McCain Works on Financial Crisis While Obama Touts $845 Billion Global Poverty Bill Funded by US Taxpayers

At a time when Americans are faced with perhaps the most dire financial crisis facing the country in decades, it’s a tale of two vastly different priorities: Senator Barack Obama gave a speech today in Clearwater, Florida, outlining his goals if elected President: two of which where global, met by 2015, and paid for by American taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, while Senator McCain was in Washington working with the Congress on solving the financial crisis.

This isn’t some “nebulous” plan dreamed up by Obama, it’s an actual bill, the Global Poverty Act, (S2433), written and sponsored by the Senator from Illinois. In February, Senator Biden, Obama’s running mate, rushed the bill through his Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill was then recommended to be put before the Senate. On April 24 the bill was placed on Senate Legislative Calender.

“The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.”
–Aim.org

ALSO at DBKP:
* Barack Obama: Brother George Lives on $1 a Day
* Obama, Hagel, Cantwell: Fighting Global Poverty–One Speech at a Time

The bill, modeled on the United Nations Millennium Declaration, outlines a plan to eradicate global poverty:

“The legislation itself requires the President “to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.”
–Aim.org

As American taxpayers well know foreign aid has been part and parcel of United States largess for decades. Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson addresses the difference between foreign aid and foreign investment in regards to the Obama bill:

“Nowhere in the world can we point to a country that has escaped poverty through foreign aid—in spite of more than $2 trillion of foreign aid spending so far. Tragically, in some African countries that have received billions of dollars in aid, standards of living have deteriorated rather than improved in recent decades. As celebrity economist Jeffrey Sachs has written, the majority of foreign aid gets siphoned off to service old debts, pay for expensive consultants, fund emergency humanitarian relief, or to Swiss bank accounts. Of the remaining “aid,” much often goes to U.S. multinational corporations (corporate welfare?) who are contracted to construct dams, airports, highways, buildings, etc. Many of those projects are no more than “white elephants”—extravagant monuments to vain leaders that do little to foster economic development.”

While Obama continued to campaign McCain suspended his and returned to Washington to meet with congressional leaders in an attempt to solve the financial crisis which threatens to grip the country. Obama spokespersons claim the country needs a President who can “walk and chew gum at the same time” alluding to McCain’s decision to return to Washington.

The Obama campaign also stated that the Senate is “adopting principles” laid out by Obama, an attempt to claim they’ll be responsible for “solving the crisis”, that is, if it does get “solved”. The campaign is attempting to paint Obama as the “savior” of the financial crisis, that “adopting” Obama’s “principles” is actually, according to the Obama campaign, the same as “being there”. This attempt at subterfuge hardly disguises the fact that Obama chose to remain on the campaign trail giving speeches while McCain suspended his own campaign to go back, roll up his sleeves, and get to work on an issue that, if not solved, could mean the next Great Depression.

The Obama campaign has thrown down a “debate” gauntlet claiming that the Presidential debate scheduled Friday night in Mississippi is more important than McCain being in Washington. We can’t help but make the same comparison to diplomacy wonks who believe that debates are more important than taking action. In this instance action is needed as Americans wonder whether or not their own banks may collapse and fail in a matter of days.

While America is the most “giving” nation in the world, United States citizens should not have to “step” up to Global plate to help end global poverty until our own finances are sound. Even then we should address whether foreign aid is the way to go when past history has shown otherwise. We cannot afford to finance Senator Obama’s lofty goals at this juncture.

While Senator McCain is in Washington actually working on helping to solve the current financial crisis, Senator Obama continues to campaign for President claiming that this shows Obama is adept at “handling a crisis”. Rather than being in Washington, Obama’s “principles” are “hard at work”.

While Americans face a $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, foreclosures, high gasoline prices and home heating bills, and little or no health insurance, Obama outlined his ambitious plan to end “half the world’s poverty” by 2015, paid for by American taxpayers to the tune of $845 billion. Obama also outlined another plan to “educate” every “boy and girl” across the globe by 2015, again, funded by American taxpayers. This is not some pipe dream but actual legislation introduced by the Senator.

American voters would be well advised to check into Obama’s Global Poverty Act before casting their vote on November 4.

By LBG

Image – Obama on TIME

Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, debates, Democrats, Financial crisis, Global Poverty Act, Joe Biden, McCain, McCain campaign, Mississippi, Obama campaign, Republicans, Washington