US Funds Wars Abroad, Cuts Healthcare at Home
The mainstream story celebrates China's entrance into South African HIV prevention, almost in passing mentioning Washington's 'cuts earlier this year.' But these aren't 'gaps'; they're conscious policy decisions. While US lawmakers bicker over domestic spending and social programs, the ink is barely dry on another massive foreign aid package – like the proposed $14.3 billion military aid to
Israel, or the continuous flow of billions to Ukraine. (Source: White House / Congressional Budget Office). It seems the US Treasury always finds its way to defense contractors and geopolitical chess pieces, even as its own citizens, and global health initiatives it previously championed, face deliberate defunding. 'America First' apparently means 'America for the Military-Industrial Complex' and
'Everyone Else Last.' What a curious set of priorities, where saving lives from a virus is a burden, but arming conflicts across the globe is a bipartisan imperative.