While the ruling class is on a rampage to cutback public spending on things like education, medical care, elderly benefits, etc, the highly profitable military-industrial complex continues on its merry spending way to promote the interests of the Empire.
With a new Congress with a House controlled by Republicans who have trumpeted deficit reduction as one of their central priorities, it would be logical to expect that there might be trimming in one of the largest and most bloated areas of US government spending: the nation’s $700bn military budget. However, the realities of Washington, DC are different than the rhetoric. While spending for the Iraq war should be decreasing, as planned, in coming years, recently released budget proposals by both Democrats and Republicans show that base levels for Pentagon funding continue to rise.Notice that whenever public officials are called upon to justify war expenditures, they always, as Obama did yesterday, refer to "our national interests". Public officials are never asked about what these "national interests" consist of. So most Americans tend to believe that they, too, will benefit somehow from these policies. Of course, what they consist of are ruling capitalist class interests to promote for this tiny minority their power and profits. The end result is what we have today: endless wars, public spending cutbacks, unemployment, unstable weather patterns, environmental devastation, nuclear accidents, etc.