Chimpy's 09 budget is ‘As Good As It Gets For Defense Contractors’

[deminks]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/11/budget-contractors/

Last week, President Bush submitted his $515.4 billion defense spending budget for FY ‘09. Contained within that budget is a windfall for defense contractors — “$104.2 billion for weapons procurement and nearly $80 billion for research and development.” This budget is 7.5 percent higher than the current year’s.

Even Defense experts are surprised at how generous the Bush administration is willing to be with the taxpayers’ money, in light of a faltering economy and deep cuts to domestic programs:

“The expectation has been that it can’t continue to increase as it has,” Phil Finnegan, a defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, said of defense spending. “But it has surprised everyone to see how long this increase has continued. This budget was a great budget for all defense contractors.” <…>

“The fiscal year 2009 budget may be about as good as it gets for defense contractors,” said Steve Kosiak, vice president of budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “We have had eight years of quite dramatic growth in weapons acquisition accounts. Whoever the next president is, it is unlikely that we are going to continue a major buildup.

(end snip)

Think: how many children we could have added to SCHIP, how many homes on the Gulf Coast we could have rebuilt, how many students we could have sent to college, how many paper ballots and people to count them we could have secured, how many bridges we could have rebuilt, how many roads we could have resurfaced, how many jobs could have been saved in this country, how we could have slowed the global warming, and how many fewer deaths we could have prevented in the war on terra.

I think John "Less jobs, more wars" McCain WILL continue the same buildup, if he can.

[rcole11]

1. Looks like the real WMD's are just across the Potomac River

[stillcool]

2. a little something on spending...

excerpts from the book
No-Nonsense guide to
The Arms Trade
by Gideon Burrows
New Internationalist / Verso, 2002, paper
p83
Spending distortions - governments also artificially support their arms industries by distorting their own spending on domestic military purchases. They buy more arms from domestic suppliers than really needed, they pay more than these ought to cost, and they choose domestic arms suppliers even if foreign-made equipment is cheaper and better. In any other industry, World Trade Organization rules and other free-trade legislation would prevent such spending distortions as unfair competition. But as we have seen earlier, the military is exempt from international agreements on trade.

p84
In a report by the World Policy Institute, William Hartung decries this kind of spending in the US, which he calls 'defense pork'. He argues that politicians add unnecessary and expensive military equipment purchases to the Pentagon's budget in order to please arms companies, secure or create jobs and so gain campaign donations and votes. In 1998, $3.8 billion was added by senators and officials to the amount that the Pentagon had said it needed to meet its own defense plans. While most 'defense pork' is US-bought - so not an arms export subsidy - the example shows how political pressure distorts procurement decisions.
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Direct subsidies
Governments' direct financial support for their arms exports can be roughly placed into a few distinct categories. Each of these subsidies results in taxpayers' money being spent, or risked, helping foreign governments to buy arms.
Export promotion - The major arms-exporting countries each year spend huge amounts of money all over the world promoting and marketing their domestic arms companies' products. Export promotion ranges from diplomatic visits by politicians to the provision of advice and support for companies marketing their systems, to regular attendance and promotion at arms exhibitions and conferences.
At the US Pentagon, nearly 6,000 people were employed in 1996 to promote, broker, administer and finance arms sales abroad, at a cost of $378.2 million. In the State Department a further 75 personnel were employed, part of a defense export promotion budget of $3.7 million. And the US commerce department also plays a role, publishing 'defense market assessments' such as How to do business in Indonesia, and mounting US presence at foreign arms exhibitions. During 1996, the US Government sent equipment and personnel to 19 overseas weapons shows, at a cost of more than $5.1 million.
p81
Export credits - Government insurance schemes to compensate arms companies when their foreign clients default on payment generally make up the bulk of the government direct subsidies. They also provide financing support for deals. Governments then attempt to recoup the cost from the defaulting nations, with usually only limited success. Often the companies insist on some kind of insurance or guarantee from their home government before embarking on large weaponry export deals. Arms sales make up, large proportions of the export credits extended in many major arms exporting countries
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In Frank Vogl's Earth Times article on bribery and corruption in the arms trade, he outlines how the
George W Bush regime in the US takes 'this game of political pressure to an unprecedented new level'.
'Rarely before has US business taken such total charge of the Pentagon. Not only does the Secretary of Defense come from big business, but so too do the new heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force... President Bush has nominated James Roche a vice president at military aircraft seller Northrop Grumman, to become Secretary of the Air Force; Gordon England from arms and naval vessel manufacturer General Dynamics to become Secretary of the Navy.
For good measure, US Vice President Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, serves on Lockheed Martin's board, a company which is a major contractor to the US Government and its allies.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html