I've been kicking this idea around for a few days, and I'd like to know what y'all think about it. Particularly those of you who have served or have visited in Iraq or Afghanistan
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The last time I checked aid to Israel hovered around $2 billion +/- some per year. Do you think that would be enough? Just shifting it from Israel to Haiti would do nothing to change the fact that the US is drowning in red ink and it's only getting worse all the time. Now if you wanted to talk about expeditious withdrawal form Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Korea, Germany and about 150 or so other countries then you're getting somewhere as long as you do something about the current $12 trillion debt and the roughly $50 trillion or so coming up for medicare, medicaid and social security over the next few decades. My point is your talking like someone with their house in foreclosure contemplating buying a new Maserati.
I'm not a big Merle Haggard fan myself, though as I get older my musical taste are considerably wider than they once were. Also, that song does a bit too much flag waving for my taste, but the point is the US is deteriorating rapidly; if were going to do any nation building, it might be better to start with ours.
My opinion of the best way to help Haiti is to end all import quotas and tariffs and forgive all debt incurred by past Haitian regimes. Give the Haitian people a clean slate and a ready market and they would build their own nation. Problem with that is there are a lot of bankers and agricultural interest who would not like that one bit. I'm sure the legislators they own would block any rational proposals like mine.
Considering that most foreign aid has an enormous string attached in that it can only be spent on US supplied goods and services, the people who profit from that would probably prefer your way. The bankers and agricultural interests would probably go along with it as well. Better to patronize the Haitians than compete with them.
I'm not a big Merle Haggard fan myself, though as I get older my musical taste are considerably wider than they once were. Also, that song does a bit too much flag waving for my taste, but the point is the US is deteriorating rapidly; if were going to do any nation building, it might be better to start with ours.
My opinion of the best way to help Haiti is to end all import quotas and tariffs and forgive all debt incurred by past Haitian regimes. Give the Haitian people a clean slate and a ready market and they would build their own nation. Problem with that is there are a lot of bankers and agricultural interest who would not like that one bit. I'm sure the legislators they own would block any rational proposals like mine.
Considering that most foreign aid has an enormous string attached in that it can only be spent on US supplied goods and services, the people who profit from that would probably prefer your way. The bankers and agricultural interests would probably go along with it as well. Better to patronize the Haitians than compete with them.
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