JJ wrote:
Kim W5TIT wrote:
You know what? I am not so sure that it would take all that much, Jim. I
am not even going to pretend to be a financier, but I wonder how much of the
Federal Budget, i.e. your and my tax dollars, get spent away from our
country. Then, how much foreign debt is "forgiven" each year?

I would wager we could cut the foreigh aid we send to support those
little ****ant dictators in some of those ****ant countries and have
more than enough to provide good health care for every citizen.

You would lose that wager big time. The total US foreign aid budget
for 2001 (the last year I can find) was $15 billion, half of which went
to Isreal and some of its Arab neighbors. The total spending on health
care in the US in 2001 was $1.4 trillion, about 100 times the amount.

I don't know where the myth that the US spends a huge amount on foreign
aid came from. As a fraction of GDP the US foreign aid budget is the
stingiest among developed countries, and the money is usually spent on
things which advance some US foreign policy interest. It is way, way
cheaper than sending the military somewhere to advance some US foreign
policy interest.

Dennis Ferguson