So, in addition to the $900M in taxpayer money that we are giving to the Palestinians, we are now going to fund a scholarship program. Are you fucking kidding me???
Oh well, what’s another million…
I wonder if Hillary ever plans on returning to New York. I would love to see how her Jewish supporters welcome her …
OUR NATION is being led by idiots.
that is the one of the stupidest things I have ever heard
OUR NATION is being led by idiots.
that is the one of the stupidest things I have ever heard
Every day it feels like it is less and less “ours” …
You spend 900mil rebuilding. You spend 1mil educating a few kids.
Lets say there is a .001% chance that some brilliant kid gets an opportunity to go to a leading school/university etc because of that 1mil. He/she develops a balanced, rounded view of the world. Learns about international relations, diplomacy, give and take. Learns about human rights, social justice and equality for all.
They then grows up into the man/woman who brokers a lasting peace in the region in 30 years time.
So you see, it is a 1mil gamble that could pay of 100 billion times. Literally.
I agree that it is a gamble, but in rebuilding countries it is always difficult to get brilliant leaders who are not so tied in to the old ways that they can lead their country out of the darkness. I think if they paid 50mil it wouldn’t be wasted money.
Look at East Timor, the Solomon Islands etc. The pool of potential leaders was VERY small indeed. And almost everyone of them had been educated overseas.
I agree that it is a gamble, but in rebuilding countries it is always difficult to get brilliant leaders who are not so tied in to the old ways that they can lead their country out of the darkness. I think if they paid 50mil it wouldn’t be wasted money.
Sure, it could be a good thing. But the fact of the matter is, it’s not our country to rebuild. We (the American taxpayers) should not be paying to rebuild a country that is not ours.
“Lets say there is a .001% chance that some brilliant kid gets an opportunity to go to a leading school/university etc because of that 1mil. He/she develops a balanced, rounded view of the world. Learns about international relations, diplomacy, give and take. Learns about human rights, social justice and equality for all.”
Or we happen to educate them to make bigger and better bombs!!!
You are not paying to rebuild the country. You are investing in the future. You are actually saving money in the long term.
Think like a chess player - what is going to happen a few moves from now? Would you give up a pawn now to take the queen in 3 moves?
Instability in the middle east indirectly costs the US billions. If you invest in human/social capital it is rarely money wasted. Whats a million bucks anyway in the scheme of things?
That’s the idea…
You throw around billions, hell trillions, and pretty soon people get immune to the idea of a measly million here and there. It’s like the Vegas casinos. You play with big, heavy chips and pretty soon those quarters and half-dollars don’t even feel like money anymore.
**We (the American taxpayers) should not be paying to rebuild a country that is not ours. **
Yet we don’t seem to have a problem spending billions arming Israel who then destroy Palestine. We also spend billions dropping bombs on Iraq only to spend billions more rebuilding it.
Ron Paul was right, if we just stayed out in the first place we wouldn’t end up in situations like this.
Empires cost money. Can’t we just pay for this with Iraqi oil?
Lets say there is a .001% chance that some brilliant kid gets an opportunity to go to a leading school/university etc because of that 1mil. He/she develops a balanced, rounded view of the world. Learns about international relations, diplomacy, give and take. Learns about human rights, social justice and equality for all.
Then why not give a $1M scholarship program to Israel? What about setting one up for children in the Sudan? How about another program for Iraqi children? Even better – Iranian children. Why not?
The point of the matter is, there are infinit numbers of US children who cannot afford college, and any one of them COULD create a cure for cancer or establish world peace. Why are we spending taxpayer money in this manner?
Lets say there is a .001% chance that some brilliant kid gets an opportunity to go to a leading school/university etc because of that 1mil. He/she develops a balanced, rounded view of the world. Learns about international relations, diplomacy, give and take. Learns about human rights, social justice and equality for all.
They then grows up into the man/woman who brokers a lasting peace in the region in 30 years time.
So you see, it is a 1mil gamble that could pay of 100 billion times. Literally.
If your idea of money well spent is to throw a million $'s at a 1/100,000 long shot, you’re not going to be helping to manage *my *budget process!
Hell, I wouldn’t let you manage my daughter’s piggy bank!
I’m going to post once in this thread and will leave it at that because otherwise, I’ll spend way too much time answering folks who will not change their minds anyway…
But Bobbyejoe is right, it’s an investment. The US has no problem making a LOT of money out of other countries. It is also distributing quite a bit of money all around the world. It’s now adding to Palestine, which was long time due.
And you have an incredibly selfish and narrow-minded view of the world my friend…
***But Bobbyejoe is right, it’s an investment. ***
I’ll give you a genuine chance to change my mind. I’m a businessman and look at things like this from that perspective.
In order for an investment to make sense, there needs to be an expectation of a reasonable and forseeable return on that investment. Moreover, that ROI should exceed the ROI that would be available via alternative investments.
Please tell me what your anticipated ROI is on this investment and the timeframe in which we can expect to realize that ROI. Then please explain why that particular investment will generate a higher ROI than a similar investment here at home.
Thank you.
I would have less of a problem with this if we didn’t have an eleventy trillion dollar deficit staring us in the face. The bottomline is: you don’t give away money you don’t have, but, while our federal government will demonize banks for this practice, it will turn around and do the exact same thing except using money it has extorted from the people living in this country. Absolutely ridiculous!
**We (the American taxpayers) should not be paying to rebuild a country that is not ours. **
Yet we don’t seem to have a problem spending billions arming Israel who then destroy Palestine. We also spend billions dropping bombs on Iraq only to spend billions more rebuilding it.
Ron Paul was right, if we just stayed out in the first place we wouldn’t end up in situations like this.
Well, that’s the thing, I do have a problem with doing all that as well. In case anyone has failed to notice, our own country isn’t doing so well right now. Instead of spending money to destroy and rebuild other countries, how about we focus on rebuilding our own. How about we take that $1 million and spend it on education of American children? That way, when they grow up, they won’t be dumb enough to make the mistakes their parents continue to make.
Maybe then, once we’ve gotten our own country in order, we could spend money to help other countries.
I was just about to say the same thing…American kids could certainly use that money, and who know? maybe one of them will grow up to solve all the world’s problems.
Our school district just lost $22 million due to the State of California’s absolute incompetence. At my daughters grade school, this means no more science, no more music and no more art. The latter two - fine, cut them. We can teach that at home. Science? WTF? why would you cut science? Anyway, that’s off topic.
My point is, I’d rather see us invest in the American education before the Palestinian one.
Francois said he’d post once so I don’t know if he’ll try and change your mind but I’ll try.
I don’t invest in ETFs or mutual funds because I expect every underlying stock to go up - Ideally the weighted average will but I can live with plenty of failures along the way. A venture capitalist may seed 20 new ventures with no firm expectation that any one will generate a decent return but in reliance on the probability that one or two will pay off significantly.
By the same principles the US should review its foreign investment strategy on a diversified portfolio basis. Invest a bunch in safe areas like participation in the trade talks, maintaining embassies, NATO etc. but have some left over for speculative investments which may or may not pay off. Every couple of years take stock and ask if the money has been well spent in the aggregate but don’t isolate one program that represents a drop in the ocean of the US’s foreign spending and act like the government is sat at a roulette wheel.
Finally, to compare this program with spending the money at home is a false dichotomy. Every country that has ambitions to shape global affairs needs to spend at home and abroard and the two are totally different portfolios and should be managed as such.
Check your signature too 
So, the Obama administration is speculating with the money, with no real expectation of a viable return on that investment? Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you, and it’s sad. It also serves to reinforce the fiscal irresponsibility that we’ve seen thus far from the administration.
You know what they say…“a million here, a million there, and before you know it you’re talking real money…”