Making the world safe for military contractors

Wow! President Bush is such a sage diplomat. India and Pakistan have nuclear warheads pointed at each other, so let's give them some fighter jets. Maybe this would be a good time to announce a sale of advanced weapons to Taiwan, and then give some good "advice" to China:

On the same day last month that the United States announced that it would sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, President Bush personally called the prime minister of India, Pakistan's archrival, with advice intended to soften the blow. The United States, Mr. Bush confided, had decided to allow fighter jet sales to India as well.

Uhh...how has this "9-11 gold rush" contributed to finding Osama bin Laden? And how do fighter jets in Pakistan and India help prevent a terrorist attack inside the U.S., which is more likely to come in the form of a bomb in a public place?

The last few years since 9/11 have been a gold rush for U.S. contractors," said Jon Kutler, president of Quarterdeck Investment Partnership, a unit of the Jeffries Group.

Why does the United States need to strengthen its presence on the Chinese border? And since when has the Pentagon budget been under pressure? The Pentagon has seen budget increases every year for years:

Some critics denounced the Bush administration's move as contributing to a South Asian arms race. But from the government's perspective, weapons sales to Pakistan and India strengthen the American presence on the Chinese border and open new markets throughout Asia for military contractors, which are looking more to foreign buyers as the Pentagon budget comes under pressure.

Oh, hey, by the way Mr. Musharef, we'll just put those jet fighters on our tab:

Because of Pakistan's meager economy, $3 billion in American aid will be provided to buy the F-16's.

Meanwhile, Dubya's putting a nice upward slope on the national debt which totaled $7,786,560,972,566.27 just a day before tax day:


Yup, you're reading that chart correctly. Bush is responsible for $2 trillion of that debt.

By the way, without batting an eye, I just lobbed $283 billion off of the deficit. Play the National Budget Simulation.