Why don't the "Patriots" complain about the trillions the U.S. hands out to the World

[kaiser soze]

Just curious why we never hear the Republicans and their followers bitch about the amount of money blindly handed over to so many questionable characters and organizations around the world.

No wonder our country is crumbling and our people are succumbing - They don't care about the money being spent on other places other than our own.

Why do they hate America?

[Drederick Tatum]

"the United Arab Emirates government revealed, as part of an ongoing Drug Enforcement Administration/Afghan Threat Finance Cell investigation, that it had stopped Afghan Vice-President Ahmad Zia Masood entering the country with $52 million."

Millions of what is either American tax dollars or drug money leaving Afghanistan in hands of top officials on a "weekly, monthly, and annual basis." relevant diplomatic cable (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/230265) and analysis (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/wikileaks-elite-afghans-millions-cash).

A tragic waste of lives and resources.

[kaiser soze]

that report actually spawned this thread -

I know there was once talk of billions unaccounted for in Iraq

sOoOo...down the memory hole.

This is why the U.S. is a mess - name your poison, it's there

[travesty]

I have complained about government waste at every turn as does every good conservative.

What particular "money blindly handed over to so many questionable characters and organizations around the world" are you talking about?

If it's the $25B (.009% of our $2.7T annual revenue) or so we spend annually in "Foreign Aid" are you saying that we should cease those programs?

I'm not sure what waste you concerned with here, but let me voice my opposition to all "government waste" (that's any oxymoron)

[kaiser soze]

As a person who claims to be a fiscal conservative I am shocked that you are paying little attention to where your tax dollars are going outside of our borders. Shame on you.

Let me list a few entities who are making out like bandits while our country gets poorer and poorer

Blackwater/Xe
Haliburton/KBR/Carlyle
Afghan Govt/Taliban
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Pakistan
Israel
Drug war recipients
and I guarantee countless little proxies/rebels/guerillas throughout the world

$25 billion in foreign aid? You truly believe that is exactly what we hand out and that every $ is used in a productive manner to benefit the citizens of that nation. Riiiiight.

So why are conservatives bitching about investing billions in our own nation!?

[travesty]

If the government touches it, there's waste involved. I'm just asking you to clarify exactly what waste has you upset. To just focus on the waste involved in programs/ initiatives you don't like is very short sighted. What about the waste in the Dept. of Education, The Endowment for the Arts, The IRS, FEMA etc etc? You can't be against government waste selectively. What about the Federal Government employees who are making out like bandits while the rest of the country gets poorer and poorer?

$25B isn't my number. That what the US budget had listed for Foreign Aid in 2009. And yes, to me we could cease all those programs...I was just asking if you agree.

What billions are the conservatives bitching about investing? I'm lost.

[kaiser soze]

Well I did provide a list you can decide whether or not we waste taxpayers money there. And I do agree there is more than enough waste within our borders - And for the most part what you have listed have and or currently are topics of contention.

Yes we need to lasso in the bandits here. I was on board with you with letting the banks/auto industry fail - that is capitalism, if you can't make it work you fail, those bailouts were bullshit.

I guess it's all a matter of perspective, as many conservatives concern themselves with waste within these borders, I am more concerned how our taxpayers money is spent in places that have very little to no impact on our nations growth and prosperity (and please don't use the War on Drugs/Terrorism as an argument because that shit is perpetuated to keep "business" rolling).

I just haven't seen much foot stomping (from those who wrapped themselves in our flag) when virtual blank checks have been handed out these past few years to foreign nations. I think that is bullshit when our infrastructure is rotting, our children, elderly, blue/white collar workers are having difficulty, and our environment is continuing to be bitched slapped.

[travesty]

I'm on board with you almost 100% and it's one of the main reasons I refuse to identify with Republicans. This is one of thier biggest hipocrisies. You are right that wasted money overseas seems to be "de rigueur" in the name of "protecting America" yet the less than 1% of the budget in evil earmarks sent to individual states is worth rasing a stink about. It makes no sense, waste is waste but if you're gonna waste, you might as well waste at home right?

[kaiser soze]

My guess is that the odds of the "home" waste would have a slightly better chance of either (and ideally) providing better results in productivity or would be more accessible for scrutiny (in a legal sense)

but that is ideally - we are now seeing some exceptional and unacceptable instances of selective concern or action involving the handling and exploitation of taxpayers' money

[travesty]

Its a complete lack of respect, from both sides, for what it takes the average American to earn a dollar to send to the government in th first place. "Selective concern" is a great way to put it. I'll use that often.

[kaiser soze]

Where is the Tea Party?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfkO698zOJA&feature=player_embedded#!

[yeahwho]

I'll tell you where the tea party is.

The tea party is down here with the rest of us trying to get somewhere on our crumbled deteriorated infrastructure while the patrician class fly overhead in their Lear jets.

10 straight years of a Bush presidency and the reality is setting in.

[p-branez]

^ Here's an article with some bearing... although a more international take.. "The Economic Incompetence of the Political Class" (http://www.forbes.com/2010/12/06/economy-sovereign-debt-euro-opinions-contributors-charles-kadlec.html).
One could write a series of books with that title.

"The sovereign debt crisis now threatening Europe, as well as major American states and cities, discloses the sheer incompetence of a political class that has over-promised, under-delivered and squandered vast amounts of their citizens' wealth."

...

"Instead, what we now can see is that elected officials, following a power motive, can be as greedy and irresponsible as anyone in the private sector. In many cases, officials from both parties have been captured by powerful interests, including public sector unions and recipients of transfer payments. As a consequence, they have willfully committed current and future taxpayer money to benefit those with political power at the expense of the community as a whole."

[kaiser soze]

aka: treason