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Let me put it this way: I would sooner see that $50 million spent on cancelling American student debt (and I find that idea also reprehensible) than on condoms

Let me put it this way: I would sooner see that $50 million spent on cancelling American student debt (and I find that idea also reprehensible) than on condoms for foreign countries. At least then it's American tax dollars spent for Americans. I also object to giving Israel (or Ukraine for that matter) GBU-12s, they can buy that shit from us at fair market price if they really want them. Foreign aid should only be the result of us having surplus monies that we cannot figure out how to spend ourselves.

talldayo 2y ago
I disagree, because I think aid can be helpful depending on how it arises. $50,000,000 is not an insane amount of money (consider defense spending), and it would not eliminate a significant amount of student debt. It does buy you a lot of rubbers, though. America, since the Nixon administration, through the Cold War and after the dissolution of the USSR has promoted global cooperation as a tool for stopping authoritarianism at the source. We help nations with their AIDS crisis because it means they are fundamentally more stable and can use their government to focus on problems they're equipped to handle. America doesn't have to help anyone. We can always kick back on our lawn chairs, take the taxpayer-funded pontoon out on the lake and watch the world burn from a safe distance. But we don't do that, because when we do we prove to the world that we are exactly the evil and selfish caricature of a nation they think we are. After all, if America doesn't formally offer to help they might seek out an even more destructive solution (see: IMF loans, centralized planning, coordination with adversaries, etc). Then you'll be wishing we bought the condoms for them.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  >$50,000,000 is not an insane amount of money Please reconsider the utterly nonsensical nature of your statement. Anyone who says $50 million dollars is "not an insane amount of money" has no business commenting on financial affairs, let alone money provided by taxpayers. >global cooperation as a tool for stopping authoritarianism at the source. We help nations Cooperation is nice and warm, but the keyword there is "help". You can't help others when you need help yourself first, and right now today there are countless matters that concern ourselves and require proper attention. Whether it's crumbling infrastructure, insufficient housing, rising costs of living and medical care, excessive costs and debts of education, measures and mandates necessary to prevent and recover from natural disasters, and many more, just imagine what another $50 million dollars could do. And it's not just that $50 million, there are certainly far more where that came from. Hell, even if we have nothing else to spend money on we still have an utterly crazy amount of debt. Putting $50 million towards our debt (aka cutting $50 million in expenditures off our national budget) is $50 million less in debt. >America doesn't have to help anyone. ... But we don't do that, because when we do we prove to the world that we are exactly the evil and selfish caricature of a nation they think we are. There is nothing selfish about "putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others", aka America First. American tax dollars are first and foremost paid for the mutual benefit of Americans. If we happen to have any surplus left, then we can talk about how we can donate that money to charity for other countries.
  - defrost 2y ago
    Context is everything. Sixteen years ago $50 million USD was the absolute low bar of interest when reporting on IPO capital raising for mineral development projects. We tracked any global mineral exploration activity; leases changing hands, ground chemistry surveys, geophysical survey, drill survey, technical reports, etc. But, for the purposes of informing investors on the Toronto TSX and elsewhere, anything less than $50 million on development was too small to be worth mentioning. It was literally the lowest least interesting amount.
    - Dalewyn 2y ago
      I think you just ended up supporting my argument, because you perfectly explained why most people hate bean counters. Again: $50 million dollars is an insane amount of money, even moreso since it's American tax dollars and we're apparently spending it buying condoms for other countries. What the sincere fuck. That is not what I'm paying my taxes for, and I'm willing to bet a lot of Americans will agree with me. Spend that $50 million dollars on anything for the direct benefit of Americans: Student debt, food stamps, Medicare, public schools, or condoms for that matter, I don't care. Spending this money on anything for Americans is better than spending it buying condoms for other countries. Absolutely noone can convince me this is a wise and justifiable use of our (my) taxes.
      - defrost 2y ago
        > Again: $50 million dollars is an insane amount of money Again, that's not "insane" .. it's literally the least outlay for a very small publicly listed mine; it covers a few 100 tonne haulpaks, machine shops, staff, screens, small crusher, a few conveyors, and sundries. It strikes me that you might well be out of touch with the cost of various activities.
        Dalewyn 2y ago
        It strikes me that you might well be out of touch with how we are talking about American tax dollars being wasted on very questionable foreign expenditures.
CyberDildonics 2y ago
The "$50 million for condoms" was a lie. https://apnews.com/article/gaza-condoms-fact-check-trump-50-million-26884cac6c7097d7316ca50ca4145a82 https://apnews.com/article/gaza-condoms-fact-check-trump-50-... https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-us-spent-50-million-condoms-gaza-2025-01-30/ https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-us-spent-50-m... https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/jan/30/karoline-leavitt/no-the-us-did-not-spend-50-million-to-fund-condoms/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/jan/30/karoline-l... https://www.factcheck.org/2025/01/trump-administration-makes-unsupported-claim-about-50-million-for-condoms-to-gaza/ https://www.factcheck.org/2025/01/trump-administration-makes... https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/29/evidence-us-govt-50m-condoms-gaza/ https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/29/evidence-us-govt-50m-... https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/50-million-condoms-in-gaza-trump-fact-check/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/50-million-cond... https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/01/fact-check-no-proof-us-allocated-50-million-for-condoms-in-gaza.html https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/01/fact-check-no-pro... https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/50-million-condoms-for-gaza-fact-check-x87wbv25m https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/50-million-co... https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-50-million-condoms-gaza-1235250386/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-50... "The White House had already walked back the bogus tale of excessive government spending that was amplified by Elon Musk and other MAGA allies `"
aguaviva 2y ago
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talldayo 2y ago

I disagree, because I think aid can be helpful depending on how it arises. $50,000,000 is not an insane amount of money (consider defense spending), and it would not eliminate a significant amount of student debt. It does buy you a lot of rubbers, though. America, since the Nixon administration, through the Cold War and after the dissolution of the USSR has promoted global cooperation as a tool for stopping authoritarianism at the source. We help nations with their AIDS crisis because it means they are fundamentally more stable and can use their government to focus on problems they're equipped to handle. America doesn't have to help anyone. We can always kick back on our lawn chairs, take the taxpayer-funded pontoon out on the lake and watch the world burn from a safe distance. But we don't do that, because when we do we prove to the world that we are exactly the evil and selfish caricature of a nation they think we are. After all, if America doesn't formally offer to help they might seek out an even more destructive solution (see: IMF loans, centralized planning, coordination with adversaries, etc). Then you'll be wishing we bought the condoms for them.

Dalewyn 2y ago
>$50,000,000 is not an insane amount of money Please reconsider the utterly nonsensical nature of your statement. Anyone who says $50 million dollars is "not an insane amount of money" has no business commenting on financial affairs, let alone money provided by taxpayers. >global cooperation as a tool for stopping authoritarianism at the source. We help nations Cooperation is nice and warm, but the keyword there is "help". You can't help others when you need help yourself first, and right now today there are countless matters that concern ourselves and require proper attention. Whether it's crumbling infrastructure, insufficient housing, rising costs of living and medical care, excessive costs and debts of education, measures and mandates necessary to prevent and recover from natural disasters, and many more, just imagine what another $50 million dollars could do. And it's not just that $50 million, there are certainly far more where that came from. Hell, even if we have nothing else to spend money on we still have an utterly crazy amount of debt. Putting $50 million towards our debt (aka cutting $50 million in expenditures off our national budget) is $50 million less in debt. >America doesn't have to help anyone. ... But we don't do that, because when we do we prove to the world that we are exactly the evil and selfish caricature of a nation they think we are. There is nothing selfish about "putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others", aka America First. American tax dollars are first and foremost paid for the mutual benefit of Americans. If we happen to have any surplus left, then we can talk about how we can donate that money to charity for other countries.
- defrost 2y ago
  Context is everything. Sixteen years ago $50 million USD was the absolute low bar of interest when reporting on IPO capital raising for mineral development projects. We tracked any global mineral exploration activity; leases changing hands, ground chemistry surveys, geophysical survey, drill survey, technical reports, etc. But, for the purposes of informing investors on the Toronto TSX and elsewhere, anything less than $50 million on development was too small to be worth mentioning. It was literally the lowest least interesting amount.
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    I think you just ended up supporting my argument, because you perfectly explained why most people hate bean counters. Again: $50 million dollars is an insane amount of money, even moreso since it's American tax dollars and we're apparently spending it buying condoms for other countries. What the sincere fuck. That is not what I'm paying my taxes for, and I'm willing to bet a lot of Americans will agree with me. Spend that $50 million dollars on anything for the direct benefit of Americans: Student debt, food stamps, Medicare, public schools, or condoms for that matter, I don't care. Spending this money on anything for Americans is better than spending it buying condoms for other countries. Absolutely noone can convince me this is a wise and justifiable use of our (my) taxes.
    - defrost 2y ago
      > Again: $50 million dollars is an insane amount of money Again, that's not "insane" .. it's literally the least outlay for a very small publicly listed mine; it covers a few 100 tonne haulpaks, machine shops, staff, screens, small crusher, a few conveyors, and sundries. It strikes me that you might well be out of touch with the cost of various activities.
      - Dalewyn 2y ago
        It strikes me that you might well be out of touch with how we are talking about American tax dollars being wasted on very questionable foreign expenditures.

CyberDildonics 2y ago

The "$50 million for condoms" was a lie. https://apnews.com/article/gaza-condoms-fact-check-trump-50-million-26884cac6c7097d7316ca50ca4145a82 https://apnews.com/article/gaza-condoms-fact-check-trump-50-... https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-us-spent-50-million-condoms-gaza-2025-01-30/ https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/no-evidence-us-spent-50-m... https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/jan/30/karoline-leavitt/no-the-us-did-not-spend-50-million-to-fund-condoms/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/jan/30/karoline-l... https://www.factcheck.org/2025/01/trump-administration-makes-unsupported-claim-about-50-million-for-condoms-to-gaza/ https://www.factcheck.org/2025/01/trump-administration-makes... https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/29/evidence-us-govt-50m-condoms-gaza/ https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/29/evidence-us-govt-50m-... https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/50-million-condoms-in-gaza-trump-fact-check/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/50-million-cond... https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/01/fact-check-no-proof-us-allocated-50-million-for-condoms-in-gaza.html https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/01/fact-check-no-pro... https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/50-million-condoms-for-gaza-fact-check-x87wbv25m https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/50-million-co... https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-50-million-condoms-gaza-1235250386/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-50... "The White House had already walked back the bogus tale of excessive government spending that was amplified by Elon Musk and other MAGA allies `"

aguaviva 2y ago

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