First it was blood money. After CIA operative Raymond A. Davis shot and killed two Pakistani men who allegedly tried to rob Davis while he was stationed in Lahore on a covert mission, our allegedly overspent nation that can’t afford heating-oil subsidies for poor people somehow scrounged up $2.3 million to pay off the families of those Davis killed. In exchange, Davis was not indicted in Pakistan but released into U.S. custody.
GRITtv's Laura Flanders points out that $2.3 million could pay for nearly 45 public schoolteachers in Wisconsin, who earn an average of $51,000 per year.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but not a single conservative pundit or GOP leader spoke up against the Raymond Davis bailout as “wasteful and unnecessary spending.” Republicans only sound the “fiscal crisis” alarm when the beneficiaries are poor people or working families. If the beneficiaries of government spending are poor people of color, well then the GOP goes “fiscal crisis” apoplectic.
The recess talking points handed out to GOP House members this weekend state, “We must stop spending money we don’t have” and “help end uncertainty for job creators.” Allow me to translate for you. “Money we don’t have” is code for spending that helps the poor and working class. “Job creators” is code for big business and the military. Not a penny available for the former. Tons for the latter.
If you need additional proof, ask Gadhafi. Vexingly, the We-Should-Be-Able-To-Start-A-War-Whenever-We-Want-To Republicans are attacking President Obama for the process by which he launched attacks on Libya but not for the fact --- or cost --- of the attacks themselves. Amid the “fiscal crisis” the GOP keeps warning us about, there is plenty of money for bombs and fighter-jet fuel (translation: “job creators”).
Funny thing about crises. When they're genuine, they're all-encompassing and indisputable. See, e.g., Japan. But America's “fiscal crisis” is a creation of the GOP message machine, a fig-leaf excuse to cut spending that helps the poor and working class while preserving -- or even increasing -- spending to help big business and the military.
We have plenty of money to bailout Raymond Davis and bomb Gadhafi. In fact, ask America's big-business executives, and they'll tell you the only spending problem our government has is that it's not spending enough money on them.
