U.S. Foreign Aid, Where does it go??

Okay folks, this is a bit from some of the Government data I've been coming across recently and I thought this would be one I'd share, as it's so striking. We talk a lot about foreign aid around here and both Military as well as Economic. However, do you often see just what is actually going out, to where and for what?

Of the $31.7 billion in obligated U.S. economic assistance, $20.8 billion went to 173 countries; the rest was obligated to non-specified regions. Afghanistan received the most, approximately $2.7 billion, while Malta received the least, just $1,910.

This first one is interesting in the levels going to some unexpected places. Kenya for instance? It gets broken down a bit better though.

Of the 173 countries that received economic assistance,

* 49 were in Sub-Saharan Africa,
* 39 were in Europe and Eurasia (E&E),
* 37 were in Asia,
* 30 were in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC),
* 17 were in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and
1 (Canada) was non-regionally specified.

Foreign Aid Fast Facts - USAID Data / Graphics

Detailed Information / Searchable by Top 10's, Nation, Program type and Agency

At the bottom of the 2nd link there are the Excel Worksheet files, if anyone wants the raw data to play with. It does go back to the 40's and what is surprising about the Obama years it covers (up to 2011) is what nations aid changed for and by how much. I'd encourage anyone with more curiosity on that to d/l the excel files to look at it that way. However, the overall resources there are quite user friendly for pulling up whatever someone wants to see about who gets what and by how much.

Enjoy!

reply to post by wrabbit2000


Lets take a closer look at little Egypt ...

About $1.3 billion is authorized each year to bolster Egypt’s military, one of the most powerful in the Middle East. That aid covers 80% of all of Egypt’s military purchases, according to a recent congressional assessment (pdf). This assistance has totaled nearly $42 billion since 1948, and nearly all of it has gone to buy American weaponry and hardware.

In fact, the appropriated funds never make their way directly to Egypt. “It goes to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then to a trust fund at the Treasury and, finally, out to U.S. military contractors that make the tanks and fighter jets that ultimately get sent to Egypt,” wrote Julia Simon of National Public Radio (NPR).

Presently, six U.S. defense contractors benefit from the billion-dollar assistance given to Cairo.

www.blacklistednews.com...

These corporations, then, are the true beneficiaries of US foreign aid, not the countries allegedly receiving the aid.

Well in reality the aid ends up back in pocket of US companies and contracters that get all the nice contracts in that nation. We tend to make a profit. Of course foriegn aid is realy just the legal form international bribery. Here is 10 million in aid if you makes sure this 20 million dollar new bridge building contract goes to and Ameican company. It is not just us of course everbody does it. Of course if your China and the US you have more money to make those deals. Takes money to make money.

reply to post by wrabbit2000


It helps the favored corporations even more than we realize. Essentially, most foreign aid is provided in the form of products and services, as I understand it. It creates an international client base without the major business expense of needing to insure your foreign receivables because the U.S. writes the check. That's a major corporate benefit if you are the U.S. foreign aid preferred provider.

Perhaps a key question is then, which corporations are making serious bank from these juicy contracts.

reply to post by frazzle


I had thought it pretty widely known and understood 'aid' often takes the form of hardware valued at or around the amount listed on the sheets, and not literal stacks of United States currency on pallets. I'm not really being sarcastic, as that actually was how money was brought into both Afghanistan and Iraq, at least at some points. Some of the pictures out there are a sight to see.

However, Military aid to Egypt would include things like the F-16's we've heard about back and forth in the news. Economic aid to Sub-Sahara African nations would run from bags of food to HIV/AIDS meds, pre-packaged. I'd have mentioned that if I'd realized it wasn't taken as a given?

One I thought interesting, was under Economic Aid, and is Narcotics Control. It would seem to be a catch all and general fund though, as Gaza ranks in the top 10 list for nations in the world receiving aid under that program. (the fact Gaza is listed as it's own entry is something else interesting, but another thread) Just under $100 million to them, the last year the stats run. What is there to spend 100 million on in little old Gaza for narcotics programs? Seriously. It's not like the DEA would have a branch office in Gaza City. That one baffles me.

Quite a few in the detailed data are downright head scratching when looking at the nation vs. the specific programs and amounts.

Two words.

Money laundering.

reply to post by MrSpad

We tend to make a profit.

No we do not make a profit if we did then we wouldn't be trillions in the hole. When America sells arms to places like Israel we sell them for pennies on the dollar. The American taxpayer will spend a hundred million dollars on missiles then turn around and sell them for 10 million dollars. So who profits? The corporate elite not America.

reply to post by Klassified


You may well be right on that. The amounts do run all over and to stupid extremes that would suggest that kind of thing. Aid went up radically, across a wide swath of nations and overall with Obama though. That's part of what I'm trying to get best in a visualization. It's a challenge to figure out how best to show interesting stuff without it being a boring table or sheet.

It's not just the distribution, but how it's changed and shifted over time and clearly as Presidents and Congressional control changes for which nations get flush and which nations get downright obscene with handouts. Everyone seems to get something though, and that would seem to be as much a leverage as anything. We seem to insure that every capital in the world has a financial reason to pick up when the US is calling.

What happened to policy run on concept of respect? I know all nations who can, do this same thing...but to quite THIS extent, to almost every nation on the entire global roster? That was a little surprising..and again. not always true. Shifting patterns....

Of course Afghanistan would be at the top we are currently occupying it. But end the end who gets the most? Israel because the big money is in loans and grants which btw do not have to be repaid. Look at the standard country report for each country Israel clearly gets the most aid.

Israel obligations in millions, historical $US

Afghanistan obligations in millions, historical $US

buster2010
reply to post by MrSpad

 

We tend to make a profit.

No we do not make a profit if we did then we wouldn't be trillions in the hole. When America sells arms to places like Israel we sell them for pennies on the dollar. The American taxpayer will spend a hundred million dollars on missiles then turn around and sell them for 10 million dollars. So who profits? The corporate elite not America.

We are trillions in the hole, because they say we are trillions in the hole. It's all numbers. How long would the American taxpayer stand for being fleeced at every turn by government and corporation alike, if said taxpayer knew there was a surplus for the past 70 years?

I figured that most of the money would go back to American contractors or businesses. It's a way that our government gives money to these guys so they can give hefty contributions and perks back to the congressmen. I bet that congressmen get good deals on some of these corporations stocks also. At least they made insider trading illegal for congressmen now, but that does not mean that they can trust their special broker without knowing anything for sure. There are ways around the laws.

Klassified
We are trillions in the hole, because they say we are trillions in the hole. It's all numbers.

Yes it's all numbers but what do you think those wars are fought with; numbers? In this case the printing press may truly be more dangerous than the sword but that hardly changes the fact that eventually 'someone' , meaning the american public as corporate and taxes on the 1% are going down, is going to have to pay the Fed.

How long would the American taxpayer stand for being fleeced at every turn by government and corporation alike, if said taxpayer knew there was a surplus for the past 70 years?

edit on 9/10/2013 by Klassified because: redaction

How can there be a surplus? Where would it come from? Why do you think the dollar is losing value so quickly despite the massive support provided by petrodollars and foreign reserve holdings? The guys that are issuing this debt is only every likely to write it down if they were held at gunpoint and since that will entail pretty much blowing up the entire financial system i wont be holding my breath.

But whatever you have to show that can convince me of alternatives would obviously be most welcome!

Cheers!

Stellar

reply to post by StellarX

Yes it's all numbers but what do you think those wars are fought with; numbers? In this case the printing press may truly be more dangerous than the sword but that hardly changes the fact that eventually 'someone' , meaning the american public as corporate and taxes on the 1% are going down, is going to have to pay the Fed.

Money(fiat promissory notes) only has value to the extent that it can be used to control and enslave the public to a measuring system of assets and debits, that is ambiguous, and on a roller coaster scale of calculating value for time and personal resource(your labor). At the global level, it isn't about money. It's strictly about resources. Including human resources. The translation of those resources into monetary figures for public consumption is calculated by those who have a vested interest in a constant and perpetual deficit, that keeps the average human resource(you and me) enslaved to debt their whole life.

How can there be a surplus? Where would it come from? Why do you think the dollar is losing value so quickly despite the massive support provided by petrodollars and foreign reserve holdings? The guys that are issuing this debt is only every likely to write it down if they were held at gunpoint and since that will entail pretty much blowing up the entire financial system i wont be holding my breath.

I find it interesting, there is always enough money for war, black budget projects, foreign aid, underground bunkers, space projects, losing a couple of trillion dollars during the Clinton/Bush era, and on and on.
I'm not foolish enough to believe that a bank just keeps on lending more "money" to a country whose debt outweighs its value several times over, and will never be paid off. The best that country can do is pay it's interest. I'm also not foolish enough to believe other countries keep on buying that debt without knowing there's one hell of a payback now, and in the future.

The evidence isn't in an article somewhere, or on the desk of the fed. It's in plain sight. Once we stop looking at what they want us to look at, and start looking at what's in front of our face, it becomes relatively simple. Debt, especially on a national level is a tool used to oppress and enslave the people.

But whatever you have to show that can convince me of alternatives would obviously be most welcome!

All I have to show you is my opinion. And I'm not very good at explaining it. All the complicated economics and statistics classes in the world won't explain the hard truth. The global financial structure of the world is nothing but a tool to enslave the masses to those who administrate it. IMHO.