Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A Billion Here; A Billion There; Just Money!

If you’re like me, I’m getting tired of every time I pick up the paper or watch the news, I’m slammed between the eyes with horror stories about the lousy economy.


And it is lousy, although throughout most of Texas, it isn’t as lousy as elsewhere.

What if you lived in Reno or Detroit or Flint? All three have 16+% unemployment and staggering job losses from industry that will never return.

General Motors once employed 80,000 workers in Flint. Today, 8,200. Detroit has lost 323,400 jobs; Reno, 36,000.

We could go on and on, but why torture ourselves?

The economy stinks and Washington is doing little to help.
I know one step to take, and after reading this, I believe you will agree.

I’ve often wondered why our government doesn’t cut out some of the monies sent to other countries and instead use it here, in our country. I don’t mean as gifts, although recent statistics on taxes suggest that almost fifty percent of our citizens (those who paid no taxes) would kill to be first in line for something for nothing.

I’d like to know what percent of that group of non-payers are the true deadbeats; the third and fourth generation entitlement recipients; the welfare cheats; the unemployment thieves; the social security swindlers—

Sorry. Didn’t mean to get carried away on our deadbeats.

Last year, the U.S. handed out billions in foreign aid to other countries for various reasons. That’s bad enough, but wait for the kicker. Sixteen of those countries each hold at least ten billion in U.S. Treasury securities-many hold much more.

In other words, we’re giving foreign aid to some of the world’s richest countries.
Ready for another kick in the rear? We then turn around and borrow money from those to whom we’ve given it.

No wonder we have a $14 trillion dollar debt those incompetents in Washington are arguing over.

That doesn’t make sense to me, but that’s Washington. What do I know? I’m just a average Joe Dunderhead trying to stay within my own budget and pay my bills.

What they’re doing is like you making a gift of a hundred bucks to your neighbor, then turning around and borrowing fifty with the obligation to repay it.

Make sense to you? Doesn’t to me either.

And that isn’t all.

One third of all foreign aid goes to Israel (2.25 billion) and Egypt (1.5 B)for armaments, yet neither is a ‘developing’ country, a prerequisite. (and Egypt hates us except for the few seconds they stick out their greedy hand for the annual check)
Columbia received 561 million for drug abatement; Jordan 540 million to leave Israel alone (that’s right- no mistake); Pakistan 734 million to chase terrorists (your guess as to where they chase them is as good as mine); Indonesia, 159 M for oil reserves; Kenya, 437 million to do as it wishes (no lie here either); and then amounts from 69 million to 474 million for drug abatement to over another twenty-odd countries ranging from India to Russia.

Oops! I forgot Bosnia--43 million for reparations. What reparations? The war ended sixteen years ago over there, and our only involvement was NATO and brokering a treaty between the warring parties.

The list goes on and on.

China-27 million; Brazil-25 million; Mexico-316 million; Philippines-128 million, and Thailand-16 million. Oh yeah, can’t forget Turkey at 8.2 million. And Obama signed a bill that, among other things, gave the Palestinian Authority 500 million.

Now, I know you don’t like looking a figures- math ones at least, but bear with me.

To whom do we owe money? Where to start?
Well, let’s begin with the big boys.

China-1.1 trillion; Brazil-193 billion; Russia-127 billion; India-39 billion; and Egypt-15 billion.

There are more, but you get the idea.

So tell me, how do we stop such flagrant waste of our tax money? Seems to be we get nothing in return.

This suggestion is a simple one, but I’m a simple person. If we give money to a country to whom we are in debt, they must deduct the amount we tender them from what we owe.

We need to do something. I’m no ultra-conservative or ultra-liberal. Sort of a mish mash between them, but I know that sooner or later, money will either run out or we’ll have hyperinflation of 50% monthly like Zimbabwe.

What kind of spark will it take to ignite outrage against the wastefulness with which Washington blows our money?

If I knew, I’d sure as heck touch a match to it.

rconwell@gt.rr.com
http://www.kentconwell.blogspot.com/
www.goodreads.com/author/show/13557.Kent_Conwell
www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JPCK26

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