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> I think the rest of the world will withdraw from trusting the US after this and other actions The USA currently has a problem where a large portion of the US

> I think the rest of the world will withdraw from trusting the US after this and other actions The USA currently has a problem where a large portion of the US population no longer trusts the USA. That population shifts depending on whichever group is in charge of the federal government Maybe this is not the way to repair that trust, I don't know. But I think for a lot of people, "Stop sending tons of our tax money to other countries" is a step to repair some of that trust with the population The next step would have to be "start re-investing that money back into America" but we'll see if that actually happens

aprilthird2021 2y ago
> But I think for a lot of people, "Stop sending tons of our tax money to other countries" is a step to repair some of that trust with the population Yes, bingo. On both sides, people have become extremely sick of seeing "billions of dollars sent to X" in the news knowing that we, American citizens, will never receive anything like that amount of aid
- davidw 2y ago
  Except that foreign aid is a tiny part of the US budget.
- mplanchard 2y ago
  > we, American citizens, will never receive anything like that amount of aid 21% of the federal budget goes to Social Security (aid) 16% goes to medicare (aid) 10% goes to other health spending (probably at least partially aid -- edit: further research shows that of this, around 90% is some kind of aid) 7% goes to income security (aid) 4% goes to veteran services (aid) 3% goes to education, training, employment, and social services (aid) 1.5% goes to natural resources and environment (aid) 1% goes to community and regional development (aid) 1% goes to foreign aid We are already spending a huge portion of our budget on various kinds of domestic aid, the majority of it in fact. Edit to add, data from 2024, source here: https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/budget_function https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/budget_function
  - normalaccess 2y ago
    It's not the spending itself that's the problem. It's the the waste in each program. The middle men and NGO's that are hovering up free money from the tax payers that is the problem. All these programs are treated like cookie jars and everyone gets a nibble.
    - aprilthird2021 2y ago
      No, it's the spending. I'm sick of looking at our "allies" having the social programs our "leaders" tell us we can't have while we subsidize their countries
    - mplanchard 2y ago
      Do you have any proof of this assertion? Most government agencies outside of the military have passed financial audits. People who have worked as auditors in the public and private sectors generally report more waste and fraud in the private sector by far.
  - bluefirebrand 2y ago
    1% is small in terms of the national budget but massive in terms of the average American If the argument is "it's not that much money and it wouldn't help Americans much" then can't people also turn that on it's head? "It's not that much money, so it's not actually doing much real good overseas either"
  - aprilthird2021 2y ago
    If you are a young person today, your chance of getting Social Security is low because it will be scrapped by the time we reach that age. Medicare also is for seniors, Medicaid is for the impoverished. Veteran services are for veterans. Most of what you describe is not for the average American citizen. But it is the average American citizen who has more credit card debt than ever before, whose wages don't keep pace with inflation, whose ability to buy a home for his family drifts further and further away every year. Why can't we take that 1% that we send to foreign "allies" (who themselves have better social services and spend more on their populations than we do) and give it to the average American who works hard and makes this country what it is?
perryizgr8 2y ago
> The USA currently has a problem where a large portion of the US population no longer trusts the USA. Feature, not a bug.
mplanchard 2y ago
Foreign aid is (was) 1% of the US budget
- normalaccess 2y ago
  And is highly abused, cut it.
- janeroe 2y ago
  And that's 1% (of the whole budget) too much.
  - andy_ppp 2y ago
    When the diseases of the third world metastasise and cause a far worse pandemic than the one that just happened you will think the 1% is cheap.

aprilthird2021 2y ago

> But I think for a lot of people, "Stop sending tons of our tax money to other countries" is a step to repair some of that trust with the population Yes, bingo. On both sides, people have become extremely sick of seeing "billions of dollars sent to X" in the news knowing that we, American citizens, will never receive anything like that amount of aid

davidw 2y ago
Except that foreign aid is a tiny part of the US budget.
mplanchard 2y ago
> we, American citizens, will never receive anything like that amount of aid 21% of the federal budget goes to Social Security (aid) 16% goes to medicare (aid) 10% goes to other health spending (probably at least partially aid -- edit: further research shows that of this, around 90% is some kind of aid) 7% goes to income security (aid) 4% goes to veteran services (aid) 3% goes to education, training, employment, and social services (aid) 1.5% goes to natural resources and environment (aid) 1% goes to community and regional development (aid) 1% goes to foreign aid We are already spending a huge portion of our budget on various kinds of domestic aid, the majority of it in fact. Edit to add, data from 2024, source here: https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/budget_function https://www.usaspending.gov/explorer/budget_function
- normalaccess 2y ago
  It's not the spending itself that's the problem. It's the the waste in each program. The middle men and NGO's that are hovering up free money from the tax payers that is the problem. All these programs are treated like cookie jars and everyone gets a nibble.
  - aprilthird2021 2y ago
    No, it's the spending. I'm sick of looking at our "allies" having the social programs our "leaders" tell us we can't have while we subsidize their countries
  - mplanchard 2y ago
    Do you have any proof of this assertion? Most government agencies outside of the military have passed financial audits. People who have worked as auditors in the public and private sectors generally report more waste and fraud in the private sector by far.
- bluefirebrand 2y ago
  1% is small in terms of the national budget but massive in terms of the average American If the argument is "it's not that much money and it wouldn't help Americans much" then can't people also turn that on it's head? "It's not that much money, so it's not actually doing much real good overseas either"
- aprilthird2021 2y ago
  If you are a young person today, your chance of getting Social Security is low because it will be scrapped by the time we reach that age. Medicare also is for seniors, Medicaid is for the impoverished. Veteran services are for veterans. Most of what you describe is not for the average American citizen. But it is the average American citizen who has more credit card debt than ever before, whose wages don't keep pace with inflation, whose ability to buy a home for his family drifts further and further away every year. Why can't we take that 1% that we send to foreign "allies" (who themselves have better social services and spend more on their populations than we do) and give it to the average American who works hard and makes this country what it is?

perryizgr8 2y ago

> The USA currently has a problem where a large portion of the US population no longer trusts the USA. Feature, not a bug.

mplanchard 2y ago

Foreign aid is (was) 1% of the US budget

normalaccess 2y ago
And is highly abused, cut it.
janeroe 2y ago
And that's 1% (of the whole budget) too much.
- andy_ppp 2y ago
  When the diseases of the third world metastasise and cause a far worse pandemic than the one that just happened you will think the 1% is cheap.