Hi
Reader comment on item: Fund the Palestinians? Bad Idea

Submitted by Frank Shipley (United States), Dec 20, 2007 at 03:02

Sir:

In economic terms, if you want more of some service or product, reward the provider. He will provide more. So, if the West, or Israel wants more missiles and bullets and bombs, giving money to the Palestinians and/or Hamas or any other adversary, is the way to pay for the ones already received, and to prepay for the ones to come. This is why I have never understood foreign aid to countries opposing us. They will continue to oppose us, and use our money to do so. Even basic human needs must be paid for, but if we support them (whoever), they will divert funds that otherwise would be spent on those human needs, and buy either a new palace, or a new order of Russian/Korean rockets. Or maybe a shipload of surplus AK-47's and miscellaneous artillery shells for improvised explosive devices.

This same logic is also a warning concerning buying from adversaries. While we pay inflated prices for imported oil, the sellers of that oil, of course, are free to spend the funds they receive in the exchange for whatever they want. But what if they want to buy Pakistan's nuclear technology? If Pakistan is temporarily not willing to sell, someone else might. So this seems to imply that we should find an alternative to buying oil from enemies, and the sooner the better.

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