Bill Scher: Privatizing Our Security, Wasting Our Money

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



Privatizing Our Security, Wasting Our Money
By Bill Scher
April 1st, 2008 - 10:56am ET


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In the final debate of the 2000 presidential campaign, Vice-President Al Gore argued he would spend more on defense than his opponent. Then-Gov. George Bush retorted, "If this were a spending contest, I would come in second."

A fair point. When it comes to public investment, it's never just about the price tag. It's about whether we invest our public dollars wisely and effectively. Are we picking the right priorities, allocating a sufficient amount, and investing in what works?

That's not what happened on Bush's watch.

The Washington Post reports today:

Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295 billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion.

$295 billion wasted. To put in perspective, Bush vetoed more health insurance for kids supposedly because $35 billion -- $7 billion a year over 5 years -- was too much to spend.

Presiding over a wasteful defense budget is not a "strong on defense" position. It is, however, a conservative position.

Part of the problem is rooted in the fundamental conservative belief that government is bad, and key government functions should be privatized. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/privatizing-our-security-wasting-our-money

[1776Forever]

1. When the Pentagon give a 300 million $ contract to a 22-year-old criminal - you could say that!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3252006&mesg_id=3252095