Spending Trillions on War While Attacking Public Employees and Retirees After Stealing From Their Pensions

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/we_really_do_spend_more_than_1_trillion_on_war_20110105/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Truthdig+Truthdig%3A+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines

Robert Higgs / Independent Institute via FDL is quoted at TruthDig:

"For now, however, the conclusion seems inescapable: the government is currently spending at a rate well in excess of $1 trillion per year for all defense-related purposes. Owing to the financial debacle and the ongoing recession, millions are out of work, millions are losing their homes, and private earnings remain well below their previous peak, but in the military-industrial complex, the gravy train speeds along the track faster and faster."

National Security Outlays in Fiscal Year 2009
(billions of dollars)
Department of Defense 636.5
Department of Energy (nuclear weapons & environ. cleanup) 16.7
Department of State (plus intern. assistance) 36.3
Department of Veterans Affairs 95.5
Department of Homeland Security 51.7
Department of the Treasury (for Military Retirement Fund) 54.9
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (1/2 of total) 9.6
Net interest attributable to past debt-financed defense outlays 126.3
Total 1,027.5
Source: Author’s classifications and calculations; basic data from U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011 and U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970.
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meanwhile, states go after unions
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/6/crackdown_on_organized_labor_states_call
but the new york times and other mainstream press omit how the states have basically stolen from the public unions' pension programs over time
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/01/nj-public-pension-slugfest-reporting-omits-15-years-of-governors-stealing-from-workers.html

And the government decides to soften regulation/penalties against predatory lenders
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/01/fed-plans-to-end-tough-sanction-against-predatory-lending.html

While also giving record tax breaks to corporations, which does not appear to actually foster any real foreign direct investment
http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8CSNLH?OpenDocument