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Does anyone know how the money works for things like military aid to Israel (hexbear.net)

submitted 21 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have some suspicions, but I’d like to learn a bit more about the actual process. When the US sends another x billion in military aid to Israel, how does that physically go down?

My guess is that money is magicked up into some account out of thin air, and then is sent to mostly US defense contractors to pay them welfare to ship weapons and munitions to Israel. Added to that would be DOD budgets for operations to support them in theatre, etc.

So basically my assumption is that the whole process is basically a giveaway to defense contractors, at the expense of the entire country, either by wasting tax dollars or creating more money supply which contributes to inflation and other fun things. I also keep seeing headlines about bills to stop “weapons sales to Israel” but it confuses me because my understanding is that most of it is being given to them and they’re not buying anything. (I guess we’re giving them money and they then buy from the defense contractors?)

Anyway, lots of vague speculations and assumptions, hoping someone knows better or has a good source for me to read to educate myself.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

There are 3 things happening, aid in the form of money, direct transfers of weapons, and weapons sales. The US is doing all 3 with regard to Israel.

Almost all (federal) government spending is done through the creation of new money, taxes are a very small part of the pie. The debt ceiling is an artificially created problem meant to force austerity measures, the government simply could not function on taxes alone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Search for palestine bookshelf’s video on Ilan pappe’s book “lobbying for zionism”. it reviews the financial interactions btw the US and Israel.

But the money-arm transfer should be understood in a bureaucratic way. The money is borrowed to Israel (since US aid has some legal issues attach to it that limit how it should be spent) as Israel pay weapon from the US government, the cash flows into the bureaucracy and each individual within the chain gets a cut.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

are those rupees

[–] [email protected] 17 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I think you've pretty much got it. we're not literally making new munitions to send them, just using existing stock. whenever the libs tell you this, they fail to mention that shipping this shit overseas is wildly expensive and the defense industry will replenish the stock at some point in the future for insanely inflated rates.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago

I'm here thinking why the fuck we sending billions of dollars worth of missiles, halfway around the world to Israel... when we have so fucking many people right here in the US who have no missiles at all!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 18 hours ago

Yeah that makes sense—we send them a bunch of our stockpile (don’t we also keep a stockpile in Israel anyway, is that like the summer camp store?) and bonus! We get to get that newly made jdams and shells!

But hey, things are tough, and belts need to be tightened; really need to get a handle on entitlement reform. I’m guessing one of the few agencies the DOGE thing won’t try and streamline will be DOD budgets.