Here’s Robert Sheer’s take on the new budget:
Ever since some lunatics, mostly citizens of our longtime ally Saudi Arabia, used $3 knives to hijack four planes on the same morning, President Bush has exploited our nation’s trauma as an opportunity to throw trillions of dollars at the military-industrial complex to build weaponry for a Cold War that no longer exists . . .
The Bush budget makes sense only as a slush fund for the defense industry execs and stockholders, a group also blessed by Bush’s tax cuts.
I am aghast at this budget. I couldn’t agree more with this comment to Sheer’s article:
Bu$h Inc. is just doing what he was elected to do. I can’t believe anyone is surprised anymore. My condolences to anyone who thinks their vote still matters. The founders of this country fought for our right to vote – we’ll have to fight again to have it matter.
Ps. Chris Kelly also weighs in with some more specifics of some of the military mega-purchases that are making the budget so lopsided.
Speaking of Bush throwing money around, don't forget the hundreds of tons of uncontrolled cash he dropped in Iraq:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/02/07/us-dropp…
Politicians make no difference.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) ever since we took on Russia in the Cold WAR.
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control.
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.
For more details see
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/od…
Ken: I visited your site. Thank you for your thoughtful insiders's view of the Military Industrial Complex.
For some creative anti-war posters, click here.
Ken makes an excellent point. Anytime the government spends money, it simultaneously creates a constituency of voters who have a vested interest in perpetuating that flow of money. Naturally, those voters vote for candidates who will do so. The more money the government spends, the bigger and more powerful that constituency becomes, until it ultimately has enough power and votes to protect itself indefinitely. The MIC is not the only such institution: Medicare, Social Security, farm subsidies, etc., all have created such constituencies. This is one reason why it is so very difficult to shrink government and cut government programs. Of course, that's both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on whether or not you already support a given program.
Bush's budget proposal is not insane; it merely reflects a narrow set of self-interests. Ever since Reagan was in the White House, Republicans in Washington have sought to destroy federal social programs by spending "insane" amounts of money on defense, big business and other pro-Republican causes. By spending "insane" amounts of money on these things, the federal government then has no money left to spend for social programs (Social Security, Medicare, etc.) unless it raises taxes. It is how Republicans in Washington try to paint Democrats into a corner. It is like a husband who goes out and buys a new boat so that his wife can't go out and buy new clothes. It is a deeply cynical and abusive practice.
Here's how Lockheed arranged the Iraq invasion. I worked on 3 of the programs in this article. Believe me it is fact:
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