Why should or shouldn the United States give economic aid to other countries?
Economic aid is a useful tool for advancing US Foreign Policy and Interests. Whether you see those interests as enhancing economic opportunities for US citizens, promoting world peace, preventing suffering from disease or saving the environment they all can benefit from foreign aid. That said, politicians and career diplomats overuse this tool in the extreme because they are spending someone else’s money. The question is how much to give and who ought to receive it. For instance, buying mosquito nets for people in Kenya to fight malaria would be a good use of foreign aid on a humanitarian basis. On the other hand, $2 billion dollars of guaranteed agriculture dept. loans to Iraq in the 1980’s turned out to be a bad bet – instead of promoting peace and a strong agricultural sector of the economy in Iraq, Saddam Hussein systematically siphoned off that money to build up his military and the US taxpayers were never paid back. The Mashall Plan to help Europe after WWII was a good idea and b
