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Thread ID: 3930 | Posts: 10 | Started: 2002-12-09
2002-12-09 17:18 | User Profile
[url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html]Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US[/url]
By David R. Francis | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the December 09, 2002 edition -
**Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person. **
This is an estimate by Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington. For decades, his analyses of the Middle East scene have made him a frequent thorn in the side of the Israel lobby.
For the first time in many years, Mr. Stauffer has tallied the total cost to the US of its backing of Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians. So far, he figures, the bill adds up to more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War.
And now Israel wants more. In a meeting at the White House late last month, Israeli officials made a pitch for $4 billion in additional military aid to defray the rising costs of dealing with the intifada and suicide bombings. They also asked for more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to help the country's recession-bound economy.
Considering Israel's deep economic troubles, Stauffer doubts the Israel bonds covered by the loan guarantees will ever be repaid. The bonds are likely to be structured so they don't pay interest until they reach maturity. If Stauffer is right, the US would end up paying both principal and interest, perhaps 10 years out.
Israel's request could be part of a supplemental spending bill that's likely to be passed early next year, perhaps wrapped in with the cost of a war with Iraq.
Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. It is already due to get $2.04 billion in military assistance and $720 million in economic aid in fiscal 2003. It has been getting $3 billion a year for years.
Adjusting the official aid to 2001 dollars in purchasing power, Israel has been given $240 billion since 1973, Stauffer reckons. In addition, the US has given Egypt $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion in foreign aid in return for signing peace treaties with Israel.
"Consequently, politically, if not administratively, those outlays are part of the total package of support for Israel," argues Stauffer in a lecture on the total costs of US Middle East policy, commissioned by the US Army War College, for a recent conference at the University of Maine.
These foreign-aid costs are well known. Many Americans would probably say it is money well spent to support a beleagured democracy of some strategic interest. But Stauffer wonders if Americans are aware of the full bill for supporting Israel since some costs, if not hidden, are little known.
One huge cost is not secret. It is the higher cost of oil and other economic damage to the US after Israel-Arab wars.
In 1973, for instance, Arab nations attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territories Israel had conquered in the 1967 war. President Nixon resupplied Israel with US arms, triggering the Arab oil embargo against the US.
That shortfall in oil deliveries kicked off a deep recession. The US lost $420 billion (in 2001 dollars) of output as a result, Stauffer calculates. And a boost in oil prices cost another $450 billion.
Afraid that Arab nations might use their oil clout again, the US set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That has since cost, conservatively, $134 billion, Stauffer reckons.
Other US help includes:
ââ¬Â¢ US Jewish charities and organizations have remitted grants or bought Israel bonds worth $50 billion to $60 billion. Though private in origin, the money is "a net drain" on the United States economy, says Stauffer.
ââ¬Â¢ The US has already guaranteed $10 billion in commercial loans to Israel, and $600 billion in "housing loans." Stauffer expects the US Treasury to cover these.
ââ¬Â¢ The US has given $2.5 billion to support Israel's Lavi fighter and Arrow missile projects.
ââ¬Â¢ Israel buys discounted, serviceable "excess" US military equipment. Stauffer says these discounts amount to "several billion dollars" over recent years.
ââ¬Â¢ Israel uses roughly 40 percent of its $1.8 billion per year in military aid, ostensibly earmarked for purchase of US weapons, to buy Israeli-made hardware. It also has won the right to require the Defense Department or US defense contractors to buy Israeli-made equipment or subsystems, paying 50 to 60 cents on every defense dollar the US gives to Israel.
US help, financial and technical, has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. US defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel requirements and the extra competition subsidized by US taxpayers.
ââ¬Â¢ US policy and trade sanctions reduce US exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs, Stauffer estimates. Not requiring Israel to use its US aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000 jobs.
ââ¬Â¢ Israel has blocked some major US arms sales, such as F-15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. That cost $40 billion over 10 years, says Stauffer.
Stauffer's list will be controversial. He's been assisted in this research by a number of mostly retired military or diplomatic officials who do not go public for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic if they criticize America's policies toward Israel.
2002-12-09 17:47 | User Profile
LOL!
NewsMax has it linked on their front page now. I'm sure they're already getting flak to pull it.
2002-12-09 18:20 | User Profile
**Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person. **
[color=red]This must apply to the cost to each American.[/color]
To get a true significance of this amount to each Jew I will write the numbers:
$1.6 trillion = $1,600,000,000,000 or 1.6 to the power of 10 to the 12th
Population of Israel is about 4,800,000
[SIZE=4][color=blue]Per Capita donation to each Jew in Israel is $333,000[/color][/SIZE]
I must ask if a decimal point has been missed. If this is true, even I am absolutely staggered. We truly are a nation of suckers!!!
2002-12-09 18:25 | User Profile
Originally posted by Centinel@Dec 9 2002, 13:47 **LOL!
NewsMax has it linked on their front page now. ÃÂ I'm sure they're already getting flak to pull it.**
You're right, Centinel...Drudge had it posted but the link quickly disappeared from his page. His brethren may have sent him a reminder. Sounds like an X-File.
2002-12-09 18:31 | User Profile
**You're right, Centinel...Drudge had it posted but the link quickly disappeared from his page. His brethren may have sent him a reminder. Sounds like an X-File. **
I'm convinced somebody's bankrolling Drudge. Probably someone with an agenda.
Until a few months ago, he really didn't have any paying advertisers, just those dorky affiliate banner ads, and his site must run up an unbelieveable bandwidth bill with an Alexa ranking of 324.
2002-12-09 19:23 | User Profile
Originally posted by Centinel@Dec 9 2002, 14:31 > You're right, Centinel...Drudge had it posted but the link quickly disappeared from his page. His brethren may have sent him a reminder. Sounds like an X-File. **
I'm convinced somebody's bankrolling Drudge. Probably someone with an agenda.
Until a few months ago, he really didn't have any paying advertisers, just those dorky affiliate banner ads, and his site must run up an unbelieveable bandwidth bill with an Alexa ranking of 324.**
You may be right. I wonder how much his site is able to be supported by the ads, the proceeds from his book sales, and what he gets paid for his radio show.
I wonder what the agenda behind the scenes at the Drudge Report is, exactly. Drudge mentioned a while back on one of his radio broadcasts that he wishes he could take his vote for Bush back--Drudge seems to have some real problems with the government spy powers granted under the USA PATRIOT Act and all. So that's good, at least.
I've noticed that Drudge often plays the "China is a threat" card, which was a favorite of certain neocons yearning for a new Cold War before 9/11 fell into their laps and distracted everyone.
Other than that, Drudge seems to highlight a lot of fluff stories, stories about less serious things, things going on in Hollywood, gossip, etc. Maybe I'm not seeing clearly enough--usually I'm pretty good at detecting what someone's after. At this point, I'd have to guess that his agenda is simply to distract people and muddy the waters with those junk stories, since lots of independent-minded folks tune to his show and read his website looking for the news the major media won't give them. TPTB don't like people digging around on their own, so maybe they set Drudge up as a "maverick" and they keep him really visible to sort of capture that potentially too-inquisitive audience and tie them down, before they stumble across some more revealing web sites.
How's my conspiracy theory generator today?
2002-12-09 19:43 | User Profile
**TPTB don't like people digging around on their own, so maybe they set Drudge up as a "maverick" and they keep him really visible to sort of capture that potentially too-inquisitive audience and tie them down, before they stumble across some more revealing web sites.
How's my conspiracy theory generator today? **
Another angle may be that Drudge isn't too hard on Israel for fear of alienating the kosher krowd in Hollyweird, since entertainment gossip is a staple of his.
Actually, I think you're spot on. People--radio hosts included--are lazy creatures of habit, and they check the same sites all the time for their material...which in syndicated talkradio is basically Drudge, NewsMax and WND. I know PJB reads Chronicles and Antiwar.com as he's mentioned them as a guest on people's shows.
I know that Rense.com gets alot of eyeballs with an Alexa ranking of 2,794, and is a popular source for "patriot" shortwave broadcasters.
Heh, imagine if Rense and Raimondo were setting the agenda for talkradio instead!
2002-12-09 22:08 | User Profile
Wow, even WorldNetDaily has it linked for their afternoon edition now
Must be too big a story to ignore
2002-12-09 22:28 | User Profile
I wonder if this will make the tv news? To the masses, an issue has to be on tv before ITZ real.
The little freakers are angry with the economist here even though they like to whine about their tax dollars wasted.
[url=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/803075/posts]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/803075/posts[/url]
[url=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/803473/posts]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/803473/posts[/url]
2002-12-10 22:08 | User Profile
PaleoconAvatar Posted on Dec 9 2002, 18:18 > **Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person. **
The above is the cost to each American. [color=red]Not the amount each Israeli receives[/color].
[color=red][SIZE=3]Every Israeli has cost the American taxpayer $333,333.00.[/color][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][color=red]The beloved Israeli family of four has cost the American taxpayer $1,333,333.00. [/color][/SIZE]Uncle Sucker has made them millionaires in effect. Yet the average American seems not to care.