A Ukrainian soldier went to Washington to explain the war. He says American politicians don't realize much of the funding actually stays in the US.
A Ukrainian soldier went to Washington to explain the war. He says American politicians don't realize much of the funding actually stays in the US.
A Ukrainian soldier in Washington, DC told Insider he's using his break from the front lines of the war against Russia to educate US lawmakers.
A Ukrainian soldier in Washington, DC told Insider he's using his break from the front lines of the war against Russia to educate US lawmakers.
That's the whole point of how any aid works in most situations. Especially with the US's military-industrial complex. Ukraine gets munitions, US industry gets the money. The point is not to build a military industry for Ukraine.
The infamous "government cheese" was given to the needy in the US not because poor people have a dire need for cheese, but because the government wanted to give a lot of money to wealthy dairy farmers.
To suggest that lawmakers don't understand that that is what they are doing is crazy.
The infamous "government cheese" was given to the needy in the US not because poor people have a dire need for cheese, but because the government wanted to give a lot of money to wealthy dairy farmers.
Jimmy Carter gave struggling dairy farmers money to encourage dairy production at a time when the costs of these products were rising like crazy.
The government bought a bunch to spur production and decrease costs for the average family. It was literally meant to help poor people the most.*I must correct myself, the dairy farmers were struggling because previous government interventions had tanked the cost of dairy so low that farms weren’t turning a profit. So the government bought up supply to increase prices to a more sustainable baseline for everyone. I apologize for my mistake and will post links below so people can read some sources and decide for themselves.
They also never intended to give the cheese away at all. They were hoping to eventually sell it in some capacity.
It was only later in the early 80s under Reagan that they decided to give the cheese away, once again, to poor people and the elderly specifically.
And they only did that after a public spectacle was made when Agriculture Secretary John R. Block showed up at a White House event with a five-pound block of greening, moldy cheese and showed it to the press. “We’ve got 60 million of these that the government owns,” he said. “It’s moldy, it’s deteriorating … we can’t find a market for it, we can’t sell it, and we’re looking to try to give some of it away.”
At one point they had so much cheese it was recommended they just dump it all into the ocean because it would be the cheapest thing to do.
But yeah, it was given away mostly because we had a lot of it and we needed to get rid of it somehow.
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/999144678/big-government-cheese-classic
https://www.history.com/news/government-cheese-dairy-farmers-reagan
Jimmy Carter gave struggling dairy farmers money to encourage dairy production at a time when the costs of these products were rising like crazy. The government bought a bunch to spur production and decrease costs for the average family.
This makes little sense. If the government makes big purchases of a product, the increase in demand raises, not lowers, prices. Also, if people aren't interested in eating that much cheese that the government has trouble giving it away, "spurring production" is an insane objective. It only makes sense if, as OP said, the whole point was a giveaway to farmers.
Edit: this is to add to your point.
The lawmakers pretend they don’t understand. They know the benefits of aid aren’t going to the American workers, and because of suppressed wages and non-existent mandatory benefits, the tactic works. The general public is purposefully removed from how any of this works and that allows manipulators to run around yelling bullshit lies that sound true. The bureaucracy works to their advantage, and it’s why we are buried in it.
They know the benefits of aid aren’t going to the American workers
They literally do though. It feels like you're conflating government purchases and like, tax breaks. Those aren't the same thing at all
Gov makes big purchases:
- company fills larger order
- suppliers make money from selling the additional supplies
- Multiple manufacturers make money because of how manufacturing works in interrelated ways
- employees get OT, new jobs, raises, bonuses, etc all the way up the chain
- employees spend that additional money, on haircuts and in restaurants, and on jet skis, and all kinds of shit
Whereas with tax breaks:
- CEO keeps more of what he already makes
- specialized industries get some smaller amount of money, lowering the velocity of the money "spent" due to fewer employees and lack of scale in material needs
- that's kind of it
American politicians don't understand shit, because the people holding their leashes don't want people who understand shit in office.
It's not that they don't understand. They're lying. They know how government procurement works. They know that all they have to do is ask the DoD who can tell them how every dollar is spent. They don't because it doesn't fit their narrative. They're lying.
ask the DoD who can tell them how every dollar is spent
Lol the DoD hasn't passed an audit in 30 years, and the reason it's only 30 years is that we didn't require them before then. Specifically, they didn't even try until 2017 and have failed every audit.
That's the problem when all you hear are just trumpian one-liners. "We have spent over 100 billion on Ukraine, where is the money?" Is all they need. When all the right-wing influencers keep parroting those one-liners and their base keep mindlessly supporting whatever they say, they are effectively shielded from critical questions.
We need an "I'm just a bill" for how the millitary industrial complex works.
-
Become politician
-
Have friends that make weapons (maybe you just happen to be invested)
-
Start a war
- Receive lobbying payment
- ????
- Profit.
-
itsthesamepicture.jpg
This is the best summary I could come up with:
From the business of buying and selling property, he pivoted to defending it, serving in the Ukrainian armed forces amid the Battle of Kyiv, back when just about everyone thought a Russian victory was just a matter of time.
This week, however, he's engaged in warfare of a different sort — politics — even if, technically, he's supposed to be on leave and resting up for another deployment.
"I am on vacation now because I'm going to the front lines with the brigade in two weeks," he told Insider as the sun set on the Washington Monument, where earlier about 150 activists attending a pro-Ukraine advocacy summit in Washington unfurled what organizers claimed was the world's largest blue-and-yellow flag.
But he's actually working, meeting with members of Congress to share his perspective on the war and why he thinks his country's defense is still worth supporting.
It's an intervention that comes as Republicans in the House — who will control the next year's legislative agenda — are split down the middle on whether Ukraine's fight is also America's.
But a "good portion" of the $113 billion in total aid marked for Ukraine has indeed been "spent in the States, or on US personnel," according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a think tank in Washington.
The original article contains 520 words, the summary contains 216 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!