[ttwarrior1]

count toward our national debt, like giving money to chili, eithopia, japan , etc

If so, we owe nobody nothing in the long run.

[beanbag]

no....

[ttwarrior1]

where does that money come from then and why can't we use it. Is it like our extra oil we have saved up or something

[rsnnh12]

Pretty sure disaster relief is allocated in the yearly budget, not sure though. If it is, than yes, it does count toward the defecit and debt. Also, I believe the government can vote to approve emergency funding for disasters...

We aren't giving Japan money directly, as far as I know, although I guess by sending some navy ships over, we are spending money. Does that make sense? We aren't writing them a check for $20 mil (completely made up figure), but we might spend that much by sending rescue crews over.

[POTVINSUX]

you wouldn't think so

[ok now what]

When you think about the quantitative easing we in America seem wont to do these days, I'm not so sure what's real anymore.

Pretty sure disaster relief is allocated in the yearly budget, not sure though. If it is, than yes, it does count toward the defecit and debt. Also, I believe the government can vote to approve emergency funding for disasters... We aren't giving Japan money directly, as far as I know, although I guess by sending some navy ships over, we are spending money. Does that make sense? We aren't writing them a check for $20 mil (completely made up figure), but we might spend that much by sending rescue crews over.

[Ian]

Anything that is a part of the budget "contributes to the debt" as long as there is a debt (and there has been a debt since before WW2). It's not a large contributor, though. Currently the US government gives less money per capita in foreign aid than any other industrialized nation and it's not close. That's not counting military "aid" spending, though. In Japan, for example, the US spends a huge amount of money on military installations. Cutting that sort of spending out of the budget would make a much larger impact on the budget than stuff like sending bails of rice to the people of Darfur.

[OnlyMayo]

Its not as much as it may seem. I am in the USAF. This is what we train for, real world missions. We use the money from the defense budget for training sorties everyday. When something like this happens, training sorties become real world mission so the spending is relatively equal. Where the extra money comes in is the actual supplies we are giving out. That I do not know where the money comes from...But a quick disclaimer: I am definitely not an expert on this and have no idea where and to whom the "checks" are being written.

[ex50warrior]

Every dollar the Govt spends above their total revenue/income is deficit spending and adds to the national debt. Financed through bonds sales, some of which we buy from ourself (acctg trickery). So ultimately yes it does.

[RLF]

I hate my country sending foreign aid all the time.

[5ammy]

It goes towards debt, money spent by the government = in our case increases debt. It's not like the government can write it off haha