Critics Question U.S. Aid to China Amid Debt Woes

By William Lajeunesse

With America still drowning in debt, critics in and outside of Congress say it’s time to reassess U.S. foreign aid -- especially to China.

"We started looking at the contracts and it was rather amazing that the No. 1 recipient of these taxpayer dollars were Chinese-state owned corporations," said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, referring to $320 million dollars worth of U.S. government contracts let to China. "I think we can take a good hard look where we're giving foreign aid."

The U.S. provided $47 million in "development aid" to China in 2010, even though the nation is already a military and economic giant and the world's only other true superpower.

The aid helped rural Chinese get on the Internet and improve public infrastructure - including metro train service in Guangzhou. Much of the aid is also channeled through the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

"Here we are sending money to a nation that we are diametrically opposed to in a time when America is broke," said Andrea Lafferty, of the Traditional Values Coalition. "People are losing their homes and jobs, so why are we giving money to China?"

The Traditional Values Coalition completed a lengthy analysis of NIH funding to China. It found U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for Chinese students to study retirement in Beijing, reproduction in Shanghai and prostitution in the Yunnan Province. The NIH also gave American university professors' millions to study in China, from why children lie to why the Chinese smoke tobacco.

"We are calling for a moratorium for all behavioral science and foreign aid grants out of NIH until some adult can oversee what is going on and monitor the craziness out of there," said Lafferty.

Webb and Sen. James Inofe also say it is time to cut China off from the taxpayer gravy train. Both the United Kingdom and Australia announced earlier this year they would no longer provide direct assistance to China.

Clayton Dube, director of the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California, offers a different view.

"These grants serve the goal of bringing together American scientists and Chinese scientists and that is very useful. American education benefits. American science advances through that process," Dube said.

Dube admits some NIH grants sound unreasonable, but is not willing to say they're without value. The best example, he says, may be the Peace Corp. The U.S. spends $4.7 million annually on the Peace Corp. in China even though Chinese officials restrict them to teaching English.

"In many ways our Peace Corp. volunteers, our young people are our best ambassadors, our best representatives," Dube said. "Their warmth, energy and good humor, and curiosity come across. If you look at what ordinary people think and feel about theUnited States, it definitely has an impact".

Dube says exchange programs benefit the U.S., as everyday Chinese citizens develop opinions about America outside China's state-controlled media. Auditors complain, because of Chinese restrictions, U.S. taxpayers aren't necessarily getting their money's worth.

"Some policy analysts argue that U.S. democracy, rule of law and related programs had little effect in China due to political constraints and restrictions" imposed by the Chinese government, a Congressional Research Service analysis found in April 2011.

U.S. taxpayers spent $17 million on democracy efforts in 2010.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/09/critics-question-us-aid-to-china-amid-debt-woes/#ixzz1VsjJUpDL

Comment:

Comrades, what is really insane about giving aid to China is that whatever aid we give is given with money we borrowed. And who did we borrow it from? If you said China, you go to the head of the class! That's right. We borrow money from China and give it back in the form of foreign aid, and every year, China still expects their yearly interest only payment. It's utter madness!

As the author said, China itself is a superpower. It's bad enough giving aid to some third rate country like Haiti, but China?! It just doesn't make any sense. They're almost as developed as the United States. After Hurricane Katrina, how much aid did they give us? How much did Japan give? How much did anyone give? However, I did hear that Mexico did their part. They sent us $100. lol

The point is, we are literally giving away the farm folks. We have people who are jobless, homeless, and hungry right here at home. Plus I read in my local paper the other day that if the economy and government spending practices continue as they are for the next six years, Social Security will be broke and payments will likely stop. If any of you are about sixty and are counting the months until you retire, you better keep counting, because you may be getting vouchers instead of a check. Try spending them at the grocery store, or making the last few payments on your retirement property. Tough luck folks. For a lifetime of hard work you get the shaft. Big surprise.

Even though millions of senior citizens and almost-senior-citizens are facing the prospect of being forced to work past 65 - if they still can, that is - the government still has money to throw away on aid to people 10,000 miles away.

To add to that, last evening I saw Senator Diane Feinstein (D - California) on FOX News saying the United States will give whatever aid is necessary to help Libya get back on its feet. Gotta keep that oil flowing, right? After all, without Social Security, all those wealthy oil investors will be needing those stocks to be making money so they can live a life of ease while the rest of us may end up as pathetic old derelicts and bag ladies in the gutter. Think I'm being melodramatic? Don't be too sure.

The situation grows more desperate by the day. The great collapse of society is ever nearer. When it does come, as we've predicted since Commander Rockwell's time, much of White America (or what's left of it) will look to us and say, "We thought you were crazy, but you were right all along."

This is why it is so important for National Socialists to run for attainable, local political offices. When everything falls apart, local government will be more important that the federal government. If we are a part of this, then we can help direct things the way they should be. If we do nothing, then others will direct things the way they want them. And whichever direction they go, it will be the wrong one.

"You can never plan the future by the past." - Edmund Burke.

Dan 88!