Locating the American Military-Industrial Complex: An Introduction

摘要

In February 2010 President Barack Obama proposed that Congress provide the Department of Defense with over $700 billion in fiscal year 2011. Given that not all defence-related expenditures flow through the Pentagon, this staggering figure-which includes both a "base budget" and "supplemental" funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan-is hardly conclusive, and the total tally likely exceeds $1 trillion (see Higgs 2007). Gently critiquing Obama's request, the New York Times (4 February 2010:A26) editorialized that the budget "makes some tough choices-but not enough", and suggested that Congress should review the proposal "with another post-cold-war notion: the country cannot afford to write the Pentagon a blank check."