Issue Brief: Beyond the Blue Budget

摘要

In the riotous 1933 film "Duck Soup," comedian Leonard Marx-better known as "Chico"-dumbfounded actress Margaret Dumont with this penetrating question: "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?"rnThe same could be asked about the Air Force budget. Take, for example, the new Fiscal 2011 plan. The Pentagon claims the "base" Air Force budget is $150 billion, or 33 percent of all spending by the uniformed military services. However, the figure given by the Air Force, which ought to know, is smaller: $120 billion, a huge difference of $30 billion.