Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (400718)	4/29/2003 9:49:09 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

U.S. MOST STINGY, GREEDY OECD COUNTRY BY FAR, EXCEPT TO ISRAEL "Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign- aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world's population and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes." "our special relationship with Israel cost U.S. taxpayers over $10 billion (in FY 1997)" moenmac, There is a huge lack of understanding on the part of the brainwashed American public as to our foreign aid generosity. People have been lied to by the government and their whores in the corporate media, and the public just doesn't have a clue. Here's a devastating indictment of the policy makers: For every dollar we give to someone in sub-Saharan Africa, we give $250 to an Israeli. For every dollar we give to someone in Latin America, we give $215 to an Israeli. Here's the facts: wrmea.com "Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign- aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world's population and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes. Indeed, Israel's GNP is higher than the combined GNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. With a per capita income of about $14,000, Israel ranks as the sixteenth wealthiest country in the world; Israelis enjoy a higher per capita income than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and are only slightly less well-off than most Western European countries." *********** Most Americans are not aware how much of their tax revenue our government sends to Israel. For the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, the U.S. has given Israel $6.72 billion: $6.194 billion falls under Israel's foreign aid allotment and $526 million comes from agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Information Agency and the Pentagon. The $6.72 billion figure does not include loan guarantees and annual compound interest totalling $3.122 billion the U.S. pays on money borrowed to give to Israel. It does not include the cost to U.S. taxpayers of IRS tax exemptions that donors can claim when they donate money to Israeli charities. (Donors claim approximately $1 billion in Federal tax deductions annually. This ultimately costs other U.S. tax payers $280 million to $390 million.) When grant, loans, interest and tax deductions are added together for the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, our special relationship with Israel cost U.S. taxpayers over $10 billion. ************* U.S. Foreign Aid, as a percentage of GDP is the lowest among all OECD nations: "As a proportion of gross domestic product, Denmark leads in foreign aid spending at 1.06 percent, not including military assistance -- followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Luxemburg, Belgium, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom. The United Nations would like to see countries give at least 0.70 percent of GDP -- the exact amount pledged by Luxemburg. Not including military assistance, the U.S. contributes 0.10 percent of GDP. " Source: ncpa.org ********************** Re: 2. Would you please provide a link that corroborates your claims that the US has blocked a plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Ivory Coast? worldrevolution.org U.S. blocks U.N. peacekeeping plan for Ivory Coast The United States, trying to keep down U.N. costs, has blocked Security Council action on a plan to set up a small peacekeeping mission in strife-torn Ivory Coast, council diplomats said on Wednesday. Reuters - April 23, 2003 By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States, trying to keep down U.N. costs, has blocked Security Council action on a plan to set up a small peacekeeping mission in strife-torn Ivory Coast, council diplomats said on Wednesday. A council resolution drafted by France nearly three weeks ago proposed setting up a U.N. operation with 255 military and civilian staff in the West African nation, which has divided along ethnic lines after months of civil war despite a peace deal reached in January. But the resolution stalled after Washington objected to the projected $27 million one-year price-tag for the mission. The United States, pouring billions of dollars into Iraqi reconstruction after toppling its former leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), has instead proposed a mission only about a third of that size, diplomats said. Franco-American relations are at a low after Paris played a key role in blocking U.N. Security Council approval of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites). But council diplomats said the U.S. move to block the resolution was unrelated to their differences over Iraq. In a March 26 report, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) had called on the 15-nation council to quickly approve the mission to give the peace agreement a boost in a region badly shaken by conflict in Sierra Leone and Liberia as well as Ivory Coast. "The regional dimensions of the crisis in Ivory Coast are extremely disturbing, particularly because they portend ominous trends for the wider West African subregion," Annan's report said. "The Ivorian crisis underlines the urgent need for the international community to pay more attention to the interlinkages of the conflicts in the region," <Continues.........> ********** Any more questions? <smile> Salaams, Ray

To: Neeka who wrote (400718)	4/30/2003 1:04:16 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Re: "I want my government to be lean and mean at this point." >>> Agreed. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that when one terrorist organization or another gets hold of a dirty bomb or otherwise they will attempt to destroy my people and my country." >>> Certainly a real threat. (I'd suggest that we start budgeting a little to port security... since that's the most likely way to get a bomb in - and it leaves no evidence of it's origin... unlike a missile launch, who's launch site is instantly detected. A little spent on chemical plant security would be prudent, since there are over 150 sites in metropolitan areas, which if attacked with as little as pipe bombs... could each kill hundreds of thousands. ...No real need to smuggle anything chemical, since so much is on hand and under 'minimal' security.) "This question you asked earlier made me think of a few question I'd like you to answer." "1. How much money does the US and Americans.....including private donations.....spend every year on International charity?" >>> I don't know... but I see someone else has responded to you with the numbers. (I do know that, measured against percentages of GDP given by other developed nations, we are near the bottom in recent decades.) >>> Historically though, the vast majority of world-wide 'foreign aid' for most every giver has had as one of it's main goals the expansion of that county's foreign markets. (But when cash was given... most was directly wasted.) "2. Would you please provide a link that corroborates your claims that the US has blocked a plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Ivory Coast?" >>> Since the UN vote was public, that info should be easily available. Got Google?