by Patrick Appel
Yesterday I wrote that the Egyptian "military profits handsomely from the current power structure." Planet Money reports that one "reason for the military's peaceful response" is because "the military owns virtually every industry in the country." Egypt expert Robert Springboard lists some of the businesses run by the armed forces:
...car assembly, we're talking of clothing, we're talking of construction of roads, highways, bridges. We're talking of pots and pans, we're talking of kitchen appliances. You know, if you buy an appliance there's a good chance that it's manufactured by the military. If you ... don't have natural gas piped into your house and you have to have a gas bottle, the gas bottle will have been manufactured by the military. Some of the foodstuffs that you will be eating will have been grown and/or processed by the military.