Freedom Rider: The Other Bailout

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

"Military spending is just as bad as that of the ‘cash for trash' scheme."

In the past two weeks the Democratic majorities in the Senate and House worked hand in hand with Republicans to dole out $700 billion to the financial services industry that has brought the United States and the world to ruin. The bailout of Wall Street has been on the tip of every tongue, the subject of numerous editorials and the issue by which the two major party presidential candidates are being judged. Almost nothing has been said about the bill signed by President Bush which authorizes $611 billion in military spending.

Without debate, or mention in the corporate media, congress passed a military spending authorization that is nearly as large as the much talked about financial services bail out bill. The defense bill is every bit as wasteful and just as much a harbinger of doom as the much discussed Wall Street bailout, but has elicited hardly any debate, even from progressives. The damage that military spending does both to the federal budget and to the overall economy is just as bad as that of the "cash for trash" scheme cooked up by Treasury Secretary Paulson.

The American military budget is larger than the military budgets of the rest of the world combined. That spending does nothing to improve this nation's economy and in fact puts it firmly on the road to bankruptcy.

"The defense bill is every bit as wasteful and just as much a harbinger of doom as the much discussed Wall Street bailout."

There is rarely any debate in either party regarding the need for additional bases overseas (there are currently 700), new weapons systems or plans for future wars. The public who rose up in righteous anger over efforts to privatize Social Security or to reward Paulson and friends say nothing about their tax dollars going down a black hole of spending for helicopters, aircraft carriers and new weapons systems that make them poorer and don't keep them any safer.

The defense industry, like the rest of its corporate brethren, spends millions of dollars on lobbyists, all to insure that members of Congress are kept firmly in line. General Electric, may "bring good things to life" when it manufactures light bulbs, but it is also a major defense contractor and owner of NBC. It isn't surprising that military spending goes uninvestigated by the American media.

Hardly anyone in a position to make meaningful change asks why the fight against so-called "insurgents" who have little more than roadside bombs as armaments, requires expenditures of $70 billion per year, yet that is the amount slated to be spent on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

George W. Bush is a lame duck with just three months more in office. He is so unpopular that Republicans frantically looked for an excuse to keep him away from their convention, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when hurricane preparation presented itself as a means of keeping him out of their spotlight.

"Oversight efforts were dumped in order to insure Bush's approval."

No matter. The collective popular revulsion at the very presence of Bush in the White House has never stopped Democratic party capitulation. They not only emptied the treasury to fund future wars, but they dropped provisions from the bill that Bush opposed. Minor efforts at oversight, such as a ban on interrogations conducted by private contractors and veto power over a security pact with Iraq, were dumped in order to insure Bush's approval.

Not only is military spending completely unproductive, but it increases the likelihood of further American acts of aggression. This new bill contains funding to place missiles in Poland and in the Czech Republic, activity which can only heighten tensions with Russia. Further funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make demands for withdrawal moot. The money has been allocated, so it will be spent. Talk of troop draw downs and withdrawals are pointless when there is still money on hand to drop bombs and fire bullets.

"Further funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make demands for withdrawal moot."

The American public should not escape criticism in any discussion of military spending and the acts of aggression it provokes. Even some progressives are loathe to label a war crime as such if it is committed by the United States government. It is little wonder that their voices are muted when Barack Obama makes it clear that the Iraq occupation will never end and the occupation of Afghanistan will only become more entrenched.

Corporate power is a many-headed monster. The same monster that is destroying the world financial system is killing thousands of people all over the world. The monster can't be contained and will wreak havoc on the American people and their system of government too. The old saying is right. What goes around will come around.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com.

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