EDITORIAL
The Pentagon bailout
Published Oct 1, 2008 3:39 PM
The giveaway to the Wall Street bankers wasn’t the only shell game being
played out in Congress these past weeks. Wall Street got all the attention, but
there was another huge giveaway that Congress approved with little
discussion.
The Associated Press reported on Sept. 24, “The legislation came together
in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the
hands of a few lawmakers.” In the middle of the unfolding financial
crisis, on Sept. 27, the Senate approved the $634 billion spending bill, which
gives $488 billion to the Pentagon and $25 billion to the giant auto companies.
It also gives Big Oil offshore drilling rights. Now it’s on Bush’s
desk, waiting for his signature.
But that’s still not the whole story. According to MilitaryBudget.info,
which uses government figures, the total estimated military spending, when all
items are included—Pentagon, “atomic energy defense
activities,” Homeland Security and “other military and
defense-related operations”—will be $783 billion this year and $858
billion next year. And that estimate was made before the recent increases
passed by Congress, nor does it cover expected demands for additional monies
for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The military-industrial complex is a cancerous growth that comes out of the
inherent tendencies in capitalist production. The only defense involved is
defending the super-profits of the big capitalists.
Capitalism is in crisis. The crisis is not caused just by the greed of the Wall
Street bankers. That greed may exacerbate the crisis, but it doesn’t
create it. The crisis is rooted in capitalism. The crisis comes from capitalist
overproduction.
The term “bubble” is often used as a way to describe it in the
media, without revealing that the bubble is the result of the destructive
tendencies of capitalism. Capitalism is based on a competitive drive for
profits and those profits must keep expanding or there is a collapse. It has
nothing to do with production of what is needed by society.
The gargantuan sums pumped into the military-industrial complex have been the
government’s response to capitalist crises since the Great Depression of
the 1930s. Over the last eight years, the government has launched countless
wars and invasions and poured trillions of dollars into military spending. This
has delayed the capitalist crisis, but cannot prevent it.
Military spending has been like a drug pumped into the economy to dull the pain
of a capitalist catastrophe. But like a drug, more and more is needed to keep
away the pain. The drug of military spending cannot cure the disease.
Eventually, no matter how much drug is applied, the full sickness does break
out.
The Pentagon spending bill just passed by Congress is like throwing more
dollars to the drug dealers. That won’t heal the crisis and at this point
can only make it worse, since it just inflates the government’s already
huge debt. The only government spending that would really matter right now is
spending that would cushion the people from the capitalist crisis. Spending
that protects homes, jobs and health care. To get that, however, will probably
require kicking the capitalists out of Washington.
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.
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