What actually happens? Does the foreign government get a lump sum or do we send payments? Where does that money come from?
Also how tf do we do this? Aren’t we trillions of dollars in debt?
In: Economics
The recent news stories you see aren’t actually sending pallets of cash.
Sending military aid *worth* a billion dollars can be interpreted in a few ways and in recent cases is in supplies.
Even that though, a lot of it was older and already paid for. So the actual value may be different than the price tag of when it was bought.
It’s like giving someone an Xbox 360 and saying you gave them $300.
Even more so, the defense contractors then replenish stocks with newer stuff that was sent as aid, which still employs people.
Edit: [Seems about 1/3 of the recent aid is actually in financial assistance to the Ukrainian government to keep it functioning.](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-us-aid-ukraine-money-equipment-714688682747) Lump sum or not can depend on the agreements. As for actually how, it also depends on the situation but it is possible for State level banks to wire large sums from accounts. It can also be earmarked for specific programs opposed to just “here is money, have fun with it”, some of it may be conditional like set aside to only pay healthcare workers or teachers.
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