The United States Congress has already allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to the losing war effort in Ukraine, and the vast majority of the money (other than the dollars that serve to bribe Ukrainian officials and keep them onside with the West) is spent in the United States.
At first glance, it seems like a good thing. And it might even be preferable to sending that military “foreign aid” money overseas to some sketchy Ukrainian tank commander with, uh, historically controversial tattoos, named Anatoliy.
American officials and members of Congress who support the Current Conflict Thing continue to drive home the idea that this way of doing “foreign aid” is as American as apple pie. Surely, in the aftermath of the multi-trillion dollar boondoggles in Iraq and Afghanistan, they hope the marketing sticks.
On Tuesday, President Biden declared that “it spends the money right here in the United States of America,” adding that “history is watching.”
Now, it’s worth breaking down why this noxious status quo is so damaging to the fiscal and societal health of the United States. For that, we must go to the first principles of economics.
First and foremost, the government does not create jobs. Let me repeat: the government does not and cannot create jobs. This is especially true for the no-bid Beltway defense behemoths, which have become increasingly centralized with increasingly bloated budgets and profit margins over time.
For example, let’s consider this $95 billion Ukraine bill that just passed the Senate and is being debated before the House. If that bill passes and it is signed into law, they will proceed to print $95 billion dollars and distribute the money to an increasingly centralized list of Beltway-based mega corporations that includes Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and the gang.
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