Quote Originally Posted by JSE
F1

You're right. It is probably many times more. Many countries are financially stable because of the goods they sell to the US. Contrary to what some uninformed people think, we actually pay for things such as oil, gold, silver, etc. which in turn helps these countries develop.

Which brings me to Karl K. Karl in his previous post want's the US to take a step back and not be so helpful. He feels that our help sometimes creates a negative image of the US. He's right. But, what would happed when the US pulls back on it's foreign aid, and possibly the buying of foreign products? What happens when some of the smaller economies on this world that depend on the US start to fail? What happens when people began to starve? What will their image of the US be then? I mentioned in a previous point, that we need to start worrying less about what other countries think about the US. However, we still need to be there for these countries that depend on us. Like I said before, it's not a popularity contest. However we can still be compassionate and help others. Karl, I understand what you are saying but it's not that simple.

An yes, my nose did feel broken with 9/11. However, we should not drop our gloves and keep taking hits. We are not a punching bag. I for one, want to put my gloves up and start systematically throwing jabs and working the body until we can throw that left and knock them out. Can you tell I like boxing?

JSE
Now your portraying yourself less of a bully and more like a listener. Thanks.

Sometimes it doesn't take anymore effort than listening and understanding to change a persons impression.

I'm not saying that we should pull back on our aid to others, but consider what aid is really warranted and how it will be used. We in America have this nasty habit of believing that if we through enough money to a problem it will get better and that is just not the case. You have to plan on how the money will be used and who it will benefit. We spend millions upon millions each yr to help the poor. You would like to think that we would be making better progress than we are and more friends than we appear to have. You asked what happens when people begin to starve? Maybe they will finally begin to do for themselves like we did 200yrs ago and make a stand. Yes we had help and while the countries we've invaded will no doubt benefit form our actions, we didn't go their for the people. We went their for our own reasons(national security). Their benefit was nothing more than a by-product. The Afghani Rebels and the Kurds have been asking for our help for yrs and we more or less blew them off because it didn't suit our interests. How is that a noble cause in the worlds eyes? When you help other countries, you should do it for them first and yourself second. That's how you earn their respect and their cooperation. We are in another position to make this decission in Iran. We SEEM to have a majority of the population that respects what we stand for and how they turn out may depend on how/when we help them achieve there goals... will we do it for ourselves or for them? When they call, will we help out all we can in the name of what's right, with no expectations, or will we "make a deal" by selling our services for all we can get, or will we just simply say your on your own and hope for the best. Myself, I would tend to chose the first option as a solution in hopes of forming a longer term relationship of respect and trust.

I am a big advocate of buying foreign products. I haven't boycotted the French, Russians or the Germans because of their views. I believe you are right that international trade is vital to us and the rest of the world. You won't hear me complaining about my job going to Mexico or overseas. The reason is not because I'm un-American, but that I believe in competition and if we can't compete, it's our own fault.

Quote Originally Posted by JSE
And yes, my nose did feel broken with 9/11. However, we should not drop our gloves and keep taking hits. We are not a punching bag. I for one, want to put my gloves up and start systematically throwing jabs and working the body until we can throw that left and knock them out. Can you tell I like boxing?
I agree, but are you so willing to mow down the referee when he gets in your way? If you step into the ring, you have to expect to get hit once in a while. Sometimes you can also wear down your opponent with a little foot work and some "rope-a-dope". When we got our broken nose, our gloves were down because we under-estimated(through our errogance) the reach of our opponent. I'd say our score card still looks pretty good though! (I used to be a big G Foremen fan back when fights lasted more than 3 rds and cost nothing to watch on TV) When you get hit, it's instinctive to reach out to a target(usually the easiest, weakest one at that) and show everyone that it was a fluke. You gotta resist that temptation and think about how your actions will be perceived and what's really in your best interest before acting. What we are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq now is responsible IMO because we are attempting to stick around and help instead of leaving after our objectives have been met and if we succeed, I would agree that we have gotten on the "more-right" track than we have been in a long time.

Thanks for listening JSE, have a good one!