The Scam

Here's how the scam works:

Spend billions on military toys to prop up the for-profit defense industry. Most of these are pet projects that will never see the light of day, or superiority weapons systems that are completely unnecessary since they far outclass anything they'd have to face on the battlefield (until we start selling them to other countries). House and Senate members beg to receive the contracts for these toys because they want the revenue and jobs - and because we're too goddamn shortsighted to spend the money on what Buckminster Fuller called 'livingry' (the opposite of weaponry, natch).

Then, after blowing the defense budget on toys, tack on supplemental funding for necessities like body armor, ensuring that the funding will be approved.

This is the opposite of a budget. A budget means that you prioritize what you need and trim things that aren't essential.

We're stuck. The military-industrial-corporate-government complex has gotten too large, too powerful. They can play the budget game for a long time, demanding billions and billions for kickbacks and tacking on a meager amount for the boots on the ground, and then attack any politicians opposed to their waste as 'troop-haters.'

Take a minute to see what might be accomplished with all that money we throw at the Pentagon.

Just as an example, Maryland's share going to the Iraq Invasion for FY07 could be used to give 1.6 million people health care.

Ah, wishful thinking.