What's up wit dis Canuck? Eh?

[Lon Frank]

Thanks Z, but my writing may have gotten me in over my head this time. I'm still waiting for Trish to return and pummel me for my remarks about Canada. BTW, I wonder how much of that 1.46 billion SHE got? Anyone heard her talking about her new Ferrari lately? [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

And as to my age, I once knew a young woman who worked for me. She said that she would never think of me as old. She was a geologist.

And if anyone wishes to return to the thread topic, I am still interested in hearing your ideas about our foreign aid policies and foreign manipulation policies.

Isn't it ironic that a key supporter to our war on terrorism is President Musharraf of Pakistan, who just declared dictatorial powers for himself for at least five years? Or as Mr. Johnny Canuck pointed out, the Saudi princes have absolute power which we not only condone but support?

[FrmlyZ]

Well Lon:

I have no data on the subject in front of me and am not an expert in international trade but here is what I remember:

If foreign aid stopped tomorrow, our trade deficit would approach a minus infinity. A goodly portion of that aid is spent on the purchase of US produced commodities. Agriculture would be particularly hard hit and a lot of growers would fold. That is a summary of what I remember from talking with the economists I work with; then making any sense of what economists say is a sometimes thing for me. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Best Wishes,,,,,,

Z

[Lon Frank]

Z,

I profess to aboslutely no knowledge of international economics whatsoever. That's why I'm asking what probably are very basic questions.

But, are you saying that we give foreign aid so that the recipients can then afford to buy American wheat? I'd be interested in finding out how much of that money actually makes it back, and how much sticks to the hands of politicians and their brother-in-laws, here and in the other countries.

I somehow had the thought that foreign aid was used for human emergencies, for social development purposes, or to support governments which were friendly or strategically important to us. If it is mostly a straight-forward commodity subsidy, wouldn't it be better handled through one of our national charity organizations?

Just some more questions, as you are forcing me to think our of my normal realm.

[FrmlyZ]

Lon:

This is outside of my field of expertise; but I have this article [actually a position analysis] in front of me [from 1999] which states that 60 to 70% of US foreign aid goes to two countries; Israel and Egypt. I have no way to verify that. Much of that comes back to support Boeing and General Dynamics, etc. In most cases, agricultural commodities [your wheat] are purchased by the government and shipped to areas where starvation [I would consider that a human emergency] is occuring.

I suppose I could look up more, but I have to leave for a useless meeting soon. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Best Wishes,,,,

Z

[Lon Frank]

Thanks Z, that makes a lot more sense than the concept that was hanging around the uninformed spaces of my brain. But, it kinda brings us back to the original, original topic of the thread. Why the aid to Canada?

Canada is certainly not a third-world nation, not starving, not illiterate, not financially destitute. The allied status of Canada is taken for granted by most in the US, by way of heritage and history, rather than by political payoff. I, like most here, hardly think of Canada as a foreign country. It's more like the funny cousin who always shows up wearing plaid flannel shirts at the family reunion. I would imagine more than a few US citizens would tell you that Nova Scotia is a state, and New Mexico is not. [img]smile.gif[/img]

So, why the aid to developed countries like Canada and Japan? And I'm just courious here, do we give aid to Germany? I've read that there is a large anti-American sentiment forming there, among the people as well as political figures such as Gerhard Schroder. (fueled mostly by Bush's position on Iraq)

Again the question, is some of our foreign aid just buying us foreign animosity?