BUSH BUDGET
Feast for military, famine for people
Will Democrats let him get away with it?
Published Feb 13, 2008 11:01 PM
Even the corporate papers are saying it’s unbelievable. Yet it’s
only so in its blatancy.
For his last budget before retiring from a much-hated presidency—at a
time of an economic crisis that affects workers most—President George W.
Bush has proposed propping up the military budget to unprecedented levels while
slashing domestic programs left and right and making his tax cuts for rich
people permanent.
Bush’s proposed figure of $515.4 billion in military spending roughly
equals the sum of the military budgets of the rest of the world’s
countries. The Washington Post reports that this figure “is 7.5 percent
higher than the current year’s and promises to fund some of the armed
forces’ largest and most costly weapons programs.” (Feb. 11)
However, this figure doesn’t even include the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, to the tune of another $70 billion—and that’s just
until Bush’s term ends, at which point Pentagon officials expect the new
president to fund the wars with billions more. (Washington Post, Feb. 5).
Add to that amount other items not in the budget—such as billions for
nuclear warheads and for other agencies like the FBI—and “War
Stories” columnist Fred Kaplan suggests that the military budget climbs
to a whopping $713 billion! (Slate.com, Feb. 4)
To accommodate this growth in military spending, the Washington Post reports
that Bush’s plan would “slice $14.2 billion from the growth of
federal health-care programs in 2009, eliminate scores of programs and
virtually freeze domestic programs.” (Feb. 5)
Remember the continuing crisis of AIDS, particularly in communities of color?
Remember the decaying U.S. educational system, thanks in part to Bush’s
No Child Left Behind program? Remember the housing crisis that is making people
homeless throughout the country? Remember the survivors of hurricanes Katrina
and Rita?
The Post continues, “The plan would ... extend abstinence education
programs [and] create elementary and secondary school vouchers. ... Among the
programs Bush would eliminate are food programs for poor children ...
weatherization assistance, community development grants ... and a public
housing revitalization program that the House just overwhelmingly
authorized.”
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that “nearly every
area of the domestic budget” would be hit, resulting in 200,000 fewer
children receiving childcare assistance; 100,000 fewer households receiving
housing voucher assistance; $433 million less funding for the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention; $330 million less funding for the Environmental
Protection Agency; cuts of $18.2 billion to Medicaid over five years and $556
billion to Medicare in 10 years; and a reduction in the Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program, which would have to drop more than 1 million families and
elderly from the program, reduce the amount of assistance provided by 22
percent, or a combination of the two. (www.cbpp.org, Feb. 7)
And yet, Bush won’t let the rich suffer over his bloated military budget.
The same report states that Bush’s tax giveaways to the rich will cost
$2.4 trillion over the next 10 years. The Center says that combined tax cuts to
households with annual incomes of more than $1 million—just 0.3 percent
of the country’s households—“would exceed the entire amount
that the federal government spends on elementary and secondary education, as
well as the entire amount that it devotes to medical care for the
nation’s veterans.”
Bush has projected a more than $400 billion deficit as a result of this budget,
assuming the country’s economic growth of 2.7 percent this year, a figure
that seems unlikely in a period leaning towards recession.
Analysts and media outlets are saying that this is a mess that Bush is leaving
for the next president to clean up. However, as always, the burden will not be
felt by the politicians, but by the workers, who will suffer needlessly while
the government feeds “defense” contractors and the drive for more
war. And as always, it will only be the workers’ struggles that have the
possibility of pushing these attacks back.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE