Bush has decided to give Israel $10bn in aid because of their worst economy ever. It still has to be approved by Congress. Too bad W. couldn't use that 10bn to help us Americans out first. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2867619.stm
Bush is a commie!! Wait, I thought free trade could fix every problem ever and government could only stand by and watch the magic happen.
Smart timing by Bush. On most days, some smartass pinko commie in the newsmedia would contrast this with Bush's "F*** you" to the nation's governors.
Hello?!? Didn't Republicans jump all over Clinton for doing this exact same thing with Mexico? And that wasn't during bad economic times and a war.
Don't be fooled. This isn't "your economy is hurting" money. This is "don't retaliate when Iraq launches SCUDs at you" money.
No, Bush is a just liberal Republican Why couldn't he just say "we're fighting this war, stay out of our way you money-grubbing parasites" I seem to recall another 10 billion sent their way in the first gulf war, too. If the palestinians and their allies weren't behaving so despicably, I'd have a hard time regarding the Israelis as the good guys When Bush gives amnesty to illegal aliens, then we can start calling him a double-crossing commie
Re: No, Bush is a just liberal Republican Because he's a compulsive liar. And he knows if he wasn't shoveling this sh!+ down the throats of Americans and was actually giving the real reasons for his international actions, domestic support would evaporate. Or at least I hope it would. Perhaps I'm being naive.
Upon further review.... Now that I've read the link (:::grins sheepishly:::), this is only $1B in cash, the rest is loan guarantees.
Maybe some folks will read beyond the headline. It's $1B in US military equipment and co-signature on a $9B loan.
It's still $10bn that is going to them when it could be used right here. So it's a loan, do you know how long they have to repay it? A long time.
Re: Re: Israel awarded $10 bn in aid from Bush Again, this is exactly the same deal (minus the $1B outright aid) that Clinton made with Mexico in '94-95 or thereabouts. That deal was presented to Congress and refused on the principle of the thing. What's the difference?
But it isn't $10bn leaving the USA. In fact, not one penny leaves the USA. It's not a loan, but loan guarantee. One could calculate it's value based on the interest rate differential or some other mechanism, but it's still no different than you co-signing a car loan for your cousin. So long as they make payments, it's no problem.
Yes I know we will be getting 9bn back someday, but instead of giving it away now why don't we keep it here?
Re: Re: Re: Israel awarded $10 bn in aid from Bush The difference (and yes, I really believe this) is that Republicans don't just have elements of evil in their party, it's the whole core of the party. They believe in will to power. They don't care at all about solving problems (unless that problem is that rich people can't afford a 3rd home.)
Re: Re: Re: Israel awarded $10 bn in aid from Bush Clinton is a Democrat and therefore on the side of evil. Bush is a Republican and therefore on the side of good. No matter what the facts say.
You're not following this. We're not lending the money. We're guaranteeing the loans. Of course, from an economic perspective, there is a cost to this, but so long as Israel doesn't default on its loans, it is purely academic.
Then why did Republicans balk at this for Mexico back in 1995? What has changed that suddenly it's OK again to assist an ally financially? And I could think of a multitude of good ways to spend the extra $1 billion that's leaving the country outright. [irony]For example, maybe we could build bigger border fences to keep the Mexicans out.[/irony]
Israel is a better credit risk than Mexico. Regardless, my point is that it's misleading to act like $10B is being transferred from the USA to Israel when in fact $1B worth of American weapons (employing Americans) will be going to Israel. Costly? Yes, but nowhere near as costly as it appears.
Yeah, right. Compare the sizes of the two economies, and their natural resources. Israel might be more stable politically (kinda), but they have a smaller GDP. You want to know what's funny to me about this statement? It's that when we're giving weapons to another country we are "employing Americans", but when we give food stamps to poor Americans we're sucking the average middle-class taxpayer dry with no economic benefit. One of the great fallacies of the GOP smaller-government-as-economic-stimulus theory: government expenditures are an economic black hole in all cases except defense.
Um, maybe because Israel is a strong military ally that is constantly under threat of attack, and Mexico is a trading partner that has no external threats whatsoever. I'm not sure the Israelis should be getting so much, but they definitely are more in need of our aid than is Mexico. Alex
Luxembourg has a smaller GDP than Mexico, but is a vastly better credit risk. GDP per capita is a much better measure than total GDP.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Israel awarded $10 bn in aid from Bush This is why Dave can't distinguish a difference between Saddam and Bush. And why he (and liberals like him) will countenance any subterfuge employed in defeating Bush - like creating Gore votes in a recount, enlisting the Florida supreme court in vote fraud, etc.