The Tree of Liberty Needs Watering
I work in the defense industry. As many may know this industry is funded by the government, which means the money comes from tax-payer dollars. Many towns and cities across this nation survive and in some cases thrive off of these tax dollars. Some people get really, really rich and our military is second to none.
Regardless of ones feelings on this subject, it should come as a comfort that the government keeps pretty close track of this funding. Are there abuses? Certainly. And there is even fraud. But for the most part, a strict accounting system set in place by Federal Law ensures that the government’s money, your taxes and mine, are actually going to produce something, even if that something is pork. At my company we have weekly meetings on virtually every program where government employees charged with tracking spending do exactly that. Individual sessions are even more frequent. By and large the government people are polite and professional, our program managers are kind and professional, and everything slides along in greased grooves.
So what the hell is going on with the bailout? $750,000,000,000 has simply been handed over to banks with zero accountability. 14% of our Gross National Product. 14 cents of every dollar you spent this year. There are no auditors. No accounting. Not even any agency with oversight on how the money is spent. That’s 44 times larger than NASA’s budget request for next year. One and-a-half times larger than the entire military. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, tanks, ships, planes, submarines, salaries, wars, etc. Everything it takes to run the military, including the money that goes to slimy contractors for R&D. With virtually no debate, and no control over how the money will be spent, or even the authority to ask, 14% of our GNP was transferred to banks; the same banks that hit you with a $50 fee for bouncing a check then repossess your car for missing a payment. I would sum this up in a single sentence but it would include the words ‘revolution’ and ‘violent overthrow’ and that would be against the law.
Tomorrow: A Reasonable Solution for the Problem We Have.
Futbol Guru, http://mises.org/Community/blogs/not-a-lemming