Why do Congress and the President and our Senate give our tax dollars away overseas?

Question

...I read alot of grants(Our tax dollars) are given away to foreign countries as our people suffer>WHY?

Answer 1

Let me clarify first... The President does not spend anything, all he does is sign off on things, congress has the checkbook...

Now, the organization that you are refering to is USAID.  If you go to their website and do some digging, you will see the rediculous amount of money that we give away to foriegn nations.  While some of it is for wonderful purposes (such as helping out agriculture efforts in Africa) but there are some other grants that are straight pork.  A lot of the efforts are for PR with other nations showing how we are a compassionate superpower.  Unfortunately though, when some countries receive the aid that we send, they remove the labels and place their own government stickers instead.  But in my honest opinion/philosophy, if these other nations, regardless of how wealthy/poor, didn't send money to us for things such as Katrina, then they do not deserve our money.  Everyone has something to give...

Answer 2

Almost all the money we give away in foreign aid is for our own purposes.  We don't just ship suitcases full of $100 bills, we put the money in a bank account in NY in the other country's name, and then we tell them what they have to spend it on, and it's most often some US company they have to spend it with.

We also give lots of military aid to dictators who will play ball with us.  We arm and train their own militaries to keep their own people under control.  This is one reason the Middle East is so screwed up, we meddled in their politics for 80 years, picking their leaders,  empowering leaders we liked and fomenting revolutions against the leaders we didn't like.

Answer 3

You wouldn't want them to give it to Americans would you?

Answer 4

Yeah - I don't get that either but it's not something you can pin on one party or a particular President because none of them have done anything or have plans to change that. It's like we've been in so much debt for so long - who are we to be giving anything away??? Well, maybe another poster will have a more intelligent answer than me, but I think it's how we attempt to build allies and friends who will support us, and be on our side when we need them - and we most certainly need all the allies we can get.

Answer 5

The better question is , " Why do we let them " ????

Answer 6

Why do you trust political perverts by giving them power of attorney through voter registration?

Why did you and/or your parents make an application for a Socialist Security Number?

Why do you make yourself liable to the IRS by signing their corporate agreements?

And why don't you realize the United States government, federal, state and local is nothing but a demonic fiction whose aim is to totally enslave you and your countrymen?

http://www.apfn.net/Doc-100_bankruptcy.h...

Answer 7

It is a moral thing. Giving away money makes you seem generous, which increases popular opinion about the country. Meanwhile if you stopped giving money away it still would not cover your great deficit. The good PR that comes with generosity makes it easier to borrow the vast amounts of money every year that your country needs to survive. So, you do a moral good deed, and get good PR back. The real question is why the government spends that money on war abroad rather than on domestic survival. And that question you better ask your politicians, whom you and your fellow Americans elected to their positions.

Answer 8

A little note, the Senate is part of Congress. Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Where did you read this? Make sure you are careful of what you believe when others tell you about government, many people don't really know much about it but will spit off their opinions anyway, especially talk show hosts.