Photo (L-R) Elbert "Big Man" Howard, Rep. Barbara Lee, & BJ taken during the 40th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party, Black Panther reunion, Oct 2006, Oakland CA
A newly introduced resolution in the US House of Representatives states:
The United States should provide, on an annual basis, an amount equal to at least 1 percent of United States gross domestic product (GDP) for nonmilitary foreign assistance programs.
“Whereas President Obama has expressed his commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty and hunger around the world in half by 2015, as well as his intent to double the level of foreign assistance to meet that goal”
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of goods and services produced by labor and property in the United States, regardless of nationality.
GDP for 2008 stood at $14.26 trillion dollars. As an example, one percent of the 2008 GDP would equal $142.6 billion to be swished away to nonmilitary assistant programs to foreign entities.
Although the 4th quarter of 2008 was down, Real GDP increased 1.1 percent in 2008 (that is, from the 2007 annual level to the 2008 annual level), compared with an increase of 2.0 percent in 2007. See govt. spreadsheet here
On February 25, 2009, a House Concurrent Resolution was introduced into the 111th Congress by US Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California (D) which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Democratic Representative Barbara Lee of California, born in 1946, has been in the House of Representatives since being elected through a special election in 1998. Before being elected to Congress, she served in the California State Assembly from 1990-1996 and in the California State Senate from 1996-1998.
Lee, while a student at Mills College, volunteered in the Black Panthers’ community learning center and worked on Bobby Seale’s mayoral campaign in the early 1970′s.
Bobby Seale was a co-founder of the Black Panther Party in 1966. A mix of Marxism, Black Nationalism, and the Civil Rights movement, the Black Panther Party offered the next step in the fight for the rights of African Americans. Seale designed the 10-point manifesto which outlined and guided the party which included the following: the Power to Black Self-determination, Universal Education and Health Care, Better Housing, and community control of industry.
Co-Sponsors for H Con Res 63 included Representatives: Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin (D); Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly, Virginia (D); Bob Filner, California (D); Michael M. Honda, California (D); John Lewis, Georgia, (D); James P. McGovern, Massachusetts (D); Fortney Pete Stark, California (D); Andre Carson, Indiana (D); Keith Ellison, Minnesota (D);Rush D. Holt, New Jersey (D); Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio (D); Jim McDermott, Washington (D); Janice D. Schakowsky, Illinois (D); and Lynn C. Woolsey, California (D)
H. Con. Res. 63 —read full text here
Other posts of interest:
Free Healthcare for all Hawaiian natives
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/s-52/
Obama’s Global Poverty Act
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/the-global-poverty-act-and-your-tax-dollars
Obama’s Multilateral Debt Relief Act
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/debt-relief/
What wasn’t widely reported on how the FDA blew it again
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/fda/
Mark to Market Accounting in the Banking System
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/fdic/
A fable unfolded: ACORN and a foreclosure “victim”
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/acorn/
Foreclosures and illegals
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/foreclosures-illegals/
Illegal Aliens, the US Stimulus Package and the Age of Transparency Unveilled
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/hr-1/
Mortgage Rescue Bill and YOUR Tax Dollars
http://willnevergiveup.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/mortgage-rescue-bill-and-your-tax-dollars/
Interesting blog, I’ll try and spread the word.