Defence Contractors Insulated from Budget Cuts

[cory777]

Source: IPS

WASHINGTON, Jan 12, 2011 (IPS) - In one of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower's most remembered speeches, he warned against "the acquisition of unwarranted influence" resulting from the close brotherhood between the country's defence agencies, Capitol Hill and private business interests.

Fifty years later, the Republican leader's Jan. 17, 1961 admonition of the military-industrial–Congressional complex is as relevant as ever, argues William D. Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation based here.

Despite U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates's announcement last week of a 78-billion-dollar reduction in Pentagon spending by 2016, analysts predict that defence contractors – the "industry" leg of the so-called "iron triangle" alluded to in Eisenhower's speech – will come away largely unscathed.

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Underlying this capacity is a small cadre of private defence contractors. According to Danielle Brian, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight, more than half of the nation's defence budget is spent on contracts and the top 10 firms receive about 25 percent of these contracts.


Read more: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54102

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[kwolf68]

1. And no one notices

Better to complain about the dark women who has food stamps than this.

[avaistheone1]

2. But of course.

:thumbsdown:

[mike_c]

3. weapons manufacture is one of America's last big industries....

Can't be pissing of the captains of industry, can we?

[gratuitous]

4. That's a relief!

I was so worried that the Masters of War would take a financial hit because America is tapped out. Fuck your roads and your schools, drink tainted water, and tough shit if your food is contaminated by e. coli, because Lockheed Martin gots to get paid.