Weekly Wastebasket: Payback Time

Volume XVI No. 5: 

Now that the sale of American weapons to foreign governments is in the news again, we’re reminded of the billions of dollars taxpayers spend developing these weapons each year – and the billions we should be getting back on our investment.

One number that floats to the top of current news reports about the unrest in Egypt is the more than $1.3 billion worth of military equipment we sell that country each year. That equipment is sold under the Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales program, created in the 1976 Arms Export Control Act. The law stipulates that we loan Egypt money to purchase military equipment, but Egypt has to buy it from U.S. military manufacturers.