In today’s news, the US Senate voted on a bill that stripped out funding for the border given the dysfunction in the House and inability of lawmakers to get their act together.
But, everybody in DC loves a war, especially when it lasts forever and involves billions of dollars of defense spending. So the Senate approved a bill that provided:
$61 billion for the Ukraine in its on-going border dispute with Russia, borders drawn by the former Soviet Union almost a century ago;
$14 billion for Israel in its war with Hamas, a war that has raged since the founding of Israel in 1947. Israel and the Palestinians can’t, after more than 75 years of bloodletting, figure out how to live together. But, hey, they have a personal ATM in DC to buy weapons so the fighting never ends;
$4.83 billion for “partners” in Indo-China, including Taiwan to “deter” Chinese aggression and the unsettled border dispute (left over from the Chinese revolution 75+ years ago) over whether Taiwan should be part of China; and,
$9.15 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and other populations in conflict zones around the globe, fueled by US military aid.
Everybody loves forever wars, ‘cause they make us safer, right? But, even if they don’t make us safer, so what? It’s just printed money that enriches defense contractors. But it devalues our currency and fuels inflation that everyone pays and will ultimately have to be paid by our children, long after the elderly lawmakers have died. No one ever got kicked out of office for fiscal excesses and the economically ignorant general public thinks inflation comes from greedy corporations.
US Senate advances $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid bill after failed border deal (yahoo.com)