"Good God. We are giving Halliburton billions of dollars to rebuild bridges that we haven't even blown up yet." -- U.S. Congress Woman Maxine Waters
Forgive me if I've gotten the great California Congresswoman's words not exactly right, but I still remember her cutting right through the bull and pointing her finger right at the greatest waste of U.S. tax dollars in the history of the United States. Ever.
The American government ponies up every month with another $12-$15 Billion of borrowed money to continue to fund, to underwrite, to bail out the failed corporate venture we call the Iraqi War.
Yeah. It is a failed corporate venture. And it gets bailed out every single month. Month after month. Year after year. No questions asked.
If we can piss away $1 Trillion of tax dollars to enrich those that control the levers of industry at Halliburton, Blackwater, Lockheed-Martin with zero, zilch accountability whatsoever, then we can "risk" $15 Billion to keep the UAW and the workers who are not unionized employed in spite of the fact that GM, Ford and Chrysler are probably near collapse.
Give them the goddamned money.
And let's invest back in those rust belt states to transform those old industries into the new green ones that we need now. And with time and patience help these entities produce clean cars that Americans will want to buy again.
As the L.A. Times columnist, David Lazerus, wrote: The UAW has done the "stand up thing". They have really manned-up and womaned-up. Now, we should citizen-up and do the stand-up thing, too.
As George Harrison sung, "It's gonna take money, a whole lot of money."
Give them the goddamned money.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home