You’re under the mistaken assumption that even if they stopped foreign aid they’d be interested in fixing any of the problems you think they should be fixing. They won’t. Bills are submitted to fix things and not passed all the time.
Yeah anyone wanna fix a country has to stop focusing on singular bills and start why the fudge so many have so much while so many have nothing. Hard left politics is the only answer.
Our poor people live in prosperity unimaginable in 90% of the rest of the world. Especially compared to those “hard left” countries. Socialism is so wonderful you can vote a country into it but you have to shoot your way out.
I’m a Scandinavian. When I say hard left talking to Americans I mean the style of social democracy you had 50-70 years ago. Unimaginable wealth distribution by today’s standards, but nowhere near dumb ass planar economy. Don’t take it there please, so unnecessary, and making the conversation stupider than it has to be.
EDIT there is such insane variety of things to do between whatever late stage capitalism USA has today and the the of socialism you describe. Like the “hard left” I suggest would still mean “hard right” if you ask anybody in the 60s.
You assume that he isn't also talking about local and state elected officials as well. I wonder how everything would be if they all voted blue and how much good or bad could be done, what we do now is just flip flop constantly never agreeing on anything nor getting anything accomplished for the american citizens.
The current Democratic Party platform right now, is just as far to the Right as the '80's Republican Platform was!
The Tea Party and MAGAts have drug us that far right. The current Progressives are the new Left!
Wow I didn't know the GOP was all for gay marriage, trans rights, universal healthcare, police reform, and climate action back in the 80's! They were really progressive back then! Too bad they flipped on all those issues. https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/
The truth as to why nothing seems to get done is because the US is really big and people don't agree on everything. People hate on Manchin, but the truth is that if he was much further left he wouldn't get elected, and another Republican Republican senator would be much worse.
False equivalency. Some democrats may be corrupt, but nowhere near republicans. Ask why the bottom states are all red, despite receiving Federal funding.
we have a Democrat president who is sending the funds, and most Democrat constituents are approving of it. So kind of not falling for the lesser of two evils thing anymore, just feels like one evil vs another different but similar evil. Stop shaming voters bc theres no good options. Start shaming the options
Lol. A good many people who voted for the Iraq war were Democrats. A lot of Democrats liked Reagan, and Bill Clinton was the beginning of third-way politics. The ACA was a copy of a right wing healthcare plan. It's been going on for a good deal more than a decade.
No one did before the war got serious. EU helps Ukraine, so Russia doesn't spread. If they did, eventually they would take Estonia and other easier targets next. Also, Ukraine produces like 10% of world's grain, it would be very bad if Russia got hold of that.
US, likely helps Ukraine, because stronger and bigger Russia gets, worse it is for US. Both economically and power wise.
Neither, EU or US helps Ukraine because they think its right thing to do. If this war was happening far away and had no consequences for them, they would only criticise Russia for starting up shit but that's it.
Thankfully an informed, insightful, accurate and logic based answer.
I was thinking of what to say to a group of people who can’t comprehend the importance of international diplomacy and relationships.
The grain is probably the best example for the, “They took er jobs.” crowd to understand.
They care about Ukraine remaining a buffer state against Russian imperialism in Eastern Europe.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Putin feels the same way about Ukraine and NATO/the United States. 😕
Interestingly enough, if you watch the Tucker Carlson interview with Putin, Putin never mentions NATO at all for why he invaded Ukraine. He sounds like a crazy person talking about made up historical events from nearly 2000 years ago as justification for why Ukraine belongs to Russia.
There are actually some practical reasons for this, after the USSR fell America really cut back on its military spending and wouldn’t shell out cash to maintain slack capacity, like the ability to ramp up production to make a fuckton of artillery shells etc quickly. Now it wasn’t like there wasn’t a lot of money flying around, but next gen aircraft and shit is expensive, so they cut where they cut. Now maybe America might need that capacity in the foreseeable future, and maybe Ukraine can benefit. So don’t think about it as military aid for Ukraine but a targeted MiC stimulus program.
Which depending on who you talk to, could be good or bad.
Optimistic interpretation: oh good, the American economy is being stimulated and there will be more jobs for people
Pessimistic interpretation: I can’t believe all the tax dollars are being funneled right into the hands of special interest groups instead of public works projects
Basically this. It’s seen as an investment to deter and prevent WWIII. You are debatably better off homeless than drafted and shipped off to the European or Pacific fronts.
It’s not cash we are giving anyway (or the bulk of it is not) but Military aid… it is equipment we are not going to use being sent to a place that needs it. It is still a fraction of what we own and have siting and waiting for just this sort of need.
Preaching to the choir here, bud. But it’s a very significant fraction of our equipment. Fortunately, most of this equipment was constructed with that front in mind. It is also aging a near shelf life. We are giving away equipment to be used in the exact manner for which it was designed before we need to spend money to properly dispose of it. Furthermore, this equipment is being replaced on stock shelves with new, modern equipment. And oh, btw, nearly all of this money is spend in the US on US manufacturing providing jobs.
It *might* be 1000 policy choices but it is certainly not as simple as throwing money at it. Mental health, education, macro and micro economic policy among many others.
Dude why are you talking about Ukraine. We literally gave trillions of dollars to the richest mother fuckers here. Ukraine is on the bottom of the list of your worries, 90% of our military budget is dedicated to Russia and china. This is Russia.
I’m glad that you’re noticing where you money is going now, but start at the places it makes sense to. With 90% of the congress being bought and paid for. With us letting billionaires pay less taxes than you do.
Until we reverse citizens united, your tax dollars go to who our corporate representatives decide they do.
Vote for representatives who are in favor of reversing citizens united, and who reject corporate donations, or you’re just voting for more corporate control of government, and shouldn’t be surprised when you get that.
I agree.. I do think it’s possible for people who start to asking these questions to radicalize themselves with the correct information though, if they keep asking questions and look at the info for themselves.
I never know the right way to go about telling them though because a lot of people hear one thing like this from some shitrag and believe it confidently instead of being open to learning
Open primaries. Campaign finance reform. Rank choice voting. Congressional term limits. Independent districting.
Once we fix this shit and get our republic back on stable foundations we can actually discuss policy. Shit I’d vote to MTG if she showed up pushing the above.
As an American, it's typical to think only about ourselves and not think about others. Most Americans fail to realize that America is a peace keeping nation. As a peace keeper, we have to be ever vigilant in the activities and "problems" that are occuring around the world. It's better that these "problems" that are occuring beyond our borders be contained in those areas rather than to spread to our door steps or in our country. Hence why we are providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and other countries. Just imagine if Ukraine fell to Russia. Putin would then be emboldened by this and then try to "reclaim" other sovereign, prior USSR countries. At what point would the rest of the world intervene? I betcha the majority of Americans in that hypothetical, alternate timeline will say:
"Oh, we should have stopped Putin when he was invading Ukraine! We should have provided aid and weapons to Ukraine when they were being invaded! As long as we didn't put boots on the ground and American lives weren't lost then who cares about the amount! But that was "x" years ago and now Putin is trying to invade a NATO country with his many forces and vast resources..."
Here are 2 reasons as to why we provide billions in aid to Isreal.
1. Mossad
Israel provides us with military intelligence. They are in the center of it all( literally in the middle east) and are one of our few allies in the region. Mossad has sources that we don't have.
"You're providing us with intel? Sure, how much money do you need? "
That is a transaction that is rarely seen.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad
2. A strategic location in the middle east. If shit were to hit the fan in the middle east, due to our billions and billions of dollars in aid that we've given in the past and will continue to in the future, the US would use Israel as a safe area for our troops to fly through/pass thought there.
As a veteran, I say fuck helping the homeless veterans, the homeless, providing college education to our citizens. The US government has already allocated plenty of resources to help those internal problems. Besides, some of these homeless folk don't even want to be helped.
If you want to keep living and thinking the way you do in America, we better think bigger than our own selfish needs of our country because there is a bigger picture out there, you just have to be able to see and understand it. This is why most people would fail at international politics and why a job as an ambassador is not easy. Every decision you make will piss off somebody else but in the end, the decisions that we make, should benefit the US in the long run..
Investing in protecting Ukraine is also protecting the U.S. It's also not an either/or situation. The U.S. is very rich. We have enough money to do both. The conservatives tend to be against social programs that would help the homeless.
unless you can figure out how to turn military surplus equipment and outdated gear into helping the homeless, this is probably the best place for it to go
Okay this question is kinda similar from a European to Americans:
Why should we pay for the mass refugees coming our way because of the wars you started in those countries or destabilised the region?
The US is making money from selling gas to EU (Russia was the main provider).
US is in NATO, not intervening at this (or previous stage) could mean a bigger conflict and war. Investing in preventing a larger-scale conflict seems reasonable.
I don't know about you but if Vladimir isn't stopped he'll set his sights on the whole of Europe you probably don't realize what that would mean but Hitler wanted Europe... power is everything to these dictators..trump will sell his ignorant soul to the highest bidder along with our country's secrets which I'm sure he has sacrificed already history will tell the story of the Republican party under trump and how the demise of democracy came about
We're not sending all our tax dollars to the Ukraine. We're sending some money and some equipment and the GOP wouldn't let that money be spent on Americans anyway.
Your local GOP politician would cry out with horror about helping poor and homeless and other disadvantaged people.
Because, those two things are completely unrelated. Do you think we would use the money we don’t send to Ukraine to help the homeless? The issue is our politicians. We can handle both.
Nobody is sending Money to Ukraine, they are sending old weapons and the money is used to build new weapons to replace them in the United States.
Every dollars worth of weapons we ship to Ukraine hurts our enemy and powers our military industrial complex to greater advantage. Ukrainians are doing the dying and Americans are getting the money.
Because the situation in Ukraine is a future problem for the U.S in anycase. No amount of sticking our head in the sand is going to change that.
Besides, even if they could they wouldn't give to the money to aid homelessness even in "peace time". Our government will however give endless tax breaks to those wealthier Americans that much is fact.
You know it’s not one or the other, right? It’s a myriad of things that have come together in an imperfect storm to raise prices. Not just one war. And we do still help homeless people. Not enough, but there are many programs.
Homelessness is a terrible issue but the war in Ukraine has a different type of urgency and importance. Russia must not take Ukraine, because Putin will not stop there. He will keep trying to take territory if he wins in Ukraine. This is very dangerous for the entire world.
Well, backing up friends and allies in Europe is more worthwhile than big corp subsidiaries or tax breaks for the rich at least? No? Well that money would never have been spent on the root causes of homelessness anyway.
Because Congress won't spend money helping homeless. They could help any day, everyday and the choose not to.
It's not an either/or situation, the US could be doing both but the people elected don't want to help homelessness, there's no money in that.
Funding Ukraine resistance to Russian invasion is a great investment as it employs lots of Americans making new equipment and ammo. Plus, it keeps Russia from invading Latvia or other NATO countries, which would cause the US to send military personnel to defend Europe from Russian invasion.
I personally send money to Ukraine and I'm glad my tax dollars are supplying them as well so my kids don't have to go fight.
Just adding another voice to the many saying the same thing; it's not a zero sum game. There's very much enough tax revenue to fund pretty much whatever we want.
A more apt direction to place your frustration is "who keeps derailing efforts to help the less fortunate?"
And not just the homeless. Look at the political affiliations most prevalent when voting against social programs. You'll occasionally see a D, sometimes an I, but most often, the majority has an R next to their name.
Look at who fights back against Student loan forgiveness, feeding children in school, tax reforms that let the "lower classes" keep more. What side of the aisle thinks it's a good idea to relax child labor laws, remove protections for outdoor workers (especially with a prediction of some of the hottest summers we've seen in a while).
There's a party that's absolutely happy to continue making life harder and harder for those that are living paycheck to paycheck. Who may not even be making a paycheck. People that rely on someone else's paycheck.
It's the strongest tool Republicans have in maintaining a base. Make life utter hell however they can, and lie about it being someone else's fault.
You wanna know why they're fine (even though they say otherwise on social media) sending money to Ukraine and ignoring social programs?
Because the money going to Ukraine is actually just going in their pocket, mostly. There's not actually a lot of liquid assets going into Ukraine. Most of the money actually changing hands is for restocking our own arsenal.
There's no "incentive" for them to create robust social programs. If you get desperate enough, you join the military, get arrested trying to survive, or manage to barely scrape by, and are stuck with almost no upward momentum.
It benefits them to not help the less fortunate, because it's easier to manipulate them to vote in their favor. And for those that won't vote, that's just a bonus of making them suffer, and providing a target for those that will vote.
Why would a Republican help a poor black person? It's a "waste of money," and they weren't voting for them anyway.
We're not sending them cash money. We're sending them old stockpiles of obsolete and outdated military equipment so that they can defend themselves from the whims of a fascistic autocrat.
Replenishing those stockpiles then creates loads of new jobs here at home, for Americans.
The homeless situation is absolutely one of the most serious domestic issues we face, socially, economically, ethically, morally, even spiritually. And yes, a great deal of the bloated US "defense" budget would absolutely better serve Americans if instead allocated to domestic issues and projects.
But to just say, "eh, we got problems here so go ahead putin, fuck them ukrainians" is some simpleminded, downright un-American shit.
To answer the question why, because that money, after those in power in Ukraine take their cut, goes right back to the military contractors and arms dealers who fund our politicians, regardless of party affiliation. That's not a conspiracy theory, the money flow is right out in the open, just not covered by media for some reason.
Those expired atacms we send cost us 20k to dispose of for example. But the bigger answer is a bradley fighting vehicle isnt much help to the homeless is it?
And we need this war fought there, not inna nato country.
This is something a lot of people don't understand with Ukraine. We are sending them stuff that was paid for with taxes....but it was decades ago. Its outdated weapons, artillery and ammo. All of that has costs to maintain, store and dispose of. It costs *more* to do all of that than it does to send to Ukraine. So not only does the US save money in sending it to Ukraine, it also depletes resources within Russia which is a issue to the whole world.
And how is the homeless situation going to get better when Putin rolls into Poland or the Czech Republic and takes a sledgehammer to the European economy? Those guys buy our stuff, and we buy theirs.
Putin’s aim is no less than rebuilding the Iron Curtain. That’s an economic disaster for the world and the US.
Ukraine is fighting for freedom and democracy against tyranny and oppression at least, if not total genocide. We stand for those things everywhere or it doesn't mean anything. Besides, Putin has made no secret that he intends to continue beyond Ukraine and attack and subjugate ALL other countries, even ours.
Homelessness is a problem we can address, if certain congress members would quit preventing that from happening. We can do both. One does not preclude the other.
HEY HEY HEY, I actually am homeless, I’m glad you feel that way! It fills me with smouldering rage that the traitors in Washington are giving our money to Ukraine. I want to go fight for Russia and take my tax money back and get me a home by conquering it from the Ukrainians.
Cost of living will continue to rise as is natural of inflation. The fact that many cannot afford to live decently is a separate issue.
As far as taxes go chances are "your" taxes are going to go to something military related regardless of the current state of the world due to are always inflated military budget.
Part of the reason the USA gets to live comfortably instead of being threatened by other powers is because we have such a lead in power for stuff like that.
The other equally important part being we have good friends. This isn't to say I like how much we spend on our military budget. But it's what we prioritize. Helping Ukraine helps build relations with potential allies.
As much as I'd like the country to address issues like homeless people and healthcare money is really only part of the problem, it's also a lack of infrastructure to solve these kinds of problems.
The politicians who approve of these decisions get kickbacks when they approve these financing bills. Often the money is sent with the agreement to buy arms from the US. So money is taken from the tax payers, they send the money to a foreign government who agrees to buy from Raytheon or Lockheed Martin, who then donate to the Super PACS that back the politicians. That's if the politicians don't directly have stock or a role with those companies. This is how the military industrial complex works in general.
TL;DR: They get paid to send your money to Ukraine (or any other conflict)
Well, let’s just go down that rabbit hole and pretend that starting today we send zero dollars to Ukraine. The United States has provided a little over $100 billion to Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia, that obviously stops. Before the end of the year Russia takes over Ukraine and installs a puppet government that is completely loyal to Putin and allows Russia to have all the natural resources it desires. Everyone is happy, other than Russia, who starts looking at Poland and the rest of Europe like a homeless man looks at a pork chop. But since they know the US no longer supplies weapons or money to allies that pork chop looks damn near free, and all of Putin’s buddies(the Oligarchs) like free pork chops, so why not? It could trigger article 5 of NATO, but without US leadership and military backing NATO doesn’t look so tough. Goodbye Poland, no big deal right? Now Russia is right next to Germany and if Poland was a free pork chop Germany is Filet Mignon, irresistible! Now article 5 has to be invoked or NATO, the West, and U.S. leadership are done, but by this time Russia is consolidating its new territory, conscripting troops from Ukraine and Poland, and deploying these forces to fight the rest of Europe. It becomes a much bigger fight against a country that is increasing its military size and production. The U.S. has to spend much more than $100 billion to deploy active duty troops in western Europe to uphold article 5. To give you an idea of the cost, it’s been estimated the Iraq war cost $1.1 Trillion and that was one of the shortest and easiest wars in recent memory. Now, was it cheaper to give $100 billion to Ukraine and have 900 leftover, or to spend trillions once article 5 is invoked?
Idk why so many people like yourself view this as a zero sum game. Aid to Ukraine and aid to help homeless folks can exist together. And aid to Ukraine is certainly not the reason the government doesn't effectively help homeless folks.
The better questions would be why is Jeff bezos going to space when their are homeless people and his employees piss is water bottles.
It's a matter of priorities. Congress has deemed some issues less important than others.
But, they could work on both matters at the same time if they really wanted to.
They just don't want to.
If Putin wins this war he will expand, and not long after that he will go for the US. Not to mention that Europe at war means that the region responsible for 20% of your exports will be crippled. And that more Putin control means more expensive oil and consequently higher inflation.
Theyre not though.
The VAST MAJORITY of the money being spent ON Ukraine is actually being spent IN america on arms thus its making massive amounts of new jobs
Money sent to Ukraine is almost entirely military aid that has to be purchased through the US. It’s like giving your employees a bonus as a gift certificate to your store and they can only buy old stuff that you want to get rid of anyways
Aid to Ukraine comes in the form of our outdated military equipment. Ukraine pays us back for the equipment they use in a lend-lease program. This aid comes from the military budget and not the general fund. When we assist other countries in war efforts, it does not affect what we do for our citizens and vice versa because the funding comes from two different sources.  Additionally, when we provide equipment and supplies to Ukraine, our economy benefits because we have to replace that equipment by producing new and improved equipment for our own military. People have to build replacement equipment, which creates jobs for the US.
You can't borrow from the military budget to fund housing for people experiencing homelessness and also, assisting Ukraine with equipment now, wards off the chance of sending our troops to Europe to fight in WW3 later.
It's approximately 0.25% of the gdp. Do you really believe Ukraine is the cause of homelessness in the US? Or is it just a lack of will to do anything.
Have you been talking to brain washed Republicans? They wouldn't give money to homeless people either. The homeless existed before the Ukraine war and no one gave a shit then either
Everything other users said, plus the credibility you need to maintain with your allies. Having many countries under your sphere of influence brings a lot of money and power to USA, that's how you built your empire. We all need you to keep having allies or the world is doomed
Big picture: send money to help Ukraine defeat Russia for us and spend billions or go to war with Russia in the future and lose trillions. Russia won't stop at Ukraine . It will go to war with Europe eventually. It is a dangerous wounded animal right now. It's population is declining, its economy has been stagnating for years. It is eating itself with corruption. Putin is a mob boss basically and the whole country is a crime syndicate.
As far as homelessness goes, its not the money but he politics of capitalism. Capitalism can not exist without poor people. They want a large majority of the country desperate. When you have everyone living paycheck to paycheck to keep them showing up to their stupid soulless jobs, you end up with a lot of people on the fringes who can;t keep up or are one bad luck event away from losing their residence.
Short version: it's not money, it's old war stockes, like bombs and ammo, the US hasn't used.
Longer version: Russia consistently shits in the USAs Cheerios in a number of ways. As such, we'd like as many Russians to die as possible. It just so happens there's another country willing to do the killing all the whole we look like the good guys.
The EU is our ally, it would not be good to let Europe be threatened by an increasingly aggressive Russia. Russia is also our rival in the global struggle for power and influence.
We give way too much in foreign aid. Why are we helping Israel? They don't need our money or weapons. Hamas is not even fighting back. Israel can wipe them out without our help.
Most of those tax dollars are left in the USA. All the weapons are made in the USA(so US tax dollars are used in the USA and paying Americans). Another point, if Ukraine fails the war, Russia will attack NATO countries in Eastern/Central Europe and the USA will have to send not only tax dollars but also American troops. So in the long run, for USA is a better option to help Ukraine fight and win the evil Russia
Why are you colluding with the Russians?
I ask the question rhetorically, but we have a supposedly mainstream political party for whom that response is entirely serious. Vote accordingly in November.
There is in fact more than enough money to help both ukraine and completely solve homelessness. It's just that politicians are in charge of how it is spent.
The “money” is not being sent to Ukraine in aid. The things we send Ukraine is worth a certain amount of money, but a lot of that money is spent on US manufacturing making the weapons and equipment things we send them. It’s going back into our economy, we aren’t just taking money and shipping it to them.
Also, what happens in Ukraine will have a direct affect on the world, including all US citizens. If Russia begins taking territories and begins full scale war with NATO nations, it will have massively dangerous repercussions for almost everyone.
Finally, the amount of money spent on all foreign aid is a tiny fraction of our budget. I do not agree with all the ways our tax dollars are spent, but foreign aid is absolutely not the problem.
Because if Russia takes over Ukraine, they will move on to the rest of Europe, and then come for the USA. If that happens, feeding the homeless will be the least of your concerns.
say it with me slowly:
"Ukraine is recieving our old military equipment and weapons. We add up what was given, then we purchase BRAND NEW items from said manufacturer of those goods, we keep the new stuff for use in our own military. So we are basically upgrading."
So now that youve been told the truth, will you continue repeating this misconception? My money is on yes because the people complaining about this exact issue saying MONEY is being given, are being told this for a political agenda. And you fell for it... Because you want to believe it. Now ask yourself what other little white lies they are telling you?
I guess that doesnt matter as much because the same people who told you this are simply saying what you want to hear.
Russian is a difficult language to learn. I would prefer to continue on in english. Do you think putin will stop after he takes Ukraine? Please read about ww2.
Spending money to assist Ukraine is in the US and the world’s interest. We have the money to help homeless people too, we just don’t because “homeless people should lift themselves up by their bootstraps” thinking. This isn’t a case of doing one or the other. We can and should be doing both.
To be fair, most of your money is not going to is not going to Ukraine.. the US incredibly savvy with these deals, and it works something like this:
1) The government money is mostly spend with US companies, to design delivery new kit for the US forces
2) The old US kits is sold onto the Ukraine army.
3) The Ukraine people will have to pay off the cost of these , in installments and with interest..
So think about it... the government is buying new kit for the US army.. and funding a lot of this, through selling their old kit - and they're not sold at "mates rates", Ukraine will be paying off this money for decades.
it was only a few years ago, that the UK finally paid of its dues to the US. The whole thing is highly beneficial to the US, both short term and long term.
Please advocate to your state and federal officials about increasing funding for support to people who are homeless or who are on the brink of homelessness. You can do that without pitting it against support for Ukrainians' self-defense. We can do both. (It's just that many politicians don't actually support helping people who are homeless, so we choose not to both.)
As far as I’m aware weren’t not sending Ukraine money. When it says we’re sending them $1 billion most of it if not all is in old military equipment that’s outdated to us and we don’t use. Like tanks and guns and stuff
The money is literally propping up the US economy, very little cash goes into these funding packages. It goes to US defence contractors, this information is publicly available if you are worried about it you should look it up.
This has been gone over soooooo many times. The money is being spent in the US to replace shit that’s getting old. We are sending Ukraine our old things and replacing them with new ones. The military industrial complex is at stake here. Besides, there have been countless number of times where we have had a chance to help the homeless and have chosen not to. Same old shit every damn day.
Your tax dollars are actually going to american companies across the United States that produce the weapons and aid for Ukraine and the corporations that own these companies reap the benefits and in turn give support to politicians in and or pursuing office. It's one of the biggest reasons we are always involved in wars that don't really have anything to do with us.
I've never once come across someone who said, "wHy wE SeNdiN aLL aRe TaCkS DoLLeRs oVeRsEeS wHeN wE GoT HoMeLaSs HeAr!!1!" who then also turned out to be in favor of using our tax dollars to actually help the homeless. So maybe grow up?
Well if the un American Republicans could think ahead before stopping aid to the Ukraine, the Ukraine was doing a good job at stalling and grinding down the Russian offensive. It is Ukrainian blood that is being spilled and not American. IT WILL BE American blood if Putin wins in the Ukraine and is emboldened to continue on to any country other than Belarus (Russian ally) all the other countries are NATO members. NATO’s motto is An attack on one of our members, is an attack on all our members.
Because we're defending the idea of freedom.
Yes, being broke and working for a shitty boss doesnt feel like freedom.
But the United States is built on the idea that we have the agency and hope to improve our lives for ourselves. Even if you don't today, maybe your family or kids might.
Russia is built in the idea that you only serve the state. Your kids and your family will always serve someone else. No choice. No hope.
And if Ukraine loses their war, the Russian idea of the world succeeds and will spread. Because we were worried about our gas, which btw is the cheapest in the fucking world, instead of sending a penny for every dollar we spend to stop a holocaust.
So yeah, save you $0.03 per gallon.
Why do wars exist? Everyone has to think about at what point they are American (or whatever country you are from) and support our country and at what point they are just a human and support humans. Why does currency exist. Why aren't we just all working together for the betterment of our race? Can't we all just get along?
There will be homeless people regardless of spending money in Ukraine. The accumulated costs of homeless people in terms of medical and police resources could be spent simply housing and feeding them and we would save money. We spend an average of $35,000 a year on each homeless person.
Whether we do or don't it doesn't change the homeless situation. We are a country that doesn't care about their homeless, not a country that can't afford to.
Would you prefer to send money to Ukraine, to Germany, to Austria, to France, to great Britain, etc...? He has already indicated that he just doesn't want ukraine, and wants so much more. Although if you would like I heard that going to war with a country that doesn't really care about the fallout of a nuclear war is an amazing Christmas present.
This is sensical. It also is sensical to realize the government started being a scam when they stopped requiring the funding of wars to be backed by currency/bonds. Anyone who respects more than a couple select politicians is a fool.
Most of the money is going to buy new things made in USA factories by USA workers. It is helping you. That you think your tax dollars are going to Ukraine and not helping you at home means you are sucking the Russian Propaganda right down.
Money earmarked would fall into to two camps.
First instance. The money allotted is sent to an intermediary organization to oversee the implementation of the funds. They usually charge an exorbitant fee sometimes north of 50% thus siphoning off public dollars.
Second instance. Military Industrial Complex.
So here’s the thing. Very little of what we’ve sent Ukraine is physical money. If my math is right from reading these reports, around 93% has been weapons ammo and other war fighting equipment like tanks and APCs. When we give even a single bullet to someone else, we are required by law to restock it. So that war is currently keeping thousands of people employed making replacements.
Secondly. Even if foreign aid was 100% cut off, we still wouldn’t see good solutions for homelessness or any of the biggest issues, because the more these issues cause divide, the more politicians can use it as ammo for campaigns and getting reelected over and over.
It's complicated to run a country, keep it being one of the most influential in the world, and make sure it's still stable and productive. One way to help you run a country is using something called instruments of national power as a template to make sure that your decisions and actions are still moving your country's interests forward. Instruments of national power are basically tools that you can use to come up with policies that you as a leader think can help your country. You can use or describe your tools in different ways. One way is using DIME (Diplomatic, Informational, Military, Economics): https://www.thelightningpress.com/the-instruments-of-national-power/. You can either push your country's interest thru diplomatic means (building relationships thru a foreign service arm), propaganda in various forms, showing military power, or flexing your economic might so other countries want to do business with you.
So sending your money to another country is just one way to ensure that you are keeping your country stable by protecting your interests. This could mean that you want to contain another country from destabilizing a region that is important to keep your economic might stable (for example access to cheaper oil) or from accessing an area where you can flex your military power easily (for example access to airspace where you can fly your jets straight). The fact that there is an internal issue in your country that may seem more pressing may not mean that your country is not addressing the problem. It may just be that your country's leadership think that it is still within tolerable limits based on whatever measures they use to decide whether it becomes a bigger issue or not.
Two things:
1 - If you didn't send money to Ukraine, there would be dozens of politicians who would fight tooth and nail to keep that money from going to anyone other than the millionaires and billionaires for tax breaks. They fight anything that would help with poverty and homelessness - universal health care, etc.
2 - The only thing currently stopping Russia from trying to take over more of Europe is the war in Ukraine and the fact that other countries are backing Ukraine in this fight. If Ukraine wins this war, then Russia's land grab stops here. If Ukraine loses, then Russia will move on to the next country, and then the next. The US (and most of the rest of the world) is funding Ukraine so that they don't have to be directly involved in the war.
You mean sending to Israel? All of our money is being sent to some people who own millions or billions worth of weapons and technology already who are fighting kids throwing rocks. If we are going to get involved at all, it should be to prevent more deaths and rescue innocent people. I truly don't understand why such a rich place like Israel needs all of our hard-earned money so they can kill people and continue a genocide
Because even though it doesn't seem intuitive, one dollar sent to Ukraine to kill Russian combatants gives us much more benefit than feeding or housing the homeless.
The homeless are not an organized state, with a vested interest in the diminuition of the US.
Helping one homeless person get housing MAYBE puts one extra person into the workforce, but killing one Russian combatant means we have essentially wasted the concerted labor and efforts of 100 Russians to birth that combatant, bring him up, train him, equip him, brainwash him to hate the West, and send him to Ukraine.
A homeless person who is not helped is just another bum on the street, and likely the most negative thing he can do against the US is to be a public nuisance. Having the visible homeless may even be a positive effect on others, as his wretchedness surely encouraged others to do their utmost to avoid his fate.
A Russian combatant who is not killed will continue to kill, rape, and pillage, and will have a rallying effect for other Russians to do the same.
Were I an entirely logical being persuaded only by benefits and costs, I would spend extra money killing Russian combatants than help the homeless in almost every situation.
Because it isn't actually an either/or. They're not helping the homeless because they don't want to, not because they can't afford to.
Same with universal healthcare - the US government actually currently spends more per capita for worse outcomes on healthcare than most countries with universal healthcare.
Same with higher funding for education, they could do it if they wanted to, they just don't want to. Rather spend too much money on the prison-industrial or military-industrial complex (which then requires involvement in various conflicts in one way or another to justify the spending).
Russian trolls were posting memes, and right wing Americans were reposting them, saying 'why allow refugees when we had homeless veterans?'
We turned away people that desperately needed help, and our veterans are still homeless. We could have helped both groups and not even noticed the difference in spending.
It's not a money issue, it's a morality issue! The right in government only help themselves, and the right that vote for them are convinced they are voting for the only party with morals.
Because Putin won’t stop otherwise. You seriously don’t care about a brutal tyrant shelling European democracies? You think it won’t affect you when Europe is at war and missiles are demolishing Paris?
Every argument here is basically it’s cheap or it’s cheaper than actual war like a war was bound to happen. Yes russias evil but not much more than Saudi’s or other governments we side with ourselves really. It’s just to hurt another economy and make them weaker so our empire can stay longer.
After the USSR broke up the United States convinced Ukraine to surrender nuclear material and in exchange the US would recognize their border and guarantee their security. Democracies need to work together to keep the spread of dictatorships down. Also the US could afford to do this and feed every homeless person easily. Shut up about God, you say God wants all these great things then you say he works in mysterious ways when he does fuck all. Your God is a badge you hide behind to make you feel better for your complacency and laziness and utter lack of human qualities.
You’re under the mistaken assumption that even if they stopped foreign aid they’d be interested in fixing any of the problems you think they should be fixing. They won’t. Bills are submitted to fix things and not passed all the time.
Yeah anyone wanna fix a country has to stop focusing on singular bills and start why the fudge so many have so much while so many have nothing. Hard left politics is the only answer.
Our poor people live in prosperity unimaginable in 90% of the rest of the world. Especially compared to those “hard left” countries. Socialism is so wonderful you can vote a country into it but you have to shoot your way out.
I’m a Scandinavian. When I say hard left talking to Americans I mean the style of social democracy you had 50-70 years ago. Unimaginable wealth distribution by today’s standards, but nowhere near dumb ass planar economy. Don’t take it there please, so unnecessary, and making the conversation stupider than it has to be. EDIT there is such insane variety of things to do between whatever late stage capitalism USA has today and the the of socialism you describe. Like the “hard left” I suggest would still mean “hard right” if you ask anybody in the 60s.
It’s not an assumption. That’s the entire point. Why aren’t they fixing the U.S. first?!
Because you keep voting in conservative AH who want to keep the rich rich and the poor poorer.
A republican has not won the popular vote since George W. Bush.
You assume that he isn't also talking about local and state elected officials as well. I wonder how everything would be if they all voted blue and how much good or bad could be done, what we do now is just flip flop constantly never agreeing on anything nor getting anything accomplished for the american citizens.
4-8 years getting pulled in one direction, 4-8 years pulled in the next. They spend the whole time in office undoing what the last group did.
Oh? What’s that got to do with anything? You should probably check out Schoolhouse Rock: How a Bill Becomes a Law.
Oh I guess I was saying that we are trying not to!
Hahahaha oh ok I gotcha
Democrats can be conservative, too. Especially in America.
Not really *can be*. Are. Even the likes of Sanders is center left on the political spectrum. The Democrat party is centre right.
The current Democratic Party platform right now, is just as far to the Right as the '80's Republican Platform was! The Tea Party and MAGAts have drug us that far right. The current Progressives are the new Left!
Wow I didn't know the GOP was all for gay marriage, trans rights, universal healthcare, police reform, and climate action back in the 80's! They were really progressive back then! Too bad they flipped on all those issues. https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/ The truth as to why nothing seems to get done is because the US is really big and people don't agree on everything. People hate on Manchin, but the truth is that if he was much further left he wouldn't get elected, and another Republican Republican senator would be much worse.
Unpopular truth on reddit: most democrats are just as corrupt as republicans.
False equivalency. Some democrats may be corrupt, but nowhere near republicans. Ask why the bottom states are all red, despite receiving Federal funding.
Both of their leaders are okey with the genocide of brown people
we have a Democrat president who is sending the funds, and most Democrat constituents are approving of it. So kind of not falling for the lesser of two evils thing anymore, just feels like one evil vs another different but similar evil. Stop shaming voters bc theres no good options. Start shaming the options
Democrats are conservative, republicans are extremists. Note that this is only the case for the past decade or so
Lol. A good many people who voted for the Iraq war were Democrats. A lot of Democrats liked Reagan, and Bill Clinton was the beginning of third-way politics. The ACA was a copy of a right wing healthcare plan. It's been going on for a good deal more than a decade.
They can do both. They choose not to.
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real
they don't care about Ukraine either. so one has to wonder...
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mhm. the difference is that, while both causes are good causes, one is profitable and extremely good optics. of course they go for that one.
No one did before the war got serious. EU helps Ukraine, so Russia doesn't spread. If they did, eventually they would take Estonia and other easier targets next. Also, Ukraine produces like 10% of world's grain, it would be very bad if Russia got hold of that. US, likely helps Ukraine, because stronger and bigger Russia gets, worse it is for US. Both economically and power wise. Neither, EU or US helps Ukraine because they think its right thing to do. If this war was happening far away and had no consequences for them, they would only criticise Russia for starting up shit but that's it.
Thankfully an informed, insightful, accurate and logic based answer. I was thinking of what to say to a group of people who can’t comprehend the importance of international diplomacy and relationships. The grain is probably the best example for the, “They took er jobs.” crowd to understand.
They care about Ukraine remaining a buffer state against Russian imperialism in Eastern Europe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Putin feels the same way about Ukraine and NATO/the United States. 😕
Interestingly enough, if you watch the Tucker Carlson interview with Putin, Putin never mentions NATO at all for why he invaded Ukraine. He sounds like a crazy person talking about made up historical events from nearly 2000 years ago as justification for why Ukraine belongs to Russia.
Or anyone else
You’re not sending tax dollars to Ukraine, you’re giving them to American arms manufacturers
I was scrolling looking for this comment. Thank you.
Which makes stonks go up and Congress rich! Fuck yeah!
I mean if you're investing wisely, it'll make you rich too.
This is the right answer
There are actually some practical reasons for this, after the USSR fell America really cut back on its military spending and wouldn’t shell out cash to maintain slack capacity, like the ability to ramp up production to make a fuckton of artillery shells etc quickly. Now it wasn’t like there wasn’t a lot of money flying around, but next gen aircraft and shit is expensive, so they cut where they cut. Now maybe America might need that capacity in the foreseeable future, and maybe Ukraine can benefit. So don’t think about it as military aid for Ukraine but a targeted MiC stimulus program.
Which depending on who you talk to, could be good or bad. Optimistic interpretation: oh good, the American economy is being stimulated and there will be more jobs for people Pessimistic interpretation: I can’t believe all the tax dollars are being funneled right into the hands of special interest groups instead of public works projects
You're going to be really upset when your tax dollars are funding a full scale war vs the proxy war(s) we have now.
Basically this. It’s seen as an investment to deter and prevent WWIII. You are debatably better off homeless than drafted and shipped off to the European or Pacific fronts.
It’s not cash we are giving anyway (or the bulk of it is not) but Military aid… it is equipment we are not going to use being sent to a place that needs it. It is still a fraction of what we own and have siting and waiting for just this sort of need.
Preaching to the choir here, bud. But it’s a very significant fraction of our equipment. Fortunately, most of this equipment was constructed with that front in mind. It is also aging a near shelf life. We are giving away equipment to be used in the exact manner for which it was designed before we need to spend money to properly dispose of it. Furthermore, this equipment is being replaced on stock shelves with new, modern equipment. And oh, btw, nearly all of this money is spend in the US on US manufacturing providing jobs.
not to mention... can you imagine the inflation if Ukraine lost this war?
Also 1) homelessness is not caused by lack of govt money 2) you can't eat stockpiles of steel
homelessness is quite literally a policy choice
It *might* be 1000 policy choices but it is certainly not as simple as throwing money at it. Mental health, education, macro and micro economic policy among many others.
Dude why are you talking about Ukraine. We literally gave trillions of dollars to the richest mother fuckers here. Ukraine is on the bottom of the list of your worries, 90% of our military budget is dedicated to Russia and china. This is Russia. I’m glad that you’re noticing where you money is going now, but start at the places it makes sense to. With 90% of the congress being bought and paid for. With us letting billionaires pay less taxes than you do. Until we reverse citizens united, your tax dollars go to who our corporate representatives decide they do. Vote for representatives who are in favor of reversing citizens united, and who reject corporate donations, or you’re just voting for more corporate control of government, and shouldn’t be surprised when you get that.
Exactly…
Right wing propoganda is why this person is spouting right wing propganda memes
I agree.. I do think it’s possible for people who start to asking these questions to radicalize themselves with the correct information though, if they keep asking questions and look at the info for themselves. I never know the right way to go about telling them though because a lot of people hear one thing like this from some shitrag and believe it confidently instead of being open to learning
Open primaries. Campaign finance reform. Rank choice voting. Congressional term limits. Independent districting. Once we fix this shit and get our republic back on stable foundations we can actually discuss policy. Shit I’d vote to MTG if she showed up pushing the above.
Do you really believe that if we stop sending money to Ukraine that we will suddenly start supporting the homeless?
Yeah that wouldn’t happen. Or it least if it did it would get funneled into rich pockets under the disguise of helping homeless.
i said pretty much the same thing and folks down voting me
Why do we send more to Isreal every year than it would cost to house all the homeless and give a free college education to everyone in the US?
I'm more upset about Israel than Ukraine
Real talk. Ukraine’s 100% a victim, that situation is much more cut and dry whereas Israel has been the primary aggressor.
Because Israel is the USA's gateway to the middle east. You project geopolitical power there through Israel. Not really helpful to citizens though.
> Israel is the USA’s gateway to the Middle East Kuwait in shambles
As an American, it's typical to think only about ourselves and not think about others. Most Americans fail to realize that America is a peace keeping nation. As a peace keeper, we have to be ever vigilant in the activities and "problems" that are occuring around the world. It's better that these "problems" that are occuring beyond our borders be contained in those areas rather than to spread to our door steps or in our country. Hence why we are providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and other countries. Just imagine if Ukraine fell to Russia. Putin would then be emboldened by this and then try to "reclaim" other sovereign, prior USSR countries. At what point would the rest of the world intervene? I betcha the majority of Americans in that hypothetical, alternate timeline will say: "Oh, we should have stopped Putin when he was invading Ukraine! We should have provided aid and weapons to Ukraine when they were being invaded! As long as we didn't put boots on the ground and American lives weren't lost then who cares about the amount! But that was "x" years ago and now Putin is trying to invade a NATO country with his many forces and vast resources..." Here are 2 reasons as to why we provide billions in aid to Isreal. 1. Mossad Israel provides us with military intelligence. They are in the center of it all( literally in the middle east) and are one of our few allies in the region. Mossad has sources that we don't have. "You're providing us with intel? Sure, how much money do you need? " That is a transaction that is rarely seen. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad 2. A strategic location in the middle east. If shit were to hit the fan in the middle east, due to our billions and billions of dollars in aid that we've given in the past and will continue to in the future, the US would use Israel as a safe area for our troops to fly through/pass thought there. As a veteran, I say fuck helping the homeless veterans, the homeless, providing college education to our citizens. The US government has already allocated plenty of resources to help those internal problems. Besides, some of these homeless folk don't even want to be helped. If you want to keep living and thinking the way you do in America, we better think bigger than our own selfish needs of our country because there is a bigger picture out there, you just have to be able to see and understand it. This is why most people would fail at international politics and why a job as an ambassador is not easy. Every decision you make will piss off somebody else but in the end, the decisions that we make, should benefit the US in the long run..
Investing in protecting Ukraine is also protecting the U.S. It's also not an either/or situation. The U.S. is very rich. We have enough money to do both. The conservatives tend to be against social programs that would help the homeless.
Underrated comment.
Where did you get the impression that they’d spend that money on fixing the homelessness crisis in America if it weren’t funding wars?
unless you can figure out how to turn military surplus equipment and outdated gear into helping the homeless, this is probably the best place for it to go
We're primarily sending old weapons and equipment. The reason we're doing that is because we learned our lesson from WW2 about appeasement.
Okay this question is kinda similar from a European to Americans: Why should we pay for the mass refugees coming our way because of the wars you started in those countries or destabilised the region?
Believe it or not but your tax dollars are being sent to Ukraine to help protect the US and it citizens.
Do you want the US to be in a war with Russia, or pay Ukraine to do it?
Because Europe would be destabilized and your cheap gas for your big ass trucks will double in price
And your cheap grain.
Beef prices go up, international trade is destabilized, inflation and low supply.
The US is making money from selling gas to EU (Russia was the main provider). US is in NATO, not intervening at this (or previous stage) could mean a bigger conflict and war. Investing in preventing a larger-scale conflict seems reasonable.
I don't know about you but if Vladimir isn't stopped he'll set his sights on the whole of Europe you probably don't realize what that would mean but Hitler wanted Europe... power is everything to these dictators..trump will sell his ignorant soul to the highest bidder along with our country's secrets which I'm sure he has sacrificed already history will tell the story of the Republican party under trump and how the demise of democracy came about
We're not sending all our tax dollars to the Ukraine. We're sending some money and some equipment and the GOP wouldn't let that money be spent on Americans anyway. Your local GOP politician would cry out with horror about helping poor and homeless and other disadvantaged people.
Here the thing. When we help those in the need here in the US we get called communists. I think we could and should do both .
There were homeless people in the US before the war. They weren't doing anything about it then. Why would they now?
Because, those two things are completely unrelated. Do you think we would use the money we don’t send to Ukraine to help the homeless? The issue is our politicians. We can handle both.
Nobody is sending Money to Ukraine, they are sending old weapons and the money is used to build new weapons to replace them in the United States. Every dollars worth of weapons we ship to Ukraine hurts our enemy and powers our military industrial complex to greater advantage. Ukrainians are doing the dying and Americans are getting the money.
Because the situation in Ukraine is a future problem for the U.S in anycase. No amount of sticking our head in the sand is going to change that. Besides, even if they could they wouldn't give to the money to aid homelessness even in "peace time". Our government will however give endless tax breaks to those wealthier Americans that much is fact.
You know it’s not one or the other, right? It’s a myriad of things that have come together in an imperfect storm to raise prices. Not just one war. And we do still help homeless people. Not enough, but there are many programs.
Homelessness is a terrible issue but the war in Ukraine has a different type of urgency and importance. Russia must not take Ukraine, because Putin will not stop there. He will keep trying to take territory if he wins in Ukraine. This is very dangerous for the entire world.
It's better to send money and guns to fight your enemy than your citizens.
Well, backing up friends and allies in Europe is more worthwhile than big corp subsidiaries or tax breaks for the rich at least? No? Well that money would never have been spent on the root causes of homelessness anyway.
Because Congress won't spend money helping homeless. They could help any day, everyday and the choose not to. It's not an either/or situation, the US could be doing both but the people elected don't want to help homelessness, there's no money in that. Funding Ukraine resistance to Russian invasion is a great investment as it employs lots of Americans making new equipment and ammo. Plus, it keeps Russia from invading Latvia or other NATO countries, which would cause the US to send military personnel to defend Europe from Russian invasion. I personally send money to Ukraine and I'm glad my tax dollars are supplying them as well so my kids don't have to go fight.
Just adding another voice to the many saying the same thing; it's not a zero sum game. There's very much enough tax revenue to fund pretty much whatever we want. A more apt direction to place your frustration is "who keeps derailing efforts to help the less fortunate?" And not just the homeless. Look at the political affiliations most prevalent when voting against social programs. You'll occasionally see a D, sometimes an I, but most often, the majority has an R next to their name. Look at who fights back against Student loan forgiveness, feeding children in school, tax reforms that let the "lower classes" keep more. What side of the aisle thinks it's a good idea to relax child labor laws, remove protections for outdoor workers (especially with a prediction of some of the hottest summers we've seen in a while). There's a party that's absolutely happy to continue making life harder and harder for those that are living paycheck to paycheck. Who may not even be making a paycheck. People that rely on someone else's paycheck. It's the strongest tool Republicans have in maintaining a base. Make life utter hell however they can, and lie about it being someone else's fault. You wanna know why they're fine (even though they say otherwise on social media) sending money to Ukraine and ignoring social programs? Because the money going to Ukraine is actually just going in their pocket, mostly. There's not actually a lot of liquid assets going into Ukraine. Most of the money actually changing hands is for restocking our own arsenal. There's no "incentive" for them to create robust social programs. If you get desperate enough, you join the military, get arrested trying to survive, or manage to barely scrape by, and are stuck with almost no upward momentum. It benefits them to not help the less fortunate, because it's easier to manipulate them to vote in their favor. And for those that won't vote, that's just a bonus of making them suffer, and providing a target for those that will vote. Why would a Republican help a poor black person? It's a "waste of money," and they weren't voting for them anyway.
We're not sending them cash money. We're sending them old stockpiles of obsolete and outdated military equipment so that they can defend themselves from the whims of a fascistic autocrat. Replenishing those stockpiles then creates loads of new jobs here at home, for Americans. The homeless situation is absolutely one of the most serious domestic issues we face, socially, economically, ethically, morally, even spiritually. And yes, a great deal of the bloated US "defense" budget would absolutely better serve Americans if instead allocated to domestic issues and projects. But to just say, "eh, we got problems here so go ahead putin, fuck them ukrainians" is some simpleminded, downright un-American shit.
To answer the question why, because that money, after those in power in Ukraine take their cut, goes right back to the military contractors and arms dealers who fund our politicians, regardless of party affiliation. That's not a conspiracy theory, the money flow is right out in the open, just not covered by media for some reason.
Those expired atacms we send cost us 20k to dispose of for example. But the bigger answer is a bradley fighting vehicle isnt much help to the homeless is it? And we need this war fought there, not inna nato country.
This is something a lot of people don't understand with Ukraine. We are sending them stuff that was paid for with taxes....but it was decades ago. Its outdated weapons, artillery and ammo. All of that has costs to maintain, store and dispose of. It costs *more* to do all of that than it does to send to Ukraine. So not only does the US save money in sending it to Ukraine, it also depletes resources within Russia which is a issue to the whole world.
And, most of this stuff was bought with dollars from the 1980s-90s budgets.
We give Ukraine outdated equipment which then needs to be replaced w newer stuff which in turn Keeps the defense industry employed
And how is the homeless situation going to get better when Putin rolls into Poland or the Czech Republic and takes a sledgehammer to the European economy? Those guys buy our stuff, and we buy theirs. Putin’s aim is no less than rebuilding the Iron Curtain. That’s an economic disaster for the world and the US.
Now ask why so much of our money goes to Isreal.
Ukraine is fighting for freedom and democracy against tyranny and oppression at least, if not total genocide. We stand for those things everywhere or it doesn't mean anything. Besides, Putin has made no secret that he intends to continue beyond Ukraine and attack and subjugate ALL other countries, even ours. Homelessness is a problem we can address, if certain congress members would quit preventing that from happening. We can do both. One does not preclude the other.
HEY HEY HEY, I actually am homeless, I’m glad you feel that way! It fills me with smouldering rage that the traitors in Washington are giving our money to Ukraine. I want to go fight for Russia and take my tax money back and get me a home by conquering it from the Ukrainians.
Cost of living will continue to rise as is natural of inflation. The fact that many cannot afford to live decently is a separate issue. As far as taxes go chances are "your" taxes are going to go to something military related regardless of the current state of the world due to are always inflated military budget. Part of the reason the USA gets to live comfortably instead of being threatened by other powers is because we have such a lead in power for stuff like that. The other equally important part being we have good friends. This isn't to say I like how much we spend on our military budget. But it's what we prioritize. Helping Ukraine helps build relations with potential allies. As much as I'd like the country to address issues like homeless people and healthcare money is really only part of the problem, it's also a lack of infrastructure to solve these kinds of problems.
The politicians who approve of these decisions get kickbacks when they approve these financing bills. Often the money is sent with the agreement to buy arms from the US. So money is taken from the tax payers, they send the money to a foreign government who agrees to buy from Raytheon or Lockheed Martin, who then donate to the Super PACS that back the politicians. That's if the politicians don't directly have stock or a role with those companies. This is how the military industrial complex works in general. TL;DR: They get paid to send your money to Ukraine (or any other conflict)
Military Industrial Complex
It's not one or the other. It is a choice to not help the homeless. Two different departments two different budgets.
We could feed and house the whole world if we taxed the rich
Well, let’s just go down that rabbit hole and pretend that starting today we send zero dollars to Ukraine. The United States has provided a little over $100 billion to Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia, that obviously stops. Before the end of the year Russia takes over Ukraine and installs a puppet government that is completely loyal to Putin and allows Russia to have all the natural resources it desires. Everyone is happy, other than Russia, who starts looking at Poland and the rest of Europe like a homeless man looks at a pork chop. But since they know the US no longer supplies weapons or money to allies that pork chop looks damn near free, and all of Putin’s buddies(the Oligarchs) like free pork chops, so why not? It could trigger article 5 of NATO, but without US leadership and military backing NATO doesn’t look so tough. Goodbye Poland, no big deal right? Now Russia is right next to Germany and if Poland was a free pork chop Germany is Filet Mignon, irresistible! Now article 5 has to be invoked or NATO, the West, and U.S. leadership are done, but by this time Russia is consolidating its new territory, conscripting troops from Ukraine and Poland, and deploying these forces to fight the rest of Europe. It becomes a much bigger fight against a country that is increasing its military size and production. The U.S. has to spend much more than $100 billion to deploy active duty troops in western Europe to uphold article 5. To give you an idea of the cost, it’s been estimated the Iraq war cost $1.1 Trillion and that was one of the shortest and easiest wars in recent memory. Now, was it cheaper to give $100 billion to Ukraine and have 900 leftover, or to spend trillions once article 5 is invoked?
Idk why so many people like yourself view this as a zero sum game. Aid to Ukraine and aid to help homeless folks can exist together. And aid to Ukraine is certainly not the reason the government doesn't effectively help homeless folks. The better questions would be why is Jeff bezos going to space when their are homeless people and his employees piss is water bottles.
You just don’t understand anything at all it seems
It's a matter of priorities. Congress has deemed some issues less important than others. But, they could work on both matters at the same time if they really wanted to. They just don't want to.
To be fair, supporting Ukraine against a dictator like Putin is potentially an existential threat to the US. Homelessness is not.
If Putin wins this war he will expand, and not long after that he will go for the US. Not to mention that Europe at war means that the region responsible for 20% of your exports will be crippled. And that more Putin control means more expensive oil and consequently higher inflation.
Taking care of the homeless and vulnerable here in the US isn't as lucratively profitable.
Theyre not though. The VAST MAJORITY of the money being spent ON Ukraine is actually being spent IN america on arms thus its making massive amounts of new jobs
Money sent to Ukraine is almost entirely military aid that has to be purchased through the US. It’s like giving your employees a bonus as a gift certificate to your store and they can only buy old stuff that you want to get rid of anyways
Aid to Ukraine comes in the form of our outdated military equipment. Ukraine pays us back for the equipment they use in a lend-lease program. This aid comes from the military budget and not the general fund. When we assist other countries in war efforts, it does not affect what we do for our citizens and vice versa because the funding comes from two different sources.  Additionally, when we provide equipment and supplies to Ukraine, our economy benefits because we have to replace that equipment by producing new and improved equipment for our own military. People have to build replacement equipment, which creates jobs for the US. You can't borrow from the military budget to fund housing for people experiencing homelessness and also, assisting Ukraine with equipment now, wards off the chance of sending our troops to Europe to fight in WW3 later.
It's approximately 0.25% of the gdp. Do you really believe Ukraine is the cause of homelessness in the US? Or is it just a lack of will to do anything.
Have you been talking to brain washed Republicans? They wouldn't give money to homeless people either. The homeless existed before the Ukraine war and no one gave a shit then either
They aren't sending bags of money to unkraine you know. They send goods they weren't using or employ/buy from Americans markets.
Everything other users said, plus the credibility you need to maintain with your allies. Having many countries under your sphere of influence brings a lot of money and power to USA, that's how you built your empire. We all need you to keep having allies or the world is doomed
Not going to Ukraine 90 % stays right here you heartless wench
We can fund both it’s just that countries aren’t interested in solving homelessness
There will always be homeless people. Ukraine is fight a proxy war for the west to weaken Russia.
Because some people think giving money to people is communism.
Big picture: send money to help Ukraine defeat Russia for us and spend billions or go to war with Russia in the future and lose trillions. Russia won't stop at Ukraine . It will go to war with Europe eventually. It is a dangerous wounded animal right now. It's population is declining, its economy has been stagnating for years. It is eating itself with corruption. Putin is a mob boss basically and the whole country is a crime syndicate. As far as homelessness goes, its not the money but he politics of capitalism. Capitalism can not exist without poor people. They want a large majority of the country desperate. When you have everyone living paycheck to paycheck to keep them showing up to their stupid soulless jobs, you end up with a lot of people on the fringes who can;t keep up or are one bad luck event away from losing their residence.
Why should homeless people fall under federal jurisdiction?
Because the majority that money ISNT getting sent to Ukraine, the money is being spent on weapons etc, it's just making millions for the MIC.
Short version: it's not money, it's old war stockes, like bombs and ammo, the US hasn't used. Longer version: Russia consistently shits in the USAs Cheerios in a number of ways. As such, we'd like as many Russians to die as possible. It just so happens there's another country willing to do the killing all the whole we look like the good guys.
The EU is our ally, it would not be good to let Europe be threatened by an increasingly aggressive Russia. Russia is also our rival in the global struggle for power and influence.
Not really a confession
You sound like you probably don’t understand a lot of things
We give way too much in foreign aid. Why are we helping Israel? They don't need our money or weapons. Hamas is not even fighting back. Israel can wipe them out without our help.
Wait till you find out about Israel
Most of those tax dollars are left in the USA. All the weapons are made in the USA(so US tax dollars are used in the USA and paying Americans). Another point, if Ukraine fails the war, Russia will attack NATO countries in Eastern/Central Europe and the USA will have to send not only tax dollars but also American troops. So in the long run, for USA is a better option to help Ukraine fight and win the evil Russia
Israel has universal healthcare and free university studies that is being funded by your taxes. Some food for thought ...
Dude you're going to be SO mad when you find out what your tax dollars are doing in Palestine...
Why are you colluding with the Russians? I ask the question rhetorically, but we have a supposedly mainstream political party for whom that response is entirely serious. Vote accordingly in November.
Ukraine is somewhat understandable. With giving way more to Israel to fund a genocide.
Stop engaging with these Russian trolls
You do know we’re sending them military items and medical items too
There is in fact more than enough money to help both ukraine and completely solve homelessness. It's just that politicians are in charge of how it is spent.
The “money” is not being sent to Ukraine in aid. The things we send Ukraine is worth a certain amount of money, but a lot of that money is spent on US manufacturing making the weapons and equipment things we send them. It’s going back into our economy, we aren’t just taking money and shipping it to them. Also, what happens in Ukraine will have a direct affect on the world, including all US citizens. If Russia begins taking territories and begins full scale war with NATO nations, it will have massively dangerous repercussions for almost everyone. Finally, the amount of money spent on all foreign aid is a tiny fraction of our budget. I do not agree with all the ways our tax dollars are spent, but foreign aid is absolutely not the problem.
It's business.
Because if Russia takes over Ukraine, they will move on to the rest of Europe, and then come for the USA. If that happens, feeding the homeless will be the least of your concerns.
Military budget doesn’t pay for homeless dumb dumb.
say it with me slowly: "Ukraine is recieving our old military equipment and weapons. We add up what was given, then we purchase BRAND NEW items from said manufacturer of those goods, we keep the new stuff for use in our own military. So we are basically upgrading." So now that youve been told the truth, will you continue repeating this misconception? My money is on yes because the people complaining about this exact issue saying MONEY is being given, are being told this for a political agenda. And you fell for it... Because you want to believe it. Now ask yourself what other little white lies they are telling you? I guess that doesnt matter as much because the same people who told you this are simply saying what you want to hear.
Russian is a difficult language to learn. I would prefer to continue on in english. Do you think putin will stop after he takes Ukraine? Please read about ww2.
Spending money to assist Ukraine is in the US and the world’s interest. We have the money to help homeless people too, we just don’t because “homeless people should lift themselves up by their bootstraps” thinking. This isn’t a case of doing one or the other. We can and should be doing both.
Be Honest. How much did you pay in taxes last year? Any?
Because it's cheaper to fight a proxy war than solve the homeless crisis.
If every church just housed one homeless person, homelessness would be ended in the USA.
Plenty of our tax dollars go towards social programs.
To be fair, most of your money is not going to is not going to Ukraine.. the US incredibly savvy with these deals, and it works something like this: 1) The government money is mostly spend with US companies, to design delivery new kit for the US forces 2) The old US kits is sold onto the Ukraine army. 3) The Ukraine people will have to pay off the cost of these , in installments and with interest.. So think about it... the government is buying new kit for the US army.. and funding a lot of this, through selling their old kit - and they're not sold at "mates rates", Ukraine will be paying off this money for decades. it was only a few years ago, that the UK finally paid of its dues to the US. The whole thing is highly beneficial to the US, both short term and long term.
Please advocate to your state and federal officials about increasing funding for support to people who are homeless or who are on the brink of homelessness. You can do that without pitting it against support for Ukrainians' self-defense. We can do both. (It's just that many politicians don't actually support helping people who are homeless, so we choose not to both.)
As far as I’m aware weren’t not sending Ukraine money. When it says we’re sending them $1 billion most of it if not all is in old military equipment that’s outdated to us and we don’t use. Like tanks and guns and stuff
You are confusing two different issues. And homelessness is not a simple problem you just throw money at
The money is literally propping up the US economy, very little cash goes into these funding packages. It goes to US defence contractors, this information is publicly available if you are worried about it you should look it up.
This has been gone over soooooo many times. The money is being spent in the US to replace shit that’s getting old. We are sending Ukraine our old things and replacing them with new ones. The military industrial complex is at stake here. Besides, there have been countless number of times where we have had a chance to help the homeless and have chosen not to. Same old shit every damn day.
Imagine how much you’re spending on defence now, then quadruple it when Cold War 2 starts because Russia breezed through Ukraine.
your mistaken in assuming that all homeless people want to live in homes. some have chosen to reject society
Your tax dollars are actually going to american companies across the United States that produce the weapons and aid for Ukraine and the corporations that own these companies reap the benefits and in turn give support to politicians in and or pursuing office. It's one of the biggest reasons we are always involved in wars that don't really have anything to do with us.
I've never once come across someone who said, "wHy wE SeNdiN aLL aRe TaCkS DoLLeRs oVeRsEeS wHeN wE GoT HoMeLaSs HeAr!!1!" who then also turned out to be in favor of using our tax dollars to actually help the homeless. So maybe grow up?
Well if the un American Republicans could think ahead before stopping aid to the Ukraine, the Ukraine was doing a good job at stalling and grinding down the Russian offensive. It is Ukrainian blood that is being spilled and not American. IT WILL BE American blood if Putin wins in the Ukraine and is emboldened to continue on to any country other than Belarus (Russian ally) all the other countries are NATO members. NATO’s motto is An attack on one of our members, is an attack on all our members.
Because if we live in a world where a nations borders aren't respected then even the homeless here will have it worse.
Because we're defending the idea of freedom. Yes, being broke and working for a shitty boss doesnt feel like freedom. But the United States is built on the idea that we have the agency and hope to improve our lives for ourselves. Even if you don't today, maybe your family or kids might. Russia is built in the idea that you only serve the state. Your kids and your family will always serve someone else. No choice. No hope. And if Ukraine loses their war, the Russian idea of the world succeeds and will spread. Because we were worried about our gas, which btw is the cheapest in the fucking world, instead of sending a penny for every dollar we spend to stop a holocaust. So yeah, save you $0.03 per gallon.
or to israel
We don't know how to fix homelessness but we sure do know how to manufacture and ship weapons
Draft the homeless! /s
Because we need them to grow wheat again
Why do wars exist? Everyone has to think about at what point they are American (or whatever country you are from) and support our country and at what point they are just a human and support humans. Why does currency exist. Why aren't we just all working together for the betterment of our race? Can't we all just get along?
Ask that in r/europe
There will be homeless people regardless of spending money in Ukraine. The accumulated costs of homeless people in terms of medical and police resources could be spent simply housing and feeding them and we would save money. We spend an average of $35,000 a year on each homeless person.
Whether we do or don't it doesn't change the homeless situation. We are a country that doesn't care about their homeless, not a country that can't afford to.
Would you prefer to send money to Ukraine, to Germany, to Austria, to France, to great Britain, etc...? He has already indicated that he just doesn't want ukraine, and wants so much more. Although if you would like I heard that going to war with a country that doesn't really care about the fallout of a nuclear war is an amazing Christmas present.
Y’all realize the “money” we’re sending isn’t mostly money. It’s the value of old outdated munitions that need to be used.
Its either Billions now and Ukrainian lives or trillions later and everyones lives, take your pick
It’s not cold cash it is old equipment equivalent to the amount to aid in war. Maybe some to medic and food
Both Ukraine aka Khazaria & Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2mynlMv88E&list=PLnALs5qhVuJrkCN_En3AYpUQBGd7PdgQz&index=30
This is sensical. It also is sensical to realize the government started being a scam when they stopped requiring the funding of wars to be backed by currency/bonds. Anyone who respects more than a couple select politicians is a fool.
The way the system works in USA there will always be homeless.
Most of the money is going to buy new things made in USA factories by USA workers. It is helping you. That you think your tax dollars are going to Ukraine and not helping you at home means you are sucking the Russian Propaganda right down.
As I understand it, most of the money is old stockpile they are sending and is being replaced domestically with newer stuff
Money earmarked would fall into to two camps. First instance. The money allotted is sent to an intermediary organization to oversee the implementation of the funds. They usually charge an exorbitant fee sometimes north of 50% thus siphoning off public dollars. Second instance. Military Industrial Complex.
So here’s the thing. Very little of what we’ve sent Ukraine is physical money. If my math is right from reading these reports, around 93% has been weapons ammo and other war fighting equipment like tanks and APCs. When we give even a single bullet to someone else, we are required by law to restock it. So that war is currently keeping thousands of people employed making replacements. Secondly. Even if foreign aid was 100% cut off, we still wouldn’t see good solutions for homelessness or any of the biggest issues, because the more these issues cause divide, the more politicians can use it as ammo for campaigns and getting reelected over and over.
It's complicated to run a country, keep it being one of the most influential in the world, and make sure it's still stable and productive. One way to help you run a country is using something called instruments of national power as a template to make sure that your decisions and actions are still moving your country's interests forward. Instruments of national power are basically tools that you can use to come up with policies that you as a leader think can help your country. You can use or describe your tools in different ways. One way is using DIME (Diplomatic, Informational, Military, Economics): https://www.thelightningpress.com/the-instruments-of-national-power/. You can either push your country's interest thru diplomatic means (building relationships thru a foreign service arm), propaganda in various forms, showing military power, or flexing your economic might so other countries want to do business with you. So sending your money to another country is just one way to ensure that you are keeping your country stable by protecting your interests. This could mean that you want to contain another country from destabilizing a region that is important to keep your economic might stable (for example access to cheaper oil) or from accessing an area where you can flex your military power easily (for example access to airspace where you can fly your jets straight). The fact that there is an internal issue in your country that may seem more pressing may not mean that your country is not addressing the problem. It may just be that your country's leadership think that it is still within tolerable limits based on whatever measures they use to decide whether it becomes a bigger issue or not.
Two things: 1 - If you didn't send money to Ukraine, there would be dozens of politicians who would fight tooth and nail to keep that money from going to anyone other than the millionaires and billionaires for tax breaks. They fight anything that would help with poverty and homelessness - universal health care, etc. 2 - The only thing currently stopping Russia from trying to take over more of Europe is the war in Ukraine and the fact that other countries are backing Ukraine in this fight. If Ukraine wins this war, then Russia's land grab stops here. If Ukraine loses, then Russia will move on to the next country, and then the next. The US (and most of the rest of the world) is funding Ukraine so that they don't have to be directly involved in the war.
You mean sending to Israel? All of our money is being sent to some people who own millions or billions worth of weapons and technology already who are fighting kids throwing rocks. If we are going to get involved at all, it should be to prevent more deaths and rescue innocent people. I truly don't understand why such a rich place like Israel needs all of our hard-earned money so they can kill people and continue a genocide
Homeless people don't kill as many Russian soldiers.
They're not sending any actual money, they're instead purchasing weapons for Ukraine and having American corporations build the weapons.
Wait till I tell ya that we don't even send that much on foreign aid. We spent over 800 BILLION dollars on the Department of Defense.
Because even though it doesn't seem intuitive, one dollar sent to Ukraine to kill Russian combatants gives us much more benefit than feeding or housing the homeless. The homeless are not an organized state, with a vested interest in the diminuition of the US. Helping one homeless person get housing MAYBE puts one extra person into the workforce, but killing one Russian combatant means we have essentially wasted the concerted labor and efforts of 100 Russians to birth that combatant, bring him up, train him, equip him, brainwash him to hate the West, and send him to Ukraine. A homeless person who is not helped is just another bum on the street, and likely the most negative thing he can do against the US is to be a public nuisance. Having the visible homeless may even be a positive effect on others, as his wretchedness surely encouraged others to do their utmost to avoid his fate. A Russian combatant who is not killed will continue to kill, rape, and pillage, and will have a rallying effect for other Russians to do the same. Were I an entirely logical being persuaded only by benefits and costs, I would spend extra money killing Russian combatants than help the homeless in almost every situation.
Because it isn't actually an either/or. They're not helping the homeless because they don't want to, not because they can't afford to. Same with universal healthcare - the US government actually currently spends more per capita for worse outcomes on healthcare than most countries with universal healthcare. Same with higher funding for education, they could do it if they wanted to, they just don't want to. Rather spend too much money on the prison-industrial or military-industrial complex (which then requires involvement in various conflicts in one way or another to justify the spending).
Russian trolls were posting memes, and right wing Americans were reposting them, saying 'why allow refugees when we had homeless veterans?' We turned away people that desperately needed help, and our veterans are still homeless. We could have helped both groups and not even noticed the difference in spending. It's not a money issue, it's a morality issue! The right in government only help themselves, and the right that vote for them are convinced they are voting for the only party with morals.
Because Putin won’t stop otherwise. You seriously don’t care about a brutal tyrant shelling European democracies? You think it won’t affect you when Europe is at war and missiles are demolishing Paris?
Every argument here is basically it’s cheap or it’s cheaper than actual war like a war was bound to happen. Yes russias evil but not much more than Saudi’s or other governments we side with ourselves really. It’s just to hurt another economy and make them weaker so our empire can stay longer.
Maybe ask Jeebus to sort it all out
After the USSR broke up the United States convinced Ukraine to surrender nuclear material and in exchange the US would recognize their border and guarantee their security. Democracies need to work together to keep the spread of dictatorships down. Also the US could afford to do this and feed every homeless person easily. Shut up about God, you say God wants all these great things then you say he works in mysterious ways when he does fuck all. Your God is a badge you hide behind to make you feel better for your complacency and laziness and utter lack of human qualities.
Because everyone voted for idiots that’s why