Brian Kemp Using Georgia Tax Dollars to Fund Middle East War

Stacy Abrams Could Not Be This Bad

There are good things about not having a Speaker of the House in DC. For example, while DC Republicans and Republican/Uniparty members struggle to elect a speaker, very fortunately, the US Congress is unable to appropriate funds to kill people and destroy things in foreign lands. I call that a win.

As I wrote in my recent piece, “Israel War With Hamas, Not About Hatred-Winners and losers, not who you think,” while the individuals fighting on all sides of this Middle East conflict are the true losers, those who profit from property destruction and personal suffering and death are the undoubted winners. You might remember these graphs depicting stock prices for a few US defense contractors over the last six months, having dropped precipitously during that time:

Previously, I pointed to the uptick at the end, the gain in stock prices occurring simultaneously to the Hamas attack.

Well, now let’s look at those graphs again using the information that has accumulated since war broke out, but also since congress has been unable to arrive at a selection for House Speaker:

Most recent view of defense industry stocks

Notice the recent swoon over the past two weeks. That is because without a speaker, spending legislation cannot advance. While congress has no speaker, the federal government cannot spend your money to break things and hurt people. Ultimately, that means that without congress feeding tax dollars to support war, war would eventually have to stop. Imagine that!

We talked about all this in my earlier article, that the attack by Hamas on Israel occurred the very night of which, earlier in the day, congressional approval for for Ukraine military support funding “collapsed.”

Hamas attack came that night

The Hamas attack halted the precipitous stock price decreases in virtually every major American defense stock. As you can see, stocks immediately rebounded, soaring upward. They remained soaring upward UNTIL it became evident that arriving at a speaker to preside over additional defense appropriations and foreign aid might be more difficult than originally expected. At that point, defense stocks tilted into a noticeable “speaker swoon.” And that is where we remain today. Unless the federal government can arrange to take dollars from your grandchildren, for their grandchildren’s grandchildren to pay back one hundred years from now, defense contractors will not be able to make their shareholders happy. And if shareholders are not happy, they will part with their shares, resulting, once again, in another precipitous fall in stock prices.

But there is nothing we really can do about any of that, is there? Well, probably not. Even so, that doesn’t mean the taxpayers of Georgia won’t do their part to help gin-up a few extra defense industry sales to help out those stockholders. Take Governor Brian Kemp, for example. He’s sitting on pile of taxpayer cash right now, reportedly around 11 billion dollars…ahem, that’s 11 BILLION DOLLARS, friends. That’s your money.

Georgia Taxpayer Money Hoarded by Governor Brian Kemp

Well, Governor Kemp has to be a good steward of all that money coming from “hard-working Georgians,” doesn’t he? Sure he does. After all, that 11 billion in cash represents $1000 the State of Georgia has over-taxed each of those hard-working Georgians. That’s why Georgia’s governor just invested $10 million of your money in Israeli War Bonds. According to the Governor's office, “the $10 million amount was the highest available on the market and brings Georgia's current investment in Israel via bonds to $25 million.” Of course, we shouldn’t choose to support a war in the Middle East with anything less than the MAXIMUM we can donate, should we? And when you’re sitting on $11 billion in taxpayer cash, what’s a few million anyway?

According to the Governor,

"Israel is one of Georgia's strongest allies and greatest friends, and our support for its people as they endure horrific attacks from terrorists is unwavering. Purchasing these bonds is just the latest expression of that support. Though this conflict was not of Israel's choosing, we know they will be victorious in this fight against evil and those who seek its destruction."

-Georgia Governor Brian Kemp

I have a question. Since when did Georgia citizens authorize their governor to loan money to foreign governments to wage war on their perceived enemies? Is there a law somewhere on Georgia books allowing that to happen? I mean, surely there are some Palestinian sympathizers somewhere among Georgia taxpayers. Are they OK with dollars they contribute to the general fund being used to help rain destruction and death on those with whom they feel kinship? I doubt that very much. And where will Israel obtain the money to pay back those war bonds? But, of course, from American taxpayers’ grandchildren’s grandchildren. Those poor souls, not even hatched yet, are the ones paying for all of this.

With that loan of cash, Georgia taxpayers, completely by themselves, bought 500 “iron dome” missiles for Israel. They were purchased from the American defense industry. The collateral for that $25 million loan from Governor Kemp, meaning those 500 missiles, was destroyed in the first hours of the conflict.

There is something I do not understand here. Why does Georgia have a role in this war at all? Administering US foreign policy and funding foreign wars are nowhere found in the Georgia Constitution. According to the US Constitution, that function is restricted solely to the executive department of the federal government. And the idea that Israel will pay back those bonds is laughable. Israel, without American funding, doesn’t even exist. We may not be able to do much about the US Federal Government executive using his prerogative to support foreign governments waging war against their chosen enemies, but the taxpayers of Georgia having their state treasury raided for the same purpose is in the least an example of taxpayer double-jeopardy, and at most, just another example of moral bankruptcy in government.

There is much no one will ever know concerning the operation of the levers of Georgia Government. I’m sure there are other governors who have done things just as bad. But when you consider all that this governor has done, not only against the best interests of Georgians, but also against the interests of all American taxpayers and the world in general, given a Republican legislature, I can’t even imagine a Governor Stacy Abrams being this bad.