Should President Barack Obama have American taxpayers spend about $1.55 billion on aid to Egypt.

It has nothing to do with the country being Muslim or not, It has to do with CORRECT foreign policy and foreign aid that has been a staple of American good will for the past 75 years.

If you are implying that Obama is somehow pro Muslim, then you really do not care about the money, but have a political agenda, but just how much do you think Reagan spent arming and training the Taliban in the 1980's and that would have made him a Muslim lover?


Brian Wingfield
Forbes Staff
Making Sense Of U.S. Foreign Aid To Egypt And Elsewhere

"U.S. foreign aid has a variety of goals. Among them, lifting people out of poverty, promoting democracy and economic stability worldwide, and bolstering strategic alliances. According to the government’s user-friendly Web site, www.foreignassistance.gov, Uncle Sam doles out “more than $58 billion a year in foreign assistance through more than 20 agencies.” More than half of that, roughly $37 billion, is managed by the State Department and USAID.

You may be surprised to learn that most countries outside of Western Europe, Canada and Australia get foreign aid from the U.S. This year the requested amount for Russia was $68.7 million. For China, it’s $12.9 million. A whopping $647.7 million has been allocated for Nigeria. Even $20 million is set aside for communist Cuba. The monies do not include money that finds its way into these countries through U.S. regional foreign assistance offices or offices that deal with specific issues like health or agriculture.

Where does the money come from? Taxpayers, of course. But before you get entirely bent out of shape about your hard-earned cash being shipped off to Beijing or Havana, have a look at where it’s going, or at least where it’s supposed to be going. In Russia, for example, most U.S. foreign aid is used to promote democracy and human rights. In Cuba, all of it has been set aside for this purpose. In China and Nigeria, more than half of the requested budget for foreign aid to those countries is aimed at helping those countries fight HIV/AIDS. The U.S. foreign assistance budget for Israel is devoted entirely to security issues, but in Afghanistan it goes to a variety of projects, including education, infrastructure development and maternal and child health, as well as security.

The classic criticism of foreign aid is that it ends up supporting corrupt or authoritarian regimes. That’s the question the Obama administration is going to have to sort out as the situation in Egypt evolves. However, from a purely budgetary perspective, it’s not much of an issue. Total U.S. foreign aid in 2010 was about 1.7% of the U.S. budget.

By any measure, the $1.5 requested for Egypt this year–down from $1.8 billion –is a lot of money. But put it in perspective. As part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008, Uncle Sam invested $100 billion in Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo collectively in order to prop up the financial sector.

Does that mean budget hawks shouldn’t scrutinize the $1.5 billion that goes to Egypt, or any foreign assistance for that matter? Of course not. But for those serious about reducing the deficit, foreign aid is hardly the place to start."