Reality check on the federal budget
On average, Americans believe that 25 percent of government spending goes toward foreign aid. In reality, less than 1 percent is going toward foreign aid, while 18 percent is going toward our defense budget.
What many people do not realize, though, is that if we were to invest more into our foreign aid budget, this would benefit our economy and strengthen our national security. It’s a win-win scenario, but we are still far from success, because of the lack of knowledge held by the general public on this matter.
The more we contribute to these struggling countries, the more we boost their economic status, and as a result, they are able to support our economy by purchasing our products that they can now afford. Even small things like toothpaste or apples benefit our economy.
One out of every five U.S. jobs is export-based, and 50 percent of our exports now go to developing nations. As we pull the highest poverty rate countries into the global market, it opens up opportunities for our economy and creates American jobs.
Making sure that they are secure in their economy will result in stronger national security on our end. As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said, “Development is a lot cheaper than sending soldiers.”
The higher the poverty levels are, the more unstable a society will be, resulting in riots and high crime rates.
As a country, if we were to invest more time, effort and funding into the foreign aid budget and affairs, we would not need to have such a high national security budget, and we would boost the U.S. economy.
Seems like a no-brainer right?
Frances Boyle
Seattle
Dickensian health care
The GOP “health bill” is draconian in its assault against people on Medicaid.
Health care is a human right.
There are certainly quite serious problems with the Affordable Care Act in its present form that must be addressed in a bipartisan manner by Congress and the White House. However, the proposed slashing of Medicaid that the Republicans have presented is unthinkable and inhumane.
We Americans have a responsibility to one another to uphold the values of compassion and human decency.
Fully funding Medicaid is indeed crucial. It’s a step in the correct direction toward a single-payer, universal, Medicare-for-All program that the U.S. must implement.
In the meantime, ACA in its current form definitely has to be improved in order to lower the cost of premiums and co-pays.
However, what Republicans are proposing to do to Medicaid evokes coldhearted Dickensian imagery of the most hideous sort imaginable, something Jon Voight’s character in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” might be OK with, but certainly not something real life progressives could even conceive of, or civil society could in the least be expected to abide.
Tom Hundley
Seattle
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