The ‘defense’ budget is three quarters of a trillion dollars. Profits went up last year well over 25%. I guarantee you: when war becomes that profitable, we’re going to see more of it.
–Chalmers Johnson
In one of those “news” alerts I tend to ignore these days for the sake of my sanity, I learned that some doucheweasel presently occupying the office of President of the United States is proposing a 10 percent rise in defense spending, accompanied by massive cuts to other federal agencies.
Ahem.
The United States spends more on “defense” than the next seven countries combined.
This weasel-president apparently said his budget would “propose ‘historic’ increases in spending to bolster the country’s ‘depleted military,’ and he said it would also support law enforcement in an effort to reduce crime.”
The U.S. crime rate remains at or near historic lows.
I gotz nuthin’.
Well, except this: REQUIRE U.S. DEFENSE CONTRACTORS TO OPERATE AS NON-PROFITS KTHXBYE.
Oh, I got something, alright. Seems like I’m now the vice-chair of our local resistance. Turns out that underneath this ol’ chubby, kindly doctor exterior is a radical. I will RESIST!
And the drinks are on me!!
Gotta keep up morale and all that.
It gets worse. The idiot wants to play war. https://proxy.freethought.online/affinity/2017/02/27/we-must-win-wars-again/
The Washington Post reports that the Orange One wants to eliminate the NEH, NEA and CPB, saving a combined 0.02% of the federal budget. It’s hard to wrap our minds around out-of-scale figures, so a quick bit of math shows that if I paid $20,000 in taxes in 2016 (I didn’t) and the federal budget was fully funded by payments made (it so isn’t), it would mean that four bucks of mine would have gone to these agencies. Funding of the War (oops, Defense) Department and related boondoggles (F-35 anyone?) are left as an exercise for the reader.
Eisenhower tried to warn Americans.
Not that many years ago the USA was spending 49% of the world’s total military expenditures. Our percentage of the total is down a bit because the rest of world is spending more than they used to. Isn’t that great?
Tabby Lavalamp:
Eisenhower had a tremendous amount to do with creating the problem in the first place. As he was sliding out the door toward his grave, he thought he’d try to warn people about the monster he helped build. Thanks, Ike.
Marcus Ranum #8
You say that like it’s a bad thing
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winky face
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