------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 14, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
EDITORIAL: LICENSE TO STEAL The Bush administration seems to believe that the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon gives it a license to steal. No, this is not the day-to-day corruption endemic to capitalist politics. It's more like an Enron- scale theft--but applied to the national budget. It's a plan to steal from the poor and give to the rich, hide it with shoddy accounting and cover it all with the flag. Bush sent a $2.13 trillion--that's 2.13 million million dollars--budget to Congress on Feb. 4. While 200 years ago patriotism was considered the last refuge of scoundrels, today Bush's gang has made it their opening shot. They've literally put a U.S. flag cover on the budget book, thinking that will give them extra protection. This is not just one rich group swindling another rich group, as sometimes happens in ordinary corruption. This is a clear class budget. It robs the workers and gives to the bosses. It robs retirees to fund the military-industrial complex. It robs the African American and Latino and Native communities of their social services to add to the income of the country-club set. Bush pushed through his tax cuts for the rich last spring, when the recession was still hidden. The administration predicted heavy budget surpluses, which, they argued, should be given back to the rich. The Democrats quickly gave in and passed it. Now, with a full recession admittedly here, everyone knows there will be no surpluses. Even the most optimistic and lying estimates--those made by Bush's team, for example-- predict clear budget deficits. This hasn't stopped Bush from adding another $48 billion to the already pumped-up military budget to buy high-tech weapons, bringing it to $379 billion. This is the biggest increase in war spending since the Reagan/Papa Bush team ran up a trillion dollars in deficits trying to push the Soviet Union into bankruptcy with the arms race. It's another $48 billion straight into the coffers of the military-industrial-banking complex that fattens off destruction and suffering like that now being experienced by the people of Afghanistan. It's another $48 billion ripped off from workers here who can barely make ends meet as it is. On top of this are the big hikes in the domestic "war on terrorism." They allocate $38 billion to this, doubling the former amount. They were tightfisted when it came to AIDS, the most dangerous epidemic to hit the world since bubonic plague, but now they're ready to shell out $19 billion extra to fight "bioterrorism." The ironic thing is that the anthrax scare that has softened up the public for this campaign was the product of a domestic right-winger, probably with military connections, according to all the insiders. Where will this extra money come from? Using an accounting trick worthy of Enron, Bush intends to divert $1.5 trillion in Social Security and Medicare surpluses over 10 years to pay for these military programs. Then, crying "budget deficit," he intends to erase 20 of the government's 48 job- training programs. Public housing, heating aid for the poor and the Forest Service also would be pared. Other programs would be held to increases less than the inflation rate. The world will be watching over the next years, hoping that the utterly brazen and arrogant assault on the U.S. working class represented by this war budget will boomerang on the administration and the class of wealthy parasites it represents. Workers deprived of job programs. Elders deprived of Social Security and medical care. Everyone-- except the corporations and the rich--taxed to the limit. The battle lines are drawn. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
