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From: [email protected] (Workers World Service)
Subject: $28 Billion Black Hole in US Budget
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Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <[email protected]>
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Date: Sun, 13 Feb 1994 20:56:38 GMT
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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
U.S. Budget:
THE $28-BILLION BLACK HOLE
Within President Clinton's proposed $1.5-trillion 1995 federal
budget lies a mysterious item. It is, according to the Feb. 8 New
York Times, "hidden in false line items and deleted passages in
the Pentagon's accounts." And it has been this way for over 40
years.
We're talking about the annual budget for secret military and
intelligence operations. This $28 billion--which is only an
"approximation"--is set aside for covert military programs and
repressive spy agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency; the
National Reconnaissance Office, which builds spy satellites; and
the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic
eavesdropping.
A black hole in space is so dense that not even light can escape
from it. This secret budget operates much the same way. Money
goes into it, but what it's spent for never sees the light of
day.
There isn't even Congressional oversight for how the money is
used. In fact, an estimated budget wasn't even published until a
decade ago. As is to be expected, the Clinton administration is
content with this arrangement.
Along with his overt support for covert operations, Clinton has
shown his admiration for the military-industrial complex by
offering the Pentagon $263.7 billion--$3 billion more than last
year. While there is certain to be some wrangling among the
politicians and military brass over which programs should get the
most, overall the Pentagon will once again be awash in money.
But don't think Clinton is showing favoritism only to the
generals. There are also the big bankers. They're getting $212.8
billion in 1995 in the form of interest payments on the national
debt. The capitalist government considers this budget item
legally mandatory.
All told, almost half-a-trillion dollars are going to the banks
and the military!
Think about that when the bosses and politicians tell you there's
no money for jobs, child care and housing.
-30-
(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World,
55 West 17 St., New York, NY 10011; via e-mail: [email protected].)
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