Ever since taking office, President Biden has been bound and determined to make his marks on history. While many expected him to emblazon his name in the record books for liberal causes, his latest “achievement” is for the most arms sold to other nations in a fiscal year.
For fiscal year 2023, Biden racked up $238.4 billion in reported military equipment transfers to other nations. Comprised of military-to-military transfers, Biden’s purchases of military equipment on behalf of other nations, as well as pieces sold directly to foreign governments from American defense companies. In total, this marks a 16% increase over FY 2022, with sales Biden was the middleman for making up the lion’s share of this increase.
According to the State Department, “Arms transfers and defense trade are important U.S. foreign policy tools with potential long-term implications for regional and global security.” With Foreign Military sales going from $51.9 billion in 2022 to $80.9 billion in 2023, this essentially is little more than straw-purchasing for other governments. With the US even collecting an “administration fee” for their services, the Biden administration has tried keeping this as quiet as possible.
With American firms selling arms to Canada, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Ukraine, among other nations, it’s no wonder their sales went from $153.6 billion to 157.5 billion. Interestingly enough, this didn’t mean huge jumps for defense contractors like Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics. From FY 2022 to 2023, Lockheed dropped from $486.49 a share to $453.24, and General Dynamics only grew from $248.11 to $259.67.
Then again, allowing either of these companies to have a huge surge in growth would have been too much proof of insider trading by people like President Biden or Nancy Pelosi.
