I'm convinced that these sorts of laws would be better if we just bought the foreign equivalent and wrote a check to the domestic manufacturers who weren't chos

I'm convinced that these sorts of laws would be better if we just bought the foreign equivalent and wrote a check to the domestic manufacturers who weren't chosen. Here is an experience I had with the "Fly America Act" (a law saying that government funded travel must be done on American airlines, except in the most extreme circumstances): I was traveling to a city in a foreign country. That country's flag carrier had a 5 hour flight for $600. The best option from a US airline (Delta) was an indirect flight (around 9 hours each way) for $800. Between the ticket cost, overtime I got for the additional layovers, and extra per diem spent during the layovers, flying on a US airline probably cost the government an extra $1000. It would've been a win-win-win-win if the government had let me fly the foreign flight and just given Delta a gift of $200 * The foreign airline gets another customer * Delta gets $200 without having the costs of another passenger, and they'd still be able to sell the seat I ended up sitting in * The government would've saved hundreds of dollars by not having to pay me overtime * I would've gotten home sooner