Aid is defined as a voluntary transfer of resources from one government to another independent government, but to what extent should a country help. It is known that aid can be in the form of debt, food, or cash. Often in today’s world population many people agree or disagree with helping countries receive aid. The ones who don’t agree think that by giving a country aid, it makes them lazier and gives them no incentive. It also creates a corrupt government. But to the ones who do agree they think that by giving aid it helps a country in becoming stable more democratic. But with the amount given to these countries year after year, you sometimes begin to question government funding. How do most political officials decide which country should receive aid, when each country is different. The United States for example has used aid as a political tool to keep political interest in certain countries, but has it been effective. The article “who gives foreign aid to whom and why?” written by Alberto Alesina and David Dollar shows five major donor countries. Both authors for example state that the United States gives aid based on political interest specifically to the Middle East, the article also states that “Benefits of foreign aid have recently been under severe scrutiny. Several observers argue that a large portion of foreign aid flow from developed to developing countries is wasted and increases unproductive public consumption. Poor institutional development, corruption,
During the late 1700s, Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus each entered their predictions on the future of the world’s economies into the history books. In his writings in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Smith theorized that national economies could be continuously improved by means of the division of labor, efficient production of goods, and international trade. In An Essay on the Principle of Population, Thomas Malthus predicted that the sustainable production of food in relation to population was vital to the mere existence of national economies in order to ensure an able labor force. Smith believed that the success or
Foreign aid is something that is provided by donating governments to countries in need, mostly third-world countries. Foreign aid is allocated for two extremely broad categories, economic development and military aid. Under these categories there are specific uses for foreign aid like, health, humanitarian assistance, democratic elections and even protection for forests. There is debate about foreign aid being a waste because of corrupt governments, which gives the United States speculation whether it should continue to provide foreign aid and how much. This was a popular topic in the 2012 election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It would be most beneficial to the United States to maintain foreign aid levels while having conditions
Ever had that one friend? The one who tries to help, but no matter how hard he tries, he just aggravates the situation. This friend, Steve, insists he is helping, and those around, too, would support that he is indeed helping. But Steve is actually worsening the circumstances. He is like countries who provide foreign aid to less developed countries. Foreign aid, defined as “the international transfer of capital, goods, or services from a country or international organization for the benefit of the recipient country or its population,” can be military, economic, or humanitarian (“Foreign”). It is often granted to less developed countries in order to evoke government reforms or to stimulate economic growth. However, foreign aid neither elicits government reform, nor does it consistently and reliably stimulate economic growth; therefore, the United States should discontinue providing foreign economic aid.
Many skeptics challenge the reasoning for investing so much money into helping so many other countries when that money could instead help us improve internal affairs. After all, foreign aid spending has increased to $50 billion a year today, which could be put towards funding education to ensure that more kids go to college and possibly affecting the innovation of the future(Morris). Giving more than you receive is nice, but when it involves a country 's financial crisis, maybe it 's best if Santa cuts back some of this year 's presents. And although the argument may be valid, lending out a helping hand can create more allies than enemies to help us in return when we need it. In fact, foreign aid only accounts for 0.5 percent of the federal budget (Stearn). Compared to all the other matters at hand that the government is worrying about, the amount of spending put into aiding poorer countries is positive in both a moral aspect and a political aspect.
For many years, the U.S. has cut back on its promised obligations and responsibilities to help the cause of development aid. Between 1990 and 1993, U.S. exports to developed countries grew by 6.2%. In contrast, during that same period, U.S. exports to developing countries grew by a remarkable 49.8%, yielding 46 billion dollars more and 920,000 jobs in the United States (Atwood). Assistance cuts hurt America’s
Government aid/assistance, or as others may know it, welfare, was created in order to provide assistance and aid to those in the community that may be unemployed or in need of assistance due to a lack of income for both individuals as well as families. In the beginning it was the federal government that managed the assistance program but that was only until the government assistance reform took place, which sent the jurisdiction back down to the states. There was a strong urge from the American citizens to reform the system due to the fact that many Americans believed that the government assistance program was being abused by those utilizing the program. Many Americans believed that those utilizing welfare were not looking for employment, not marrying in order to gain more funding and actually having more children in order to qualify for more cash assistance. Throughout this paper I will discuss each of the subsequent topics: a history of government aid/assistance in the U.S., a synopsis of the situation that created the proposal as well as the enactments of required drug testing, opinions in support of drug testing, ethical consequences based on this proposal for individuals, for the society as a whole, and for public health.
The United States of America gives billions of dollars in financial aid each year to help support a myriad of different countries to include Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and multiple African nations. It is morally and ethically correct to help countries in times of true emergency, but how much help is considered too much? Are we as a nation hindering our own growth and future preservation by contributing to this worldwide aid? The answer is very clear when put into perspective.
The United States has been helping other countries with their economic and military problems since the beginning of the 1900’s when World War I was going on. In most cases we are allies and see we a country in need. At this point we assess the situation and format a plan in order to help through USAID. This is a government agency that pairs with others in different countries to provide aid and promote democratic societies. Aid is now being given in large quantities to many countries just to keep them stable and with a decent military. Has the assistance gone too far like having a young adult who will not stop borrowing money off their parents? Our economic opportunities in the US suffer partially due to financial assistance we give to foreign countries. Americans lose the most when our country is constantly giving away money that we do not have creating even more debt for our country. We are giving the financial assistance to countries in order to boost their economic state, then constantly seeing no progress. Better control over our countries budget and how we deal with other countries as far as our relationship to them could possibly help the United States economy. The way in which we limit what is given out to other countries and start working on our country’s economic issues will ultimately determine how we will continue aiding to the growth of other countries.
Foreign aid causes an imbalance between revenue and expenses, because it allows government officials, no matter the debt, to spend far more than national revenues. The aid covers both the debt and the economic deficit that occurs each year due to low taxation rates and high personal expenses by government officials, such as the improvement of personal boat docks. Foreign aid is higher than the tax base of the country. This creates an environment where the government is not held accountable by the people. Higher ranking officials see corruption as a way of life, and refuse to change because they do not know any other way of living.
Some people speak against U.S foreign aid being sent to Africa for humanitarian reasons. Others speak out in favor of such actions. All of us have seen the news tickers with vital headlines about “people being devastated by droughts in Zimbabwe and unhygienic water in Sudan”, but what is their government doing about it. Personally, I’ve asked myself several founded inquiries about where is this foreign aid going to and what are some of the achievements being made. I’ve acquired over time well-built knowledge in relation to the United Nations and the work they perform globally to promote stability and development. I will be bringing in several valid arguments to get to the bottom of this controversial subject of
Foreign aid has played an enormous role in the United States government policy, especially since the mid-twentieth century, following World War II. At that time, the U.S. began providing financial aid, through the Marshall Plan, to help rebuild Europe (Williams, 2015). Today, foreign aid has evolved to mean a variety of things. Foreign aid is not strictly financial assistance. According to Williams in the Encyclopedia Britannica (2015), foreign assistance can include military assistance or equipment, medical assistance or equipment, or technical assistance and training. However, the most common foreign aid is official development assistance, which is organized through international organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund or UNICEF and used to address poverty and promote development (Williams 2015). Many people feel in the United States feel that it is necessary to provide foreign assistance to the world. It is thought that helping less developed economies improves the market for everyone. Others feel that many people are in need here in the United States and that it does not make sense to send aid to other countries when people need right in their own city, state, or country. Most people think that a large portion of the U.S. budget is devoted to foreign aid. In contrast, according to Rutsch (2015), “the U.S. spends less than 1 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid”. With the state of the world today,
On one side of the issue the supporters of developmental aid believe that the United States is doing more than a great job by offering economic assistance to countries that need help to develop. These individuals are aware of the unfortunate poverty levels in many countries abroad. They believe that it is the duty of the American people to help reduce the poverty levels in countries in which people live with less than a dollar a day. In fact, some supporters believe that the U.S. is not offering enough support to the poorer countries. Many have
America tends to involved herself in many other countries affairs. This creates large amounts of national debt, war, and in some cases enemies. I believe that the American government should leave other counties alone until they decrease nation debt, decrease unemployment rate, and end our current complications with other countries. For those of you who do not know what foreign policy is, it is the way that America’s government interacts with other countries. Foreign aid is the amount of money and any other services that America’s government gives to other countries. This includes any gift, loan or credit. This also includes any training service, property, personal technical advices or agricultural commondimently (Foreign Assistance Act of 1963). An example of U.S. foreign policy was during the late 1930s and early 1940s during WW2 when we had a hands off policy because we were suffering from the great depression but after Pearl Harbor was attacked we joined the War (National WW2 Museum, pg 1). An example of U.S. foreign aid is the 3.1 billion dollars that we give to Israel (U.S. State Government 2013-2014 Foreign Assistance Report)
Over the last 50 years, the world has struggled to maintain an economic balance and stability, while flourishing countries try to maintain a steady income to support its people and relations with other countries. Therefore, when a continent like Africa fails to maintain a stable government and economy, super powers such as America decide to intervene with its relations. Africa has great potential to become another pillar of the world’s economic structure with its mass amounts of uncultivated land. Unfortunately, corruption and irresponsible governments hinder that progress. Foreign aid while helpful should be limited to a yearly amount because it allows the government to repudiate responsibility and gives room for corruption; it creates a
Foreign Aid can not only drastically affect countries economies, but it also influences how we handle important issues around the world. Getting leverage over struggling countries by giving them aid will be a huge benefit to the U.S. The countries receiving aid do need help and this foreign aid money goes a long way to trying bring that help. Countries do have their own problems and might need to try and fix those first before they focus on foreign aid. With a large amount of foreign aid money going into the war ravaged middle east, it is hard to put money into something that could get blown up the next week. Foreign Aid is complicated and has many aspects that can be hard to figure out. Foreign Aid is considered to be beneficial and detrimental, while it helps millions and gives large countries much-needed leverage over struggling countries, it can also be put to waste by unstable countries riddled with terror.