The fable is that the generous US Government will send that much to Ukraine to help its defense against the big bad Russian bear. It's a nice fairy tale.

First to be deleted is the "generous" bit. It's never possible to be generous with someone else's money - especially if it was taken from them by force, ie stolen. That goes for all government assistance to anyone at all. Stirred up by wall to wall propaganda the prevailing opinion today is that Ukrainians need help, so a charitable foundation set up to collect donations would probably do well; just along the road from me is a homeowner who spent the best part of $100 on the flag shown here, so he would surely not hesitate to chip in another $100 or so to provide the defenders with rifles, Javelins and howitzers. Fair?

Perhaps 40 million people would contribute $100 each, with a bit of luck. If so, that charity would be able to ship $4 billion worth of killing machines.

But, ten times that much? - no, I don't think so. You?

Next to disappear from the fairy tale is the "send" bit. The stolen $40B is not bound for Kiev. It will reach the coffers of Lockheed, Boeing, Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, GE and the rest of the munition makers, who will gladly accept it and produce the very latest toys for the US military.

Of course! Hey, you wouldn't want some foreigner to have the best weapons while leaving our own brave warriors with yesterday's guns, right?

Then some of that present inventory, happily unused, will ship off to Germans, Brits, Italians, Poles, etc who will replenish their own armies with the next-to-latest equipment while transferring their aging weapons to Ukraine - who will, therefore, receive what was new the day before yesterday. After reception it may be bombed to bits or confiscated by the Russians - but yes, it will arrive.

So much for the hardware. Now, let's follow the money.

Having arrived at the US arms makers, the loot will generate jobs for the employees (who also vote) and profits for the shareholders (who also contribute to election campaigns.) So that considerable group of people is going to express its gratitude by re-electing the Pols who brought it this windfall; and if some of the campaign contributions end up unspent in some PAC or other which in due course can be converted to the Pol's personal use, well, it's just a perk for the job, right? - surely, you can't expect them to live off just their $175K salary?

There's a fair bit of handling going on in the shipment story above, and handlers all need to be paid, so some of the $40B is bound to find its way to those who facilitate the process - such as heads of the various States involved. That would not be much - probably, 5% at most (a mere $2B) - and if some of that were to reach people like Hunter Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky, few would be very surprised. The latter particularly may have but a short life and while it lasts, should be able to enjoy his Miami mansion and other luxuries. He's a comedian, so let him laugh en route to the bank.

The money trail doesn't quite end there, because it's all fiat money, created out of nothing and not even confiscated as a legislated tax. It adds to the money supply, and therefore causes general inflation. We shall discover how much by the end of 2023.

There's even a PS to the story: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) tried to stop the whole scam and lost, but as a final step he proposed that the spending be audited closely enough ensure that it goes where it's supposed to go.

But he was outvoted even on that. His colleagues were too thirsty for their share of the spoils, and diligent scrutiny of the money flow was wanted no more than a hole in the head.

Now, kiddies, it's time for bed. Tomorrow I'll find you another fairy tale, about what life was like before government evaporated for want of people to work for it. Night, night!

P.S. Yesterday Lew Rockwell wrote a blockbuster article on his web site about Robert F Kennedy Jr's book on Dr Fauci. Nobody who was in any way affected by the Covid tale or its face masks or its house arrests or business wreckages or labor or product shortages or price inflation should miss it. Link here.