel $2.4 billion 7,282,000

Egypt $1.7 billion 75,500,662

Pakistan $798 million 172,800,000

You know when I was a younger I always thought "foreign aid" meant food, water, medicine and education to poor parts of the world to relieve human suffering, and I suppose some of this money is going towards this, however it is clear what is really going on is that a huge percent of what we call Foreign aid is really 'aid' disguised as government subsidies for our American corporations to 'help' them with arms and weapons 'mega-deals' to feed the Military Industrial Complex.

To fully understand just how much of our tax dollars have been and are being 'given away' to foreign nations please go to the tables on this site. Note from these charts how much money we are investing in the oil rich nations and then you will truly understand the underlying reasons of how powerful the Corporate companies that feed off of war and oil have taken over our nation.

http://www.swivel.com/...

One chart is for the years 2000 - 2005 (five years).

The second chart is for the past 50 years.



Honestly...I may never be the same after reading just how much money we have wasted, and yes, I say wasted on not taking care of our own country and our people. The fact that we are now borrowing tax payer dollars to give 'aid'(arms, weapons, black mail money) to other countries, when people in our own nation are dying from lack of decent health care, from poverty and the growing rolls of homeless Americans shows just how insanely dysfunctional we are as a nation.

Why can't we take care of our own people and nation?

After viewing the various charts on 'swivel' I came to the conclusion that it is not that American does not have the money for universal health care, it is simply that our Congress will not make any kind of compromises or hard decisions which would enable our government to attend to the needs of the American people.

So don't let anyone tell you that 'we' don't have the money to pay for a decent universal health care program. We have money, we have shit loads of money, but that money is going into the hands of war mongers, and Corporations whose sole purpose is to sell arms/weapons to kill people.

Calling foreign aid 'peace keeping' while using it as a guise for selling weapons/arms, giving away billions of dollars to oil rich nations is the last thing that we need right now in our country.

Why is it that we can find one trillion dollars to fund the military this year alone, that we can find $ 700 billion dollars to bail out the crooks and liars at the Banks/Wall Street, but when it comes to actually helping Americans with a decent universal heath care plan -

We are always last on the list.

And that's the point. It is our money that 'they' are spending to 'kill' instead of 'heal' and it is a national disgrace.

Don't let them tell you the 'money isn't there'...the money is there and it is going into the pockets that support the Military Industrial Complex and the Corporations that hold all of the government contracts to build and sell arms and weapons.