On the same Day Mainstream Media Headlines Read:
1) Bush to Propose Tax Breaks for Corporations and the Wealthy
2) Bush Administration to Ask Congress to Increase National Debt Ceiling
3) Bush to Propose $20 Billion or More in Emergency Spending
What's wrong with this picture? How could extra deficit spending to increase militarism and the burgeoning internal police state apparatus be consonant with a tax break boon for the already rich?
When we realize that the War on Terrorism has just begun in light of the now hushed up GAO audit that over a trillion dollars of the federal government's military budget has wound up unaccounted for, will the magnitude of the raid on America's budget (and future) and rape on the land and its common people sink in. In other words trillions of dollars are going out in record amounts to puppet regimes (most of them corrupt dictatorships) which will be used to help them suppress their own people and obtain more weapons from the USA armament industry; for more police and prisons domestically; and for unaccountable military contractors and armed forces personnel; while the wealthy will pay less and less.
Who is holding the president, the congress, the military, or the police accountable today? Issues like a missing trillion dollars in the defense budget isn't questioned by a media who is owned by these same pirates. However, who pays though is becoming increasingly clear. They are the poor enlisted men, the workers, the single mothers, the children of the world, the animals, natural resources, eh water, and air --- they are the already oppressed poor, the elderly (in terms of reduced senior services and social security benefits), a reasonable health care system, the future generations, and the planet in general.
The "reason" that this dysfunctional malaise occurs, is because the common man is supporting his own oppression. Because he is sufficiently scared shitless (read traumatized), he becomes the advocate of his own repression. All of which proves that terrorism works. The American people are terrified and as such, they are suffering from the woes of insecurity. Being insecure they imagine that they are suffering from an international and domestic security emergency. In order to protect them, they have concluded that force, threat, war, violence, and prisons are the key preventatives. Afraid and paranoiac they mistake violence and imprisonment for protection and a lasting real security. Hence the paranoid society is a dangerous society indeed (even to oneself). Creating fear and scarcity is sure to create more violence and suffering. But on the bright side, all of this militarism and "security" measures costs plenty, so some people are getting rich off of it. Many status-quo "players" are manuevering to consolidate their power. But this all seems like a very poor substitute for a functional diplomatic policy i.e., war and a security/police state is not the same as diplomacy and a functional long term domestic policy.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is set to propose emergency spending that could top $20 billion, deepening this year's budget deficit, to fund the military campaign in Afghanistan aid allies in the war on terrorism, and boost SEC oversight after Enron Corp.'s collapse.
Administration and congressional sources said the package, which President
Bush planned to submit to Congress as early as Thursday, is expected to include
more than $10 billion for the military to cover the higher-than-expected cost
of the war in Afghanistan and beyond.
An estimated $1 billion would go to allies in the anti-terror campaign, including
the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan, which is expected to receive a $250
million infusion on top of what Washington has already committed. Turkey, Pakistan,
Yemen, Georgia and other countries may benefit.
The White House said Bush would ask Congress for more flexibility to provide U.S. military aid to help the Colombian government fight both rebels and the illegal drug trade.
In addition, the administration will provide an extra $5.4 billion to help New York rebound from the Sept. 11 attacks. Another $4 billion could help the Transportation Department beef up security at the nation's airports, sources said.
Beyond the war against terrorism, administration officials said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would get about $7 million in extra funding this year to step up oversight of the accounting industry.
Bush announced plans earlier this month to crack down on abuses by accounting firms and corporate executives in response to the collapse of Enron, his biggest financial backer in the 2000 campaign.
Last week the Justice Department announced an indictment of Enron's accountant, Andersen, for allegedly shredding "tons" of Enron-related documents. It was the first criminal charge ever brought against a major accounting firm.
The new spending requests, along with the economic stimulus package approved earlier this month, will deepen federal budget deficits, already projected by the White House to hit $106 billion in fiscal 2002.
End of Story -- March 19, 2002
Dalai Lama on Attacking the Root Causes of Terrorism