Pay yourself first.....

I have read a few books and watched some financial planners talk about how to build personal wealth.  The first statement to come from all of the is,"Pay yourself first".  Put away at least 10% of your income somewhere it can't be touched.

In the state our country is in today, we need to heed those words. We need to stop holding up the rest of the world and pay our country first. I am tired of our government sending money to other countries when our economy is going around the toilet bowel.

Look at it like this.....you work all week and bring your dwindling check home.  On your diner plate is a hot dog and Kraft mac & cheese for the 5th night in a row.  You reach into your pocket, pull out your pay for the week and give it to the next door neighbor who is having steak and baked potatoes. Rib eyes no less! Now your neighbor is supposed to be sharing it with the rest of the neighborhood but he figures if they get something they will be happy. So they are having effin hot dogs and mac & cheese too. On top of that, your neighbor has lodged a complaint with the local authorities about the noise you make with your lawnmower on  Saturday mornings.

Sound crazy? I think so too. So lets take a look at what our government does........

In 2008 we paid out or gave credits to foreign countries to the tune of 35.9 billion dollars. That's right almost 36 billion of your hard earned dollars were sent to other countries. Well, you say, some people need our help. You are right...how about the 13.2 % of US citizens who live at or below the poverty level at this time?

Lets' take a look at who gets the money and why the US government is subsidising these countries.........

Some of the top countries on the hand out plan are :

Ireland.........................................................1.3 Bil

Albania........................................................1.8 Bil

Greece........................................................ 1.8 Bil

Algeria.........................................................4.5 Bil

Bolivia.........................................................2.0 Bil

Jordan.........................................................2.9 Bil

And here are the BIG players that I have a problem with:

Israel...........................................................6.2 Bil

Afghanistan..................................................9.0 Bil

Iraq.............................................................10.7 Bil

Now if you are sending that type of money out I would expect there to be a damn good reason.....guess again!  In 2006 we GAVE AWAY over 8 Bil to Columbia, Peru and Bolivia for drug abatement! Are you kidding me? We paid Egypt and Israel 4.2 Bil for military armament and then turned around and paid Jordan 4.6 Bil to leave Israel alone. If we paid for armament I would think they should be able to handle Jordan. On top of that we paid the West Bank/Gaza 1.5 Bil so they wouldn't feel slighted by the money we gave to Israel! The money we paid to Afghanistan and Pakistan...used to hunt for and find terrorists!!! Now I know we have idiots holding the wallet! For those in countries who we do try to help less than 10% of the money ever makes it to the people it is intended for. It goes to those who run the government and stops.

Here is the real kicker....Over the 2000 through 2007 sessions of the U.N. General Assembly about 95 per-cent of U.S foreign aid recipients voted against the U.S. a majority of the time on non-consensus votes, and over 71 percent voted against the U.S. a majority of the time on non-consensus votes deemed "important" by the U.S. Department of State. While I am on the subject of the UN it is time to kick it out of the US. Give it France! We pay out way too much money for an ancient building and to support such an inefficient, corrupt group.

It is time to stop. Time to close the wallet. Unless a devastating natural disaster takes place, we need to cut off ALL foreign aid...PERIOD. Ask yourself this question....how many of these countries lined up to help Katrina victims?