• ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I’m all for helping Ukraine but it seems like a constant spit in the eye seeing our govt shell out billions of dollars worth of aid to other countries while our own citizens fight to survive this corporate hellscape that constricts us tighter and tighter by the second.

    Edit: I’d love for someone to explain to me how it’s not insulting to send billions to countries like Ukraine and Israel or wherever tf else when all that money could’ve been used to create federal programs that actually help American citizens like the homeless or literally anything like that.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      60 billion is a drop in the bucket, the majority of which isn’t cash, it’s equipment that’s been sitting and is no longer being used. That 60 billion is put back into our own economy because it means jobs are being made to replace said equipment. It’s a win win for both sides. We’re also the richest country on the planet, we have plenty to do what we need to here at home, but it’s not getting done because of Ukraine, it’s not getting done because we have politicians who are beholden to the rich oligarchs here.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        That 60 billion is put back into our own economy because it means jobs are being made to replace said equipment.

        Unironically arguing that our bloated military industrial complex is a good thing because trickle down theory. Centrists are Reaganites, one and all.

        We’re also the richest country on the planet, we have plenty to do what we need to here at home,

        And we have chosen not to.

        it’s not getting done because we have politicians who are beholden to the rich oligarchs here.

        But if we keep the oligarchs happy, it’ll totally trickle down like daddy Reagan said.

        • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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          5 days ago

          No, Ukraine’s survival is not good for American oligarchs and nowhere in the comment you’re responding to was that even vaguely implied

          • GlobalCompatriot@lemm.ee
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            4 days ago

            Sinking Ukraine in endless debt that they default on so it will be swept up by the oligarchy is good for American oligarchs.

            • aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com
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              4 days ago

              Yes, we should let them be swept up by Russia, which has a far worse corruption and oligarchy problem, instead.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          The fuck? Nothing I said was even remotely in support of your argument. What part of us giving our old equipment to Ukraine, which in turn helps support jobs here did you not get?

        • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          It’s not that different from Roosevelt’s WPA but with the rich getting a cut off the top for their continued support.

          • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            How does that detract from what I said at all? It doesn’t matter the process. What matters is we’re prioritizing other countries over our own and it’s pathetic.

            • Tyfud@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              Supporting Ukraine is a cheap way to hold Russia at bay and reduce their disruption and potential negative impact across Europe and other countries we have tight alliances with.

              If Russia invades a NATO country because Ukraine falls to them and they want more, well, shit gets way more complicated and exponentially more expensive, because we’re going to a full blown world war.

              Think of this as a significantly cheaper way to achieve our global goals without costing American lives or significant resources.

    • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      The aid we send to Ukraine is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of wealth we allow the ultra rich to hoard. Our wealth tax rates are already criminally low, and even on those the underfunded IRS fails to collect somewhere between $500 billion to a trillion every year.

      Our lack of a public safety net has nothing to do with foreign aid, and everything to do with our corrupt government doing everything it can to entrench the oligarchy.

      Edit, didn’t think to source it until after I commented, looks like I sort of misremembered an old politico article, which is kind of a shitty source anyway–but everything other than the exact numbers I mentioned is still true

      Also, lumping Israel and Ukraine together as equally bad is ludicrous

    • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      5 days ago

      In the scale of the US GDP this amount is nothing.

      The US spends easily 500x this on its citizens. Foreign aid is essential for America to maintain its place in the world order. This investment pays for itself a million times over through American foreign relations and trade.

      So to answer your question, this is not insulting because it’s a tiny fraction of Americas budget and it will benefit America and its citizens.

      • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        How is blowing up Palestinian people good for America? Like Ukraine is one thing as I’ve already stated but Israel is an entirely different beast (a genocidal beast at that).

        You say it’s a tiny fraction of what we spend on our own citizens but then where is all that money going? Our billionaires are richer than ever meanwhile homelessness is at record highs since the fuckin depression.

        Make it make sense.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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          5 days ago

          How is blowing up Palestinian people good for America?

          You should ask that in another post/comment because everyone is answering the Ukraine part. Anyway the return the US is supposed to be getting is an unstable Middle East, preventing the rise of a regional power (matters for cheap oil) and getting an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the region. It’s evil as fuck and its efficacy is debatable but that’s the theory.

        • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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          4 days ago

          To understand the geopolitics you first need to understand that genocide means nothing to these countries. Countries will pretend to give a fuck when they can use that as a reason to justify their actions but when it doesn’t align with their interests the ignore it.

    • mercphilby@discuss.online
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      5 days ago

      Yeah, I’m insulted too. Ukraine isn’t our problem. If we aren’t going to police ourselves, we shouldn’t be policing the world.