In my view America is a big business not a charity. The people as shareholders should expect that any money invested by the government will result in a profitable return. The extreme opposite of this outcome is obviously bankruptcy.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the sums I've seen are $1.7 trillion overall with $45 billion off this ear marked for Ukraine. My thoughts rightly or wrongly If i was running a business "not charity" and providing goods ( not necessary military equipment ) to this value are.
Buying price + my costs + my profit = $45 billion selling price to customer. Rearranging this equation shows the cost to the tax payer is less than selling price but in this case there's more political mileage and publicity with the higher figure. My real cost guesstimate $35 billion.
The goods in question also need to be manufactured / assembled and the cost of such includes labour. Using the existing workforce or newly created employment my guesstimate of labour costs to take raw materials from the ground and make them into a big gun or a high tech missile is going to be $20 billion. i appreciate it could be higher or lower. Assuming this process happens in America and a tax rate of 20% the resultant is $4 billion in tax going back into the economy. There may be other deductions from this sum for example in the UK we pay national insurance at about 12% that flows back to the government funded public health service. The net income after these deductions is the employees take home pay for mortgages, car insurance, food and groceries, treats for the kids gifts for him and her. Again the ripple effect is the bulk of this $20 billion should stay in the USA economy.
This increase in manufacturing should also create employment in supporting areas and supply chains. For example the workers need fed, cars, vans, lorries roads need maintained, children need cared for while mum / dads at work. I'm sure there's maths to work all this out but I'm going to guess this generates another sizeable income. Guesstimate $5 billion which will be taxed and spent the same as above. With these deductions this very unscientific calculation has shown that $45 billion could really be $10 billion real world. Still a significant amount but less so.
Looking further ahead Ukraine will need rebuilt. With American being the largest contributor its returns should rightly be reflective of this . With preferential treatment there are many more billions to be made here in construction and the supply of materials, technology, labour and whatever else is needed to get the country going again. And don't forget that headline $45 billion still needs repaying.
Now we come to reparations for a needless war of genocide at the behest of a Nazi dictator. As well as footing the bill for the above rebuild, Russian should also be told you owe us $45 billion (and counting). Pay willingly and the sanctions can be eased gradually or refuse to pay and your oil and gas exports will be taxed.
In a nutshell if your running a powerful business like America the headline $45 billion investment can be flipped many many many times resulting in a huge return. It is infact a sound financial decision that could be used to ease the national debt or for the worthy causes mentioned. If your running a business and this doesn't happen the the problem is not with the customer its with the business itself. These business problems are likely already discussed at length in the separate thread below
LOTS of posts all over the map regarding politics have taken over the COVID thread. Pretty much derailed that thread as a COVID-only discussion. I understand the political nature of various COVID response strategies in various states, and that off-shoot of the pandemic discussion resulted in...
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