Current Events > It's disheartening for Americas to work 2-3 jobs to get by then read the news

(+) Yeah! (+)

America send billions and billions to different countries. I know it's important but when people struggle and read that ofc they lose motivation.

do you think we are literally just giving them billions for free

also the amount of people working more than one job is dwindling

If you want better social support networks, then push for them.

I guaran-goddamn-tee you that it'll be a lot harder if Trump wins.

actually i don't mind if my tax money goes to people in need even if they're from *gasp* some other country.

The problem is that a disgusting percentage of that is military aid.

Honestly wish our taxes were Higher! I like supporting under developed nations and highly developed nations in need for support, whether it's food, water, grains, grenades or F-35 Lightnings and drones

metralo posted...

do you think we are literally just giving them billions for free

also the amount of people working more than one job is dwindling

we are?....

metralo posted...

do you think we are literally just giving them billions for free

also the amount of people working more than one job is dwindling

We give them the money and they buy guns with it.

Hyena_Of_Ice posted...

The problem is that a disgusting percentage of that is military aid.

This

SaikyoStyle posted...

We give them the money and they buy guns with it.

where are they buying the guns from

metralo posted...

do you think we are literally just giving them billions for free

Do you think it's not money just because you launder it through the military industrial complex? Giving "old equipment" is simply clearing the way to build more shit. In other words, those billions are getting spent one way or another. You can jump up another layer of redirection and claim that our tax dollars aren't paying for this, it's actually paid for by debt, but eventually things come back to reality and the system falls apart. The system is made complex on purpose because you can more easily hide corruption through complexity. Just look at the stock market and all the ridiculous instruments at play there.

if im being honest, I prefer this than Russia trying to bulldoze all of europe, which is what they will do if they win ukraine.

metralo posted...

where are they buying the guns from

American weapons manufacturers.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FFjnLWiRVlo

metralo isnt old enough to be posting here. Its against TOS.

Haejin posted...

America send billions and billions to different countries. I know it's important but when people struggle and read that ofc they lose motivation.

I mean, if you get how percentages work you realize foreign aid is a drop in a bucket. But, sure, there is always fear mongering that "Somewhere out there, someone undeserving is getting a free handout(!!!!!)."

CEO and stockholder types like desperate and unorganized labor, makes it easier for them to scoop more and more money into their lion's share. If people wised up to the distractions then they might be forced to share a decent amount with said people.

Foreign aid is around 1% of the federal budget.

Defense spending is much, much higher than that and includes loads of wasteful spending but people don't care.

Also, interest we pay on the national debt per year is like 10 times what we pay in foreign aid.

Haejin posted...

America send billions and billions*

*Less than 1% of our budget

And before the US was giving the aid to Ukraine? They were of course using the money to help these people with two jobs! No wonder they are pissed now that it has stopped.

Always such a disingenuous argument. Usually put forward by those who are actually opposed to the government spending money on helping people.

ai123 posted...

And before the US was giving the aid to Ukraine? They were of course using the money to help these people with two jobs! No wonder they are pissed now that it has stopped.

Always such a disingenuous argument. Usually put forward by those who are actually opposed to the government spending money on helping people.

For sure. The government should be doing more to help working class Americans but aid to Ukraine is not what's keeping them from doing so.

UnsteadyOwl posted...

For sure. The government should be doing more to help working class Americans but aid to Ukraine is not what's keeping them from doing so.

I just want to know if, before the war in Ukraine, these people were calling for $60bn in additional government spending on the poor.

One of our only two major political parties is unashamedly, morally against spending money to help our own citizens, but sure, make the issue about budgeting.

Haejin posted...

America send billions and billions to different countries. I know it's important but when people struggle and read that ofc they lose motivation.

If youre working three jobs youre not paying for foreign aid.

Yes, while the government should do more to help our citizens and infrastructure, I would also argue that the American corporate environment should pay workers more across the board. Our retail landscape is littered with companies that pay below living wages so the government then has to subsidize those people and then the very same corporate entities will lobby for less government assistance. It is disgusting.

Haejin posted...

America send billions and billions to different countries. I know it's important but when people struggle and read that ofc they lose motivation.

It'd be good to remind them that foreign aid is very helpful to other countries and it's a very very very small percentage of our federal budget

You could probably fix the homeless crisis just by using 10% of the money we spend on national defense, but that would never happen.

Because we don't have access at scale to all of the things we need to basically make stuff, other countries do and we need to participate on a global level to have favorable access to these resources. We could go without but then we wouldn't have "stuff". Part of the issue now is that people really reallllly never understood the American maritime order or how it affected most aspects of your life and now that it is winding down we are blaming everything going wrong on everything but the world just having to change in response.

B18Champ posted...

You could probably fix the homeless crisis just by using 10% of the money we spend on national defense, but that would never happen.

Putting limits on overseas speculation on home purchases wouldn't hurt either.

DuneMan posted...

Putting limits on overseas speculation on home purchases wouldn't hurt either.

Make that limits on speculation in general and you'll actually solve the problem in a large way. Japan had a problem with property prices in the 80s when speculation was rampant, but the problem went away when the bubble burst. The key was that the bubble stayed burst. In the US we had the bubble leading up to 2008 and then the geniuses in charge instituted too-big-to-fail policies that allowed the bubble to continue (after a brief dip in prices which let more speculators buy up properties on the cheap).

1337toothbrush posted...

Make that limits on speculation in general and you'll actually solve the problem in a large way. Japan had a problem with property prices in the 80s when speculation was rampant, but the problem went away when the bubble burst. The key was that the bubble stayed burst. In the US we had the bubble leading up to 2008 and then the geniuses in charge instituted too-big-to-fail policies that allowed the bubble to continue (after a brief dip in prices which let more speculators buy up properties on the cheap).

Japan also builds a shitload of housing in popular (Tokyo) areas

Haejin posted...

billions and billions

Divided by 300 million Americans, that could be tens of dollars apiece!

so has anyone refuted anything I've said in here

Man it really sucks how America took a bunch of money that was helping Americans and sent it overseas instead.

Wait...

There'd be more money for Americans if America's health care system wasn't the most expensive in the world and a broken piece of shit. Let's not kid ourselves, a military contractor spending 6 Billion is nothing compared to the 4.5 TRILLION mess that is our health care.

And then there's other shit like why corn farmers get paid so much goddamn money making TOO MUCH corn? Is that why there's corn syrup in everything instead of healthier sweeteners?