Externe

True Cost to U.S. Taxpayers

Generous as it is, what Israelis actually got in U.S. aid is considerably less than what it has cost U.S. taxpayers to provide it. The principal difference is that so long as the U.S. runs an annual budget deficit, every dollar of aid the U.S. gives Israel has to be raised through U.S. government borrowing.

In an article in the Washington Report for December 1991/January 1992, Frank Collins estimated the costs of this interest, based upon prevailing interest rates for every year since 1949. I have updated this by applying a very conservative 5 percent interest rate for subsequent years, and confined the amount upon which the interest is calculated to grants, not loans or loan guarantees.

On this basis the $84.8 billion in grants, loans and commodities Israel has received from the U.S. since 1949 cost the U.S. an additional $49,936,880,000 in interest.

There are many other costs of Israel to U.S. taxpayers, such as most or all of the $45.6 billion in U.S. foreign aid to Egypt since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979 (compared to $4.2 billion in U.S. aid to Egypt for the preceding 26 years). U.S. foreign aid to Egypt, which is pegged at two-thirds of U.S. foreign aid to Israel, averages $2.2 billion per year.

There also have been immense political and military costs to the U.S. for its consistent support of Israel during Israel’s half-century of disputes with the Palestinians and all of its Arab neighbors. In addition, there have been the approximately $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees and perhaps $20 billion in tax-exempt contributions made to Israel by American Jews in the nearly half-century since Israel was created.

Even excluding all of these extra costs, America’s $84.8 billion in aid to Israel from fiscal years 1949 through 1998, and the interest the U.S. paid to borrow this money, has cost U.S. taxpayers $134.8 billion, not adjusted for inflation. Or, put another way, the nearly $14,630 every one of 5.8 million Israelis received from the U.S. government by Oct. 31, 1997 has cost American taxpayers $23,240 per Israeli.

It would be interesting to know how many of those American taxpayers believe they and their families have received as much from the U.S. Treasury as has everyone who has chosen to become a citizen of Israel. But it’s a question that will never occur to the American public because, so long as America’s mainstream media, Congress and president maintain their pact of silence, few Americans will ever know the true cost of Israel to U.S. taxpayers.

La 2009-01-18 13:41:33, Evreu-rus a scris:

> True Cost to U.S. Taxpayers
>
> Generous as it is, what Israelis actually got in U.S. aid is
> considerably less than what it has cost U.S. taxpayers to provide it.
> The principal difference is that so long as the U.S. runs an annual
> budget deficit, every dollar of aid the U.S. gives Israel has to be
> raised through U.S. government borrowing.
>
> In an article in the Washington Report for December 1991/January 1992,
> Frank Collins estimated the costs of this interest, based upon
> prevailing interest rates for every year since 1949. I have updated
> this by applying a very conservative 5 percent interest rate for
> subsequent years, and confined the amount upon which the interest is
> calculated to grants, not loans or loan guarantees.
>
> On this basis the $84.8 billion in grants, loans and commodities
> Israel has received from the U.S. since 1949 cost the U.S. an
> additional $49,936,880,000 in interest.
>
> There are many other costs of Israel to U.S. taxpayers, such as most
> or all of the $45.6 billion in U.S. foreign aid to Egypt since Egypt
> made peace with Israel in 1979 (compared to $4.2 billion in U.S. aid
> to Egypt for the preceding 26 years). U.S. foreign aid to Egypt,
> which is pegged at two-thirds of U.S. foreign aid to Israel, averages
> $2.2 billion per year.
>
> There also have been immense political and military costs to the U.S.
> for its consistent support of Israel during Israel’s
> half-century of disputes with the Palestinians and all of its Arab
> neighbors. In addition, there have been the approximately $10 billion
> in U.S. loan guarantees and perhaps $20 billion in tax-exempt
> contributions made to Israel by American Jews in the nearly
> half-century since Israel was created.
>
> Even excluding all of these extra costs, America’s $84.8 billion
> in aid to Israel from fiscal years 1949 through 1998, and the interest
> the U.S. paid to borrow this money, has cost U.S. taxpayers $134.8
> billion, not adjusted for inflation. Or, put another way, the nearly
> $14,630 every one of 5.8 million Israelis received from the U.S.
> government by Oct. 31, 1997 has cost American taxpayers $23,240 per
> Israeli.
>
> It would be interesting to know how many of those American taxpayers
> believe they and their families have received as much from the U.S.
> Treasury as has everyone who has chosen to become a citizen of
> Israel. But it’s a question that will never occur to the
> American public because, so long as America’s mainstream media,
> Congress and president maintain their pact of silence, few Americans
> will ever know the true cost of Israel to U.S. taxpayers.
>