CLINTON'S BUDGET
Still dancing to the Pentagon's tune
By Gary Wilson
When President Bill Clinton gave his State of
the Union message Jan. 27, it was a 1990s "guns and butter"
speech.
The guns were aimed at Iraq. Clinton's speech was above all
a war speech. And both the Republicans and Democrats in
Congress wildly cheered Clinton's militaristic words.
War is still the business of Congress. And the
military-industrial-technological complex still dominates
Washington.
However, Clinton couldn't deliver just a war message. That
may cheer big business, the big bankers and Wall Street, but it
could make most of the population afraid about the future.
After all, war has a heavy cost in lives and taxes-and that
cost is paid by the working class, even within the so- called
victorious country.
So Clinton greased his "guns" message with the "butter" of
promises. He talked about money for child care and schools. He
said he would close tax loopholes for the rich and big
corporations.
He said he wants more money for medical and public-health
research. His biggest pledge was to safeguard Social
Security.
On Feb. 2, when he actually delivered his budget plan,
Clinton's "guns" promises were as good as gold for the Pentagon
and the military-industrial- technological complex.
But his "butter" promises disappeared in a fog of political
double talk in his proposed budget.
His promise about child care turned out to be no money for
anyone with a low income. It will take a relatively high income
to benefit from the Clinton plan.
The school improvement plan depends on a tobacco settlement,
which is far from a sure thing.
In fact, although Clinton didn't announce it in his State of
the Union speech, his budget includes some big cutbacks. For
example, it endorses a Republican plan to cut Amtrak funds by
$400 million.
Of course, Clinton completely left out whole areas of great
concern to the people of this country in his State of the Union
speech. And he left them out of his budget as well.
He proposed nothing to counter racism and the deteriorating
conditions for people of color in this country. Clinton has
practically killed federal affirmative-action programs.
Although a right-wing terrorist bomb ing of a women's clinic
in Birmingham, Ala., had just occurred, Clinton's budget didn't
offer anything to defend women's right to abortion.
With the anti-gay witch hunt in the military stepping up
under his "don't ask don't tell" policy, he announced no plan
to cut funds for any branch of the military that practices
anti-gay discrimination.
He didn't defend union rights. He didn't say anything about
the attacks the FBI and Justice Department are making on the
AFL-CIO leadership.
He said nothing about the growth of homelessness. In the
end, only 17 percent of the budget goes for necessary social
programs.
Military spending
The capitalist economic crisis that has devastated several
countries in Asia wasn't on Clinton's public agenda. But it is
certainly on his private agenda.
In fact, it is not unlikely that some of his economic
advisers have suggested that launching a war could pre-empt the
Asian crisis from devastating the U.S. economy. Capitalist
economists have often depended on war to turn around the
economic crises that are endemic to capitalism.
Since the end of World War II, the U.S. economy has been
completely dependent on the government's huge military
expenditures for its economic well-being.
That partly explains why military spending remains the
single biggest item in the budget.
Officially, the Clinton budget calls for increasing military
spending to $270.6 billion. Nothing else in the budget comes
close. Yet even this figure hides the real costs of military
spending.
The Pentagon's biggest military operations are not included
in Clinton's budget at all.
The Reuter news agency reported Feb. 2: "Money for the
current U.S. military buildup in the Gulf and for a continued
American troop presence in Bosnia between June and October of
this year would be funded by special supplemental requests to
be sent by the Pentagon to Congress at mid-year."
In fact, every year Clinton has been in office, he has
quietly increased the military budget with "special
supplemental requests." And, according to the Center for
Defense Information, this latest Clinton budget proposal gives
the Pentagon an extra $20 billion by over- estimating inflation
rates.
The proposed Pentagon budget includes 10 new "chem-bio war"
units. These are said to be military units to defend from
supposed threats of chemical and biological attacks.
What isn't said is that such units are just as capable of
launching chemical and biological attacks.
Procuring new weapons systems-much favored by the
military-industrial complex-accounts for almost a quarter of
Clinton's proposed budget. Among the new systems to be
purchased are 30 F-18E/F advanced fighter jets, 66 Army "Apache
Longbow" helicopters, two F-22 radar-avoiding "stealth"
fighters and bigger stockpiles of satellite-guided missiles and
bombs.
The spending plan also includes buying satellite receivers
to be put in soldiers' backpacks-to tell them instantly and
exactly where they are anywhere in the world.
The Clinton budget shows that the
military-industrial-technological complex continues to call the
shots Washington.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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