by David Drayton

Created on: April 22, 2008   Last Updated: July 20, 2008

The elimination of foreign aid does not appear to be a wise action. The action alone would cite a trend towards isolationism. In a purely economic context isolationist practices and policies have not proven to shield a nation from further economic down turn. Indeed there are two questions to consider here. One question ask what, be what type of foreign aid is under consideration? The second question is to what degree is our own economy directly affected by global economic trends?

Regarding the first question, it is important to further explain just what type of foreign aid is considered for elimination. For instance, a very costly and perhaps ineffective policy is our engagement in foreign military aid. Foreign military aid is typically very unspecific in terms of its detail and generally broad in terms of the effect it is to have. One would not be beating a dead horse to cite the aid in this respect given to both Pakistan and Columbia. While the argument addressing the usefulness of aid to these nations and current US interest is ongoing. An emerging trend is worthy of note. An article by Jim Lobe titled 'A Sharp Increase in Military Aid to Latin America'(September 23, 2003 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0923-02.htm) points out a significant increase in military aid, while at the same time a decline in the amount of socio-economic aid given. Naturally, supporters of such practices will point to the security threat of terrorism and organized crime. Those particular threats cannot be denied; however with foreign economies on the decline, it would seem that a lack of support for socio-economic concerns does more to ripen the environment for radicalism amongst other things?

Additionally the type of foreign aid is just as important as the monitoring of its progress, without this it is nearly impossible to ascertain its value. Strict and consistent oversight is the first thing that must be considered with any type of aid package. This can only have a positive influence on the concerns for which the aid is arranged to address. Without such, it is quite possible that the United States is pouring money into an abyss. The real tragedy of this of course is that current aid practices further deteriorate the situation by failing to aid anything, and due to this they undermine our integrity as a nation. In either respect, radicalism has the ability to grow against the United States and our treasury is continually docked with little to show for it. Foreign military

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