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Notes -
The US has a $36 trillion debt. A quick Google shows all foreign aid is about $70 billion per year. About 0.2% of the total debt.
Later in that thread Scott shares that he donated about $350,000 to charity last year.
To analogize this to the US foreign aid situation, this would be like donating $350,000 to charity while you have debt of $175 million. And it's not a debt that you've addressed in any real way, and it grows substantially year after year.
I hate the argument “it’s a small number.” Because many things are a small number. Add up ten “small numbers” and maybe it’s meaningful. Four years of eliminating foreign aid taking into account interest is probably at least 300b of debt we don’t incur.
It's not even a small number! An analyst at a company with a budget in the billions (nevermind an order of magnitude more -- not too many companies like that!) who found a (legible) way to .2% would be in line for a promotion and a big bonus -- it is a lot of money; companies understand that.
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