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What Some Conservatives Don't Yet Get
Yesterday, 165 House Republicans voted to completely de-fund USAID as part of austerity measures designed to address the U.S. budget crisis. They suggested a lot of other cuts, but you can guess what they did not suggest cutting: the budget of the Department of Defense. They suggested we zero out the budget for USAID but not make any changes to the amount we are currently spending within the Department of Defense.
The FY2011 Department of Defense budget request was $548.9 billion dollars for the base budget, which does not include the $159.3 billion dollars set aside for "overseas contingency operations" such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just to give you a little perspective, the International Affairs budget we set aside for foreign and security assistance programs totaled, according to Gordon Adams and Cindy Williams, $500 billion in the three decades between FY1977 and FY2007 -- $50 billion less than the base budget for the Department of Defense for one year of operations!
But that incredible disparity is not what folks need to know about USAID. The question that last factoid should prompt in the heads of at least 165 people in Washington, DC is, "Wait a minute, why is discussion of the USAID budget included in the authoritative book on the national security budget?"
The answer is that Adams and Williams understand what every U.S. military officer and defense official from the youngest second lieutenant at Fort Benning to Bob Gates understands: the money we spend through USAID is part of our national security budget. Some money, such as the money we spent through both the defense and aid budgets in Haiti last year, we spend for mostly altruistic purposes. But the two biggest recipients of U.S. international aid through USAID are Afghanistan and Pakistan. We can have a separate debate about whether or not this money is being well spent, but we cannot have a debate as to why it is being spent: it is quite obviously being spent to advance what are seen to be the national security interests of the United States.
USAID, as an organization, no doubt wastes a lot of money. But so too, to put it mildly, does the Department of Defense. I have no doubt, in fact, that the amount of money USAID wastes in any given year amounts to a small fraction of the amount of money the Department of Defense loses through cost overruns for the F-35 alone.
The bottom line here is that the biggest defender of the USAID budget will be Bob Gates -- and any U.S. military officer who has ever served with someone from the Office of Transition Initiatives in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Sec. Gates will argue, supported by veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, that while USAID has problems, the money we spend through it is just as related to U.S. national security interests as the money we wasted on the Crusader or the money we spend to put an 18-year old through basic training. To not understand that is embarassing because it means you're an elected policy-maker and still uneducated about the wars we've been fighting for almost 10 years now.
You want to spend less money on aid and development in Afghanistan? Fine, I agree with you. But get of USAID? Now you're just being ignorant.
"We can have a separate
"We can have a separate debate about whether or not this money is being well spent, but we cannot have a debate as to why it is being spent: it is quite obviously being spent to advance what are seen to be the national security interests of the United States."
We can have a debate on whatever we want, thank you. Believe it or not, there are some of us who don't think the tools that support our foreign policy increase our national security.
http://mises.org/journals/lar/pdfs/2_1/2_1_7.pdf
hmmmmmmmmmm http://vlg338.blo
hmmmmmmmmmm
http://vlg338.blogspot.com/2011/01/ofda-and-fema.html
The headline says
The headline says Conservatives and the first line says Republicans. Which is it?
If you haven't noticed the main bodies of the Republican and Democratic Parties are in lock step WRT foreign and defense policy. There will be posturing, such as this vote, from both sides to illustrate how they differ from the opposition but in the end they agree on everything but the smallest details.
USAID merely gives the DoD
USAID merely gives the DoD access, nothing more. USAID is great for COIN detection. With USAID comes a military convoy, with a DoD Civil Affairs Officer and misc other personnel. What better way to gain access to a community, foreign government officials and possible bad guys than bring someone who is a non-combatant with a lot of money and promises to make things in your community better!
DoD personnel and the Xe / BW guys enjoy romancing the USAID lady's in their free time. USAID boosts morale for the troops with their good looks and the locals benefit with the misappropriated funds, since probably over 50% of USAID funds are funneled off into the pockets of corrupt foreign government officials.
Sounds like a WIN/WIN doesn't it? or does it?
We can all agree on the need
We can all agree on the need for fiscal austerity...just from someone else's budget, right?
Here's the bottom line (no pun intended) -- the budget's getting slashed, no matter how derisive you are or how loudly you yell "Keep your hands off my USAID!". If you really want to support it, come up with a plan for getting the job done cheaper.
Andrew, I would venture to
Andrew, I would venture to say that a lot of the congressmen who voted to defund USAID understand its mission, and further understand the argument that its mission is part of a National Security Strategy. But, for many reasons, good, bad and ideological, they do not agree with that strategy and they are doing their best to undermine current policy with the tools they have, which are primarily budgetary in nature.
Further, from a congressional perspective (left, right and center), it's not about the existence of waste, it's about who benefits from the waste. The beneficiaries of DOD wastage in acquisition systems are, overwhelmingly congressional constituents.
While USAID is under orders to, whenever possible, contract to US Companies (congressional constituents), the wastage (gouge) goes to foreign nationals (non-constituents, usually). Therefore, any taxpayer money that goes to a foreigner is money that could have gone to a Good Old Boy, and that is a waste of good pork. National security is not, and seldom is, the primary consideration.
For certain classes of conservatives, there is the added ideological component that Foreign Aid is not mentioned in the Constitution. Therefore, why is the Federal Government giving money to non-Americans as a matter of routine in an extra-constitutional manner?
These are a couple of examples. There are plenty more reasons why many Republicans want to defund USAID, but as is usually the case with congress, their actions are not based upon stupidity or ignorance, but rather upon drastically different prioritization of priorities and the mutually exclusive courses of action generated from different facts and assumptions.
OK, I feel much better now after a little internet rant.
Cuts to national security are
Cuts to national security are okay when done by Republicans, just as "Deficits don't matter", in Cheney's famous words, when Republicans are responsible for them.
But WEAPONS systems, per se, are sacrosanct, and must always be funded, never questioned. Because...uhhmm...because the GOP House leaders are all good, God-fearin' Christians, and Jesus Himself was all about huge stockpiles of advanced weaponry. You know:
"If an enemy shall smite thee on the cheek, then launch an RPG."
"Blessed are the armed-to-the-teeth, for they shall dominate the earth."
USAID in Afghanistan has
USAID in Afghanistan has probably done more harm than good. It's wasted a lot, failed to deliver on promises, it's projects fund the insurgency and irrigation improvements often make opium cultivation easier. A village with more food and cash on hand is also in a better position to house and feed passing insurgents and spare young men to go on the war path.
So it's not clear at all why the money is being spent.
Obama is a world class
Obama is a world class village idiot.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0111/new_best_friend_c9d4b68b-36...
After stroking the deal in India selling military jet technology, Immelt was in China finalizing a billion dollar deal on avionics. Seen China's new stealth fighter? Aircraft carrier?
Immelt promised US jobs while stroking the jet engine deal in India. The billion dollar expansion in China created 1,000 jobs in China. Some of those will be transfers from America (Immelt did not say were those American jobs would be, did he)
Now Immelt is the President's economic man, where the are the "US jobs"(US based?) you promised Jeffery? India $755 million, China $1 Billion........and $13 million for Schenectady if GE gets a tax break (WHooo Hooo , lets have a party)?
Jeffery Immelt wants to retire big like Jack Welch and it looks like he is getting a leg up. GE is about the Earned Value Model (EVM). Jack Welch use to say, "if you are not a star, your a dog.( you get sold)" EVM means if you are not making "your numbers", you have a scheduled amount of time to get there. The guys that take the model too far will sell out anyone not making their numbers. Motorola uses EVM and they have sold themselves off to just about going out of business. EVM means....the accountants run the company. Not a bad model if it is used correctly, it can be ruthless if not.
The American work force is one of the most productive work forces on the globe. The most productive work force can not compete and make "its numbers" if it is competing with a country that controls its currency, has lax EPA regulations, forced abortion, artificially low wages, and unfair trade practices in general. Immelt wants to expand into India and China badly. Obama just gave the keys of the American kingdom to Immelt, Jeffery were are the US jobs? Obama never asked HOW MANY JOBS for Americans or WHERE THEY WOULD BE did he.....world class idiot award! What Obama did with Immelt gives Immelt a licence to steal.
We have heard a lot of indigenous innovation
This is what it means...
http://cbi.typepad.com/files/us-china-business-council---indigenous-inno...
http://www.cstec.org/uploads/files/National%20Outline%20for%20Medium%20a...
Short hand is "China First". If you have technology, "China First". If you have a patent, "China First". If China has rare earth materials, "China First". If you want to do business in China you better have a Chinese partner, "China First".
I did business with the "Grand Dragon".....and it was "CHINA FIRST"
Get the idea.
I really do not have a problem with China making a 15 year road map to improve itself. I have a problem with my American tax dollars paying for it.
* Because of America's national debit, we own China over a trillion dollars, that is a lot of interest to pay.
* Because of America's trade imbalance, American jobs are suffering.
* Corporate America is offshoring jobs faster than Jeffery Immelt can promise new jobs. Net gain = loss (look at the job loss over the last ten years).
* With all those jobs went US employer based Health Care, less people in the health care system the more YOU pay for your employer based care.
* The American taxpayer is doing the heavy lifting with military spending to keep the "internation order" secure.
* America has a 20% unemployment/underemployment rate. Why aren't the jobs coming back? Off-shoring.
So what is the strategy of the State's Visit? Give everything a way and HOPE that China will CHANGE? In Chicago, China's president stroked a deal that opens up China Banks to purchase Retail banking outlets in America. You American FDIC insurance protecting Chinese bankers!
Something is wrong with this plan, it is a race to America's distruction. The Israelis are right, Obama is like rain there is always something you can do to get out of it.
Demand "the American made label"..........the next job you save might be your own.
Time to cut our American budgets, get our American act together, hire America workers and pay our American taxes......and make sure if an Corporation benefits from the American market place that they pay their taxes TOO.
It is time to put America FIRST.
Visitor@ 4:33: Unless you
Visitor@ 4:33: Unless you have seen USAID in action, then you are just going off of prejudice and conjecture. That's pretty unhelpful.
I was an outspoken critic of USAID after my tour in '07-'08. I was also a big critic of State and what they were doing in Afghanistan. In '09-'10, I trained dozens of USAID/OTI people(as well as State and their affiliates), and the organization's face in Afghanistan has changed considerably. Although the "pundits" don't discuss the District Stability Framework much, it is a cornerstone methodology for approaching program/COA development in discrete areas of operation that has been adopted by Commander, CENTCOM as one of the nine COIN Qualification Standards for battalion and below in order to be deemed qualified to deploy to Afghanistan. It was developed by Dr. Jim Derleth of USAID. The implementation of this framework is leads to a logical approach to all sorts of activities in local areas, instead of the knee-jerk answers of "build a road, build a school, build a clinic," which have often lead to money-wasting disasters.
USAID/OTI also have Afghan counterparts who are doing some very good things. You never hear of them, but they are there, and theirs is a narrative that would add a lot to the dialog here.
In short, you don't know what you're talking about.
Afghanistan, or any counterinsurgency/stability operation, cannot be performed by the military alone. Exum is correct that "over-feeding" an economic system that cannot absorb the aid money literally force-feeds corruption. The money will go somewhere, and if it is not absorbed usefully, it will create unwanted 2nd and 3rd order effects. Kinda like when you eat too many cheeseburgers and wind up with that lovely muffin top.
That being said, the military cannot hold down the other two main LOO's involved; governance and development. State and USAID are absolute necessities, and their absence largely got us where we are now. Can USAID do better? You bet... but they are improving substantially and deserve some credit for that. There are a lot of smart people out there doing the best they can and getting some good results now. Here's what I know; if USAID goes away, we are done in Afghanistan and Pakistan. None of this is an entirely military problem, and one of the reasons we have gotten this far behind the power curve is that we have taken so long to learn this. Now is not the time to cut off our nose to spite our face.
If you have an informed opinion, share it. If you have a question, or would like to clarify a perception, then ask.
Stop making off-topic
Stop making off-topic comments you idiots. It's really annoying.
AM.....What liberals don't
AM.....What liberals don't get.........
The spending has to stop. It ends here.
Illinois Democrats, the home of Obama and eternal home of Rahm Emanuel, just increased state income tax 66% and corporate tax by 43%.
These ding bats did not address how the State got in the mess it is in. Can not blame BUSH. The Democrats have ran the State since about 2002.
International Bond holders told the Illinois lawmakers they had to raise taxes and they did ! They ran scared cause Illinois's bond ratings were going to be toast.
What happened to government for the people by the people?
This has to stop. The conservative are listening to the taxpayers in their districts. The Democrats are listening to fearless leader.
The DOD just purchase a new village in Afghanistan that was blown off the map. How much more USAID do you need?
The DOD brought in deuce and a half's with pallets of hundred dollar bills to pay the Son's of Iraq....How much more USAID do you need?
The DOD is paying the ALP their salary, about $30M a month....How much more USAID do you need?
The DOD has a shopping list for equipment for both the ALP and ANA.......How much more USAID do you need?
Everytime the DOD blows something up, the people are re-paid for there loss..........How much more USAID do you need?
You want me to keep going......
This has to stop..........14 TRILLION and counting.
I DO NOT FUCKING CARE.....it needs to be cut.
So far we got a bunch of
So far we got a bunch of Visitor comments that just say:
"We need to cut our budget deficit, so these cuts are good." (using lots of emotion and way too many words).
Guess what: If you want to cut our deficit in a meaningful way you must cut DoD. To propose a budget that cuts everything but DoD is plain stupid.
If you want to "Support the Troops" fund USAID so troops aren't doing aid work, because you know who is worse at aid than USAID? The US Army.
It seems to me that the words
It seems to me that the words "synergy" and "long-term planning"really ought to be explained to a lot of folks in power. But hey, Jebus will return any time now so why bother reading up on complicated issues when you can spend your time reciting the constitution and praying for the troops?
Except for that, what Old Blue said.
Old Blue: Sorry but I work
Old Blue: Sorry but I work with USAID. The success of development is normally an inverse of how many USAID employees are in a province. It accomplishes very little at great cost. It funds the insurgency. It's intentions are irrelevant. It's ability to create lists of stuff to do or create Power Points is irrelevant. If it's governance programs worked Afghanistan wouldn't be the first or second most corrupt country in the world.
Can the military do it alone. No, but the military can't even do it's current missions in any sort of cost effective manner so good money after bad isn't the answer.
It's not even clear that development is needed to fight the insurgency. Insurgent incidents and development dollars parallel each other going up on a XY graph since 2004. The dollars poured by USAID into Afghanistan may have actually made the insurgency worse.
Sorry if you take offense at the notion that your employer is a waste of resources. Perhaps a bit of self awareness on the part of government employees would have saved us billions and hundreds of lives.
Old blue was spot on. USAID
Old blue was spot on. USAID is an absolutely vital foreign policy tool.
Anyone who thinks Afghanistan is doable, or worthwhile strategically, as almost all of the Republican Study Group members do, would be a complete moron to eliminate USAID. The military does not have the capacity or the desire or the aptitude to take over these duties.
If this move were more than symbolic (it obviously won't get through the Senate and the President) I would seriously consider changing parties.
As a conservative, but also a realist and aspiring foreign policy professional, it makes a lot of sense to divert money from DoD to State and stop conducting foreign policy out of DoD. We account for 46% of what the entire world spends on defense. Our supposed rival China spends a staggering 6% of the world's total. Pure idiocy.
Old blue was spot on. Anyone
Old blue was spot on.
Anyone who thinks Afghanistan is doable and strategically worthwhile (as all of the Republican Study Committee members surely do) would be a complete moron to eliminate USAID.
The military has neither the capacity nor the aptitude nor the desire to do this kind of thing.
Moreover USAID is useful out of all proportion to its already atrophied budget. If anything we ought to divert money from DoD and give it to State and stop having foreign policy run out of DoD. We account for 46% of the defense spending of the entire world. Our vaunted "rivals," the Chinese make up a staggering 6%. They're really nipping at our heels in terms of military capacity.
As someone who votes Republican this move is appalling. If it were more than symbolic I would seriously consider switching parties.
I've got news for you.
I've got news for you. Afghanistan - if it was ever our cause - was lost before we got there.
Andrew, we only have a budget because the Fed is printing money and creating it electronically at the rate of trillions.
We have destroyed our currency to save who? Opium growers and heroin refiners? Fuck em.
The party's over Exum. Time to come home, and promise horrific punitive responses if they so much as set a firecracker off in NYC or any other city. Which they will, and progressives like you will counsel restraint.
BTW the aid merely enriches corrupt foreign officials. Also corrupt US officials, and our blessed NGO's. The one's with 2 million dollar houses with in ground pools in CT and Mercedes out front. I happen to know a little of what I speak.
You've been had, and the the party is over. Maybe they'll increase the debt to 14 trillion, but it's over.
And all that aid? So what? we can irrigate opium fields and build roads to increase the traffic?
The American people know they've been had, and they've had it.
You really think a well or a road will change the Flintstones from their evil killing, thieving ways? They've been doing it since the Persian Empire. Time to stop paying tribute (how they see it) and do what Alexander did. Call a meeting, then kill everyone there. That's the real Loya Jigra. or whatever the fuck they want to call it.
BTW you do know how much trouble is coming here, right? Save your bullets, pal.
Anyone who thinks Afghanistan
Anyone who thinks Afghanistan is doable, or worthwhile strategically,
Afghanistan is not doable or worthwhile strategically.
And USAID is a waste of taxpayer money.
Why? Why is America buying
Why? Why is America buying $266 Million in electricity generation in Afghanistan when US citizens can not afford their heating bills in America?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_AFGHANISTAN_ELECTRICITY?SIT...
In January 2010, USAID said companies would compete for the electricity project, awarded to Black & Veatch Corp. of Overland Park, Kan., a company that the agency earlier had chastised for big cost overruns and busted deadlines on a diesel-fueled power plant in Kabul. But the government let 10 months pass before deciding to award a contract without competitive bids, saying that it couldn't spend more time seeking offers.
A rival company that was interested in bidding, Symbion Power LLC of Washington, D.C., said USAID broke its promise and spent more than it should to expand electricity into war-ravaged Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan.
"I was stunned because of the cost of it," Symbion chief executive Paul Hinks said.
Noyes from 6:37...........Yup a lot of comments about cutting the Federal Budget, I wonder why?
DOD is getting cut and more is on the way.
It is time to focus on America.
Not sure what Obama is talking about. America has one of the most productive work forces in the world. Our University's are world class, international students have been trying to attend them for years. The local University has a $4 Billion budget and the raised tuition by 10% last year, it cost about $60-80,000 for an education in that top ranked state univeristy. Twenty years ago (mid to late 80's) that same education was $5,000, inflation has been moderate in that period of time. Tenured Profs are being paid close to $100,000/yr (they want more), administration about $300,000/yr, President gets $750,000/ yr (they just fired the last Pres. for mismanagement, he got $500,000), football coach gets $1 Million/yr, Profs get 60% of the royalities from patentable intellectual property and the pension package is twenty years in grade with 90% salary and heath care for the rest of their lives. There comes a time when paying a person more is meaningless, they have so much already. Is a CEO going to work harder if they make $600 Million rather than $500 Million? If Johnny is not getting an edcuation at the local University, it is because his Professor is focused on research not Johnny's grades. It has been that way for the past twenty-five years.
One of my college professors who told me he was too busy with his research to help me with my studies retired early with his 60% royalties for a "surface acoustic wave filter". He purchased up a bunch of campus rental properties with the royalties and now is living off of student's rent. Teaching was never his priority in life.
It is time that American children have priority access to the World Class University system that their parents and grandparents built for them. H1B visas have no bounds on campus. Campuses recuit international students because their budgets are bloated (they can not control their spending) and the international students pay top rate.
We have people on our campus all they do is water flowers. One University employee asked for retirement and was told no, she sits all day playing solitaire at full salary. Each building has a boutique coffee counter, when I went to school there my mid-night coffee came from a vending machine. The University Trustees fly State owned corporate jets 180 miles and each ride there own State rented limousine five miles from the airport to meet on campus for University business, I have seen it with my own eyes. The Univeristy has a fleet of State own cars and a repair facility that occupies half a city block, why do the Trustees need rented limos? The State ran food operations (not to be confused with the coffee counters) in the campus buildings would rival any high end national restaurant chain, with many privately own restaurant are just a block away. Electronic devices have a 15 year life, tax law gives full depreciation after five years, technology life is about two years on software, the Univeristy changes out its computers and printers on a three year schedule. Each professor has their own computer, flat screen display, and printer. The University destroys the computers, local school systems have asked for the used computers and the Univeristy says....... NO. The State is going broke and there were 54 construction projects on campus this past summer all major projects. Local contractor has exclusive rights to develope 1,200 acres of State owned Univeristy property for forty years, there are no competitive contracts. The contractor builds the buildings for corporate funded University research on campus and then collects rent money on the capture renters.
We have not even got into the kick backs that local merchants pay to administrators do business with the University. All that started happening in the past twenty years, are you starting to see why college tuition is on the rise? Do you see why colleges and education are crying for more money? It is because the Universities are being mismanaged in a bad way. That is why Johnny is not getting his education.
Long winded yes, there is a lot to talk about. Take a view from higher ground. The US taxpayer is getting tired of subsidizing the world's growth. It is hard to talk about just USAID, when your country is running a 14 trillion dollar deficit you have to step back and look at the entire budget.
Obama is buddies with China, here is a new concept...............ChinaAID.(bullet, blind fold, forced abortion, and a job for life)
Obama is doing what Reagan did, Obama is runnng up the deficit to tie Republican's hands. He wants the Republicans to have to raise taxes when the country throws out the liberal waste.
The Cockeyed Optimist
The Cockeyed Optimist .....
These failed states are your neighbors too, did deep raise your taxes and deficit and save them.
Why does USAID have to it? Why is the US the world's cop?
COIN is when war becomes foreign aid. DOD is USAID, USAID is DOD
USAID is a parallel activity and all we are doing is paying accountant / shell games with the money in the budget. Focus here, right here, not over there, split the attention and do not look at the entire budget. That is what we did with DADT, let the military guys decide. Not this time guys, voters are the whole American population not just the half that wants it.
US is losing the media war cause we keep trying to roll this huge fucking ball around the globe. When you get into that many people's business a nation is bound to get fingers pointed at it. That is why China has no interest in being a world power, smart people.
Hey, I have a crazy idea -
Hey, I have a crazy idea - why not cut USAID AND THE DoD budget? Just slash everything across the board 10% no ifs ands or buts - no way anyone can tell me this country collapses if government is cut back 10%.
Amen brother....... Ten
Amen brother.......
Ten percent is chump change, that is what Mr. TenPercent in Pakistan tacks on to his contracts.
Ten percent of a Congressman's salary is $17,400, that leaves then making $156,600. Does not include the $1.7M they get to run their district offices. Does not include their health care. Does not include Pelosi's bottle water budget. Does not include the 24/7 on call Doctor service in the House of Representatives. I saw that Gifford got a police escort, private jet ride, and a lot of special treatment to get to Houston. My insurance coverage would get me a wheel chair ride to the front door of the hospital cause that is free due to liability concerns.
About everyone I know lives on a hell of a lot less and live good lives.
And they have to pay their taxes to pay for this bullshit.
Right on, Elf. Elf says what
Right on, Elf.
Elf says what I would say, only far better. This nation and the scoundrels belonging to the two political parties are in deep denial. The house of cards is poised for the fall.
Afghanistan pales in significance next to our own nation.
I disagree with the statement
I disagree with the statement that we cannot have a discussion about why this money is being spent. One of the purposes of the United States Congress is the power of the purse method of oversight. If they are not allowed to discuss why we spend money, then how can they be expected to make informed decisions about how much to spend? I firmly believe no federal tax dollars should be "off-budget". We did not get trillions of dollars of debt by having too much oversight of federal spending. This call to zero out the USAID budget is not only allowed, it may be a good idea. I look forward to a spirited debate of it's merits, followed by an adjustment downward of this expenditure. I would like more of this type of discussion.
A new sunset in
A new sunset in America.....
Amazing that the people of America let their elected officials mismanage affairs-of-state to the point that Gingrich would think about having to create such a bill. This is not about conservatives hanging states out to dry, it is not about zeroing out the budget for USAID.
It is all about having everything and everything to lose.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70K6PI20110121
"We're faced with the danger that the states are going to try to show up and say to Washington: You have to give us money," Gingrich said. "And I think we have to have an alternative that allows us to say no."
I am not sure what the solution looks like, but I know that spending our way out will not work this time.
Zeroing out the USAID budget is a start, not an end. Spending cuts have to be more than symbolic.
Here is the problem I present to you.
Obama is offering up the solution of opening markets. Created partnerships with GE and other corporations. It is true that the population of India and China are much larger than America's. The market in these countries is huge and that is why Obama has Jeffery Immelt's attention. That market place would create a need to manufacture product. IF that product is made in America then that would create exports and jobs in America.
Is that really going to happen?
GE has offshored more than 50% of its work force already. That is why Jack Welch (GE CEO 80's into 90's) was called "Neutron Jack". America has seen its automoble parts manufacturing operations move to China and Mexico in recent years(Delco, Delphi, Remy, Viston....look where your consumer products are made).
Now this is the problem: What is stopping GE from pushing FUTURE manufacturing off-shore?
All these new promises of jobs sound great, but the fact still remains. Corporations have pushed overhead off on to the taxpayer by off-shoring(health care, social security, retirement, medicare....all that stuff that US based jobs funded). In addition, the US taxpayer is supporting security operations to make the "international order" possible(use to be the "New World Order" until Hillary played with the sound bite). Without security in the world, US corporations would not be in China today. Corporations have pushed the cost of securing their offshore operations off on the tax payer. Corporations use tax havens to push taxes off on to the taxpayer.
I am not saying that Corporations should pay more taxes. Just pointing out that off-shored workers do not pay Federal Tax ! The burden shifts on those left paying the bills. Profits soar and the division increases between the haves and have-nots.
Is GE going to want less PROFIT in the future? China and India has a cheap labor pool and companies cannot sell product in to a market were people do not have jobs, that is a fact
Seems to me open markets are a false prophecy unless there is a fiscal reason for Corporations to keep the jobs in America.
Here is the reality, Jeffery Immelt the CEO of General Electric (or any other US CEO) earns his paycheck by INCREASING profitability (aka. the stock increases, bonus paid) NOT by offering jobs to Americans...duh. How do you think open markets will turn out? Stock prices will soar and Wall Street will make off like bandits, but the US worker is not guaranteed any jobs. Why do you think GE's stock price surged the day Immelt was put on Obama's staff?
If we do not zero out USAID, who is going to pay for it? GE? I don't think so, they have a tax haven. Look around the room and find someone else.
What would happen if the US consumer DEMANDED "US made product"? Jeffery Immelt's asshole would suck wind. It is the only way that Americans will guarantee jobs for Americans. Do you think Wall Street will look out for your children's interests?
.
............and Andrew Exum will get his money for USAID..............and the States would have more tax revenue........Because less jobs will be off-shored !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
I worked for a Fortune Five-Hundred company for a long time and it makes sense to me.
.
A new sun rise in America! The market place determining free-markets.
Trickle down only works if you manufacture in America. Off-shoring is TRICKLE OUT economics.
Per the Chinese plan for
Per the Chinese plan for indigenous innovation (aka, The National Medium- and Long-Term Program for Science and Technology Development (2006-2020))...........
"The guiding principles for our S&T undertakings over the next 15 years are: “indigenous innovation, leapfrogging in priority fields, enabling development, and leading the future”. Indigenous innovation refers to enhancing original innovation, integrated innovation, and re-innovation based on assimilation and absorption of imported technology, in order improve our national innovation capability. "
In other words if you have technology, China wants it !
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_US_STEALTH_TECHNOLOGY_CHINA?SI...
The wreckage was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts - some the size of small cars - as souvenirs.
"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," says Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war.
"We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them," Domazet-Loso said in a telephone interview.
Not sure Americans know it, but Russia got America's Night Vision technology (at that time it was AN/PVS1) from the Pueblo. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIpy1eUhHdo , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMi9MEHHTpA ). The Chinese stole American nuclear war head technology during the Clinton years ( http://www.artistmarket.com/writers/piraino/clintonchina.htm Clinton got a lot of election donations that year, didn't he. ). Per the worlds press 9 in 10 copies of Microsoft Software are bootlegged in China.
That is all technology that Americans and American tax dollars helped create !
Gives new meaning to USAID.
China has a "BUY CHINESE CLAUSE".....smart people.
It has to do with indigenous innovation again, China can not pay for its own development unless it buys its own products!!!!!!
http://www.uschina.org/public/documents/2009/07/government_procurement.pdf
General Motors partnered with Shanghai Automotive Industry http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/GMsChinaPartnerLoom... and this what happens.....
Hu Maoyuan, chairman of Shanghai Automotive, says he wants to "build a global Chinese brand." His company, he says, will "take full advantage of the technical and management experience we've accumulated" in joint ventures with GM and Volkswagen (VLKAY, news, msgs).
Not the first company to have this problem, that is how the Chinese got their High Speed Rail technology!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870481420457550735322114161...
The student learns fast............wise up Immelt. Obama you are a fool to give it all away just so you can get reelected in 2012, the jobs you are selling DO NOT have to STAY in the US! Think about it, GE's Immelt is brokering technology in India and China (Military Jet Engines, Avionics). Where did all the GE development money come from? DOD contracts during the cold war and the NASA space programs!.................American tax dollars subsidizing China's growth!
All those multi national corporations are going to help the US pay for the USAID budgets with those dollars in their off-shore accounts............good joke.
Guys this is not off subject, it is right on, put a wider angle lens on your cameras.... How do we put money in the US treasury to pay for USAID?......Remember the NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER (wish you Washington pukes would not keep changing the words to make it sound NEW and CHANGED....your are talking about BUSH SENIOR's NEW WORLD ORDER from 1990)!
Getting into bed with China, ......we are sooooo stupid to give it up our treasure so Jeffery Immelt can follow Jack Welch into retirement bliss.
This is what you say when you retire with $700 Million net worth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKR9zXIVBOM
True story:
The Fortune Five Hundred company that I worked for went to the local taxing authority for tax breaks on real estate in 2002. It was based on hiring 100 people in our local US fabrication operations. The plans for off-shoring totaled way more than 100 jobs. From 1990 to 2004, we cut the work force from 12, 000 people (many of those people were from GE operations spun-off during Jack Welch's time) to 1,700. It was done by out sourcing, offshoring jobs, and economy of scale (that is what you call too many bean counters and IT people). I can give you a list of who and how. That company has pared down those fabrication operations from four to one in 2009. After closing down one of the one of the fabs, the building was donated to the local State University for a 16 Million dollar tax break. The property was NOT sellable, it had a lot of issues. There was most likely mold in the building cause part of it is built into the ground. In the 70's people on the first floor had to be careful because of acid spills dripping through the concrete ceiling, the spills happen all the time. Those acid spills eat out the re-bar re-enforcement in the concrete. Since the unilities are provided by the original owner (untilities are connected to the rest of the corporate campus) the new University owner gets to pay the parent company for future untility expenses. During the 2000 to 2004 time frame, where most of the off-shoring/sub-contracting happened, the company put almost a BILLION dollars in the bank by selling off pieces of itself to companies that end up being sub-contractors in the Asian rim. That was the dirty work that landed the CEO $65 million dollars, a holding company was created and parts sold off as functional business groups. People lost their retirements and benefits. That same company in 2010 rather than paying US taxes on money from offshore accounts purchased a US based company (with most of its assets in the Asian Rim, they just had a US address) with a US loan for $300 million. The loan interest rate was less than 5% (thank you Federal Reserve for stimulating the economy, the 0.06% rate in you money market is subsidizing cheap money for corporate purchases!), the margin on sales of the purchased company was 65% (for every US dollars spent, more than two dollars go into the off-shore piggy bank.....wish I could pay US taxes like that!). The company is raking in profits, but hardly any US head count inceases have happened since 2005.
That is how Private Equity Companies like Blackstone and Cerberus Capital managment make their money. Purchase a public US company, take it private, off-shore the US workers trashing their health benefits, issue an IPO taking the company public again, issue stock as payment to the principle corporate officers. The corporate officers hold the stock for long capital gains and pay about 15% in income tax.........a lower rate than the person flipping burgers at McDonalds on a $35,000/yr salary (single person pays 25%) . The PE company's return millions to their investors and principles. They can make any changes they want to a company once it goes private.
Tax breaks for the promise of hiring 100 people while you get rid of 10,300 retirements and health care packages, that is how it is done at GE. Right Jeffy! Our CEO got $65 Million for the dirty work then left town, I wonder why.
That is why Jack Welch is called Neutron Jack ! Operations live on, but the US workers don't.
Makes it hard to pay for USAID doesn't it.
Heard some people in this
Heard some people in this blog talk about "keeping their powder dry".
That is all while and fine, but talk like that gives a CEO a reason to put you in jail ! If you say that in a job interview, you are not going to get hired. Companies hire gentle employees these days.
It will not get funding for US AID either.
Try this.......
There are forces more powerful on this earth that will move companies!
Next time you go to the store, ask the store clerk or manager what US MADE PRODUCTs they offer. Tell the clerk that you want to put and AMERICAN family to work !
If 300 Million Americans do the same, that gives a CEO a reason to hire an American worker! Guess what, their profits will be on-shore and they will have to pay taxes (well maybe not, there are the Cayman Island accounts)
Just think of the revenue in the US treasury from those US jobs, and they will stay in the US! We can fix unemployment in America within a year!
Republicans will say, "Trickle down works!"
Democrats will say, "We have sooo many jobs we can make illegals LEGAL! (hopefully they give them an application, and close off the border)."
Andrew Exum will exclaim, "I have a budget for US AID again!"
Power of puchase is more mighty than "power of powder" and it does not land you in jail, Sarah Brady does not have a reason to ban your powder!
Does not hurt to ask about the American made label, and you can walk out if they say all their products are made off-shore. You liberals out there......US human rights and EPA regulations apply to US made product, but not to those made in China.
Guys it is that simple. TAX revenue and point-of-manufacture. Saves all that oil for transport accross the Pacific too.
Math. Andrew, have you looked
Math.
Andrew, have you looked at the Fed balance sheet lately? Our money is hyperinflated. They can't manipulate the price of silver forever to keep it hidden. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/
Not to mention our 1.4 trillion dollar annual deficit? That's about the cost of both Astan/Iraq over 10 years.
Then there's the constant hipster, snide insults to the non urban hipster American. Very often from Congress. Which never of course heard of the Constitution. It's a document of "negative rights".
Then - in case you don't read the comments - the Destruction of the non-government/financial sector economy. Heard the term "Rust Belt"? I'm sure you've heard of welfare cheese.
And now the final stroke: they want to break ground on the GZ mosque on 9/11/2011 - 10th Anniversary. It will never be built, but that's not the purpose. The purpose is to get us to tear each other literally to pieces. Which we will.
Don't worry about the world. Worry about America.
Constructive action in
Constructive action in Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistan, and any of the numerous other countries in which expansion by Al Qaeda is alleged to be still, and for the foreseeable future, endangering us, would be much simpler if there were not privately financed characters acting out a super-machismo version of "Only We Can Save the World" by destroying the peace of other countries. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/23clarridge.html?src=me&ref=general
I don't doubt that the people who believe we should fund, train and support the most ruthless killers in South America and the most despotic of dictators elsewhere would lack compunction about blowing up, shooting up or otherwise disrupting the security of nations which fail to perform as desired by the power brokers allied with men like the subject of this article.
Yet we are encouraged to believe it's all about the Islamic jihadi - forget the savagery of the now subsiding but once great Christian empires; ignore the murderous behavior of the j'hudhi nationalists. It's all about the other guy, never about our own despicable basterds, who laugh at the notion that murder in the name of progress might bring censure, must less retribution.
I greatly appreciated the sentiment presented so beautifully in McCrystal's article, but would note that one of the "sacred rights" referenced in it, the right to property, is systematically abused by Netanyahu's American constituency, while resident (either physically, emotionally or through legislature) in that Disneyland of the Middle East propped up, like Afghanistan, by the treasury of the United States.
The component parts of property law in the US were deemed archaic and discounted by Bush's buddies, who found a multitude of ways to leverage the discretionary income middle America right of their pockets and into the accounts of hedge fund owners. People in that economic bracket believe they have good reason to off-shore annual profits in the billions of dollars. (They also are the people most likely to walk away from property no longer appraised at a value above the amount owed, because doing so is just a matter of good business, and they need to maximize their holdings in order to buy elections and/or pay off Congress.)
The rest of us are left with a conundrum created by the loss of certainty regarding ownership of property because multiple transactions transferring title have gone unrecorded, as required by law, in order to avoid payment of fees to the appropriate jurisdictions and also, by the way, to hide the worthlessness of the securities which were sold to create those billion dollar paydays. The fees that vanished were part of the budgets of local governments, many of which now "just don't have any money" for the services needed to maintain our communities.
The saviors of the "Too Big To Fail" institutions, pockets well-stuffed, are working frantically to figure out how to avoid the revelation of just how far and wide the last presidential administration looted our nation. (And I do not exclude the Democrats from that condemnation; the lack of criminal investigation regarding the pillaging of law, custom and property by the Bush administration was done with the complicity of Democrats still sitting in Congress.)
Could the solution to some of these problems be a form of national service? During the generation or so it may take for the economy to return to anything resembling prosperity, perhaps 'We' could enroll the cohort of "too small to save" individuals - indebted for educational loans, up-side down mortgages, or living expenses for which earnings have evaporated - into national servitude, in return for which they would receive subsistence wages and housing.
Given the "progress" of the last ten years, I wouldn't be surprised by such a plan.
I don't know if it was on
I don't know if it was on this blog, but I remember reading someone who wrote, "we're going to lose Afghanistan because of Iraq." I think there is some depressing truth to that. These conversations about funding for Afghan and Pakistani civil aid and military aid projects are discussions that should have been occurring in 2003 or 04, with the financial climate being what it is now, people's priorities are elsewhere. A lot of people have grown disillusioned or maybe even worse indifferent to whats going on in AfPak.
I don't think people in foreign policy and possibly even military circles are really comprehending not only how bad things are economically for many Americans (possibly even the majority) but also how low on the priorities list Afghanistan and Pakistan are to most people. When the average voter hears we're giving billions to Pakistan they likely think that it's either dumb because the Pakistanis have American blood on their hands and we're continuing to reward them, and/or that we've gained little if anything from it. All of this while schools are closing, the police department in the second most dangerous city in the US (Camden, NJ) has fired 45% of its officers, and in the southwest there are places like Maricopa and Las Vegas where entire neighborhoods are now empty and owned by a bank. These Republicans may not be foreign policy experts or scholars in any respect but they are not wingnut outliers either, they're representative of the people who elected them.
I will say that to the average person the war in Afghanistan seems to have been 10 years of little to no progress (with the exception of the fighting in the south that seems to have severely wounded the QST), over a thousand servicemen and women have died and in the end the situation is now, for all that effort, more or less the same as it was in 2004-2005 (again that's perception from here at home, the reality for those of you on the ground there may be very different) only with a larger Afghan government.
The word conservative used to
The word conservative used to describe American politicians while not bound by quotation marks. "Conservative." It is a name used to describe people who believe the opposite of whatever "Liberals" believe in. It's insulting to see these terms afforded the legitimacy of intellectually coherent political philosophies. I'm not yet in DC, so my paycheck isn't contingent on pretending otherwise.
USAID's cumbersome
USAID's cumbersome contracting processes and homebound attitude were the reason we started the CERP program. They fill an essential need (especially for big projects) but they need to change to a smaller, faster, cheaper mindset. That being said, the primary reason that they are so slow is, you guessed it, congressional restrictions.
Hey Visitor 416, Ever hear of
Hey Visitor 416,
Ever hear of the "rentenmark"? Germany stopped it's post war hyper-inflation by seizing most of the land both residential and corporate and mortgaging it.
Who owns most of the US residential mortgages? Fanny/Freddie. As far as neighborhoods owned by banks: who's in bed with them? The Fed, and the USG.
And yes you're right, they want as many of us owned one way or another by the govt and owing them as possible.
And no damn middle class to f*ck up the elite's plans. And they are making good on it. They'll make short work of the self employed and small businessman (except for the cash/underground economy).
BTW here comes a crime wave to make the 70's/80's look mild. Those were about drugs, bad behavior, no parents.
This is going to be good people going bad and about food and survival.
F*ck USAID and DC. And DOD, DoS, Congress, POTUS, Medicare, and your "social security" which I have been paying into BTW since I was 13. That's 30 years if you're wondering.
Finally figured out who
Finally figured out who McCrystal reminds me of - Ahmadinejad.
Fix Detroit before funding reclamation and development projects in the rest of the world.
My problem with the proposed USAID budget is that, once again, community resources are to be diverted to expanding development that then will reward multinational corporations and their employees (in terms of profit), while the citizenry carry all responsibility for harm, including blowback for rapacious exploitation.
And after resources are exhausted, the areas from which those riches have been extracted will look like Detroit.
Meanwhile, those areas of the US that resemble Somalia, in that they do not - or no longer - have resources that excite investors, are left in ruins.
This is predatory capitalism. It will be the death of our strength and safety - the very death of this republic - if allowed to continue.
(F**k Israel, which has made the US the quintessential dishonest broker.)
F**k em, how? you ask. Why,
F**k em, how? you ask. Why, the democratic way:
BOYCOTT
SANCTION
DIVEST
their asses.
Don't vote for Israel in 2012.
(Yea, Marcy!)
I can hear the threats
I can hear the threats already. Really, dudes, you don't need to repeat the whole "Samson" thing! But don't you get it?
We will be free.
He signed up for it.
But do you think anything will save your from retribution?
Think again.
You don't believe me,
You don't believe me, motherf"ckers?
Bring it on.
I presently work as for a
I presently work as for a USAID-contracted project, and at the moment this represents both my current livelihood and career.
USAID needs to go in its current form.
The incompetence and waste I have seen with my own eyes in only a few years is astonishing. It matters little if the AID budget is merely a fraction of the DoD--you have to start someplace, and instill discipline and competency everywhere if you are going to reform a bureaucracy. In this case, AID spent the 90s letting competent people go and retooling themselves into a contracting clearing-house. Now, they have no clue even to design projects, let alone administer them. We shan't talk about implementing them themselves, as used to be done.
I have met a few competent people working AID. I have met more who "mean well". I have met many who are screaming disasters to both US interests and project management. I've heard more hair-raising stories about State treating AID like a piggy-bank from which to withdraw outright bribes to people they want to make momentarily happy. (Frankly, all aid between nations is functionally bribery, so I'm talking about extreme examples.)
The recent trend to make the DoD do "nation-building" is... a questionable direction at best, but I suppose it kept the Roman legions busy, so why not? USAID is NOT the tool to use to facilitate that work, however. AID does not operate well in conflict environments. They can and do respond OK to short-term disasters.
So, how does the circle get squared? A modest proposal:
1) Privatize USAID as a charity organization that Congress may choose to fund or not in its various programs (disaster relief, economic development, food aid/agro, and etc.). This has the added benefit of enabling it to accept funds from private sources, which it is hilariously not set up to do at the moment despite various employee directives to the contrary. It would also be much more maneuverable in responding to host country needs/opportunities: right now if you give a dollar to AID, it will be almost a year before it shows up in the field, let alone on a project budget for spending.
2) Develop the nascent DoD in-house engineering and post-conflict relief structures. Designed for smart, tough men and women to accomplish needed things where bullets are flying. DoD is already DOING this, they just need the apron-strings cut from AID. Would money get wasted? Sure, but if you have to patch a country back together again, you're not going to be making the stitches small.
3) Leave things like Democracy under State. If they really want to do bribes, they can have a grants budget to pay for those new computers for the Minister's son's office, "study tour" junkets and the like.
Or, just junk the whole thing...
Actually, 114 am, where I was
Actually, 114 am, where I was going next was:
Doing a 360 here: No one, no way, no how, is going to take him down.
Paranoia: it's good, within reason.
Then, yeah ( this solidarity
Then, yeah ( this solidarity sh*t takes practice...) Bring it on!
BRING IT ON, MF!
Just read this post and
Just read this post and coming to it late. I worked with USAID and the State Dept last year in Haiti when I was ABN Rifle Company Commander in the 82nd. As a matter of national policy, we must keep this organization. In many ways it is the "only" visible American presence throughout the world. Our prestige and IO message are greatly furthered by USAID. Repubs are, typically, out of their minds on this one.
"the "only" visible American
"the "only" visible American presence throughout the world. " I guess the 700 odd military installations are invisible not to forget the corporations and culture.
Woah, this comment thread has
Woah, this comment thread has turned into a meeting of isolationists! I think you guys missed your stop between the Treaty of Versailles and the Bretton Woods pow-wow.
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I think you messed up some facts. The headline of your article calls out the "Conservatives" but the articles talks about the "republicans."
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