Gore Vidal on the US election

Tom Lehman TLehman at lor.net
Wed Sep 20 12:47:23 PDT 2000


We weren't sitting there when the interview took place. How possibly dismissive the nature of Vidal's comment was could be lost on us.

For fun divide 1.4 million into 305 or 310 billion. That should give you a pretty good per capita number of our yearly military spending. Then estimate what per centage of the per capita goes to procurement.:o)

Tom

Marta Russell wrote:


> Oh yes, he should definitely have written what he meant. It was a bad slip
> which many will interpret as wrong. It makes him look not credible.
> marta
>
> Max Sawicky wrote:
>
> > If he means outlays for all defense, as opposed
> > to procurement, and if he means as a share of
> > discretionary, rather than of "the budget" (his
> > words), then he's in the right ballpark.
> > But for a guy who is so sharp w/words, his
> > fuzziness is fair game.
> >
> > mbs
> >
> > I think Vidal means the discretionary budget.
> >
> > Marta
> >
> > Max Sawicky wrote:
> >
> > > [From today's Salon. Full text at
> > > http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/09/20/vidal/print.html]
> > >
> > > "The great scandal today is we're still a militarized economy, 51 percent
> > of
> > > the budget goes for the Pentagon for procurement . . .
> > > >>>>>>>>>>
> > >
> > > Actually it's less than three percent, but
> > > let's not quibble. If he means all defense
> > > spending, it's 16 percent. I like Gore Vidal,
> > > even if he can't count.
> > >
> > > >>>>>>>>>>>>
> > > ", and there is no enemy; and
> > > they're asking for another $60 billion over the next decade. . . . "
> > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> > >
> > > I would be overjoyed to learn that $60 billion was
> > > the most DoD got over its present budget over the
> > > next ten years.
> > >
> > > By contrast, the projected surplus over the same
> > > period WILL BE OVER FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!
> > >
> > > mbs
> >
> > --
> > Marta Russell
> > author, Los Angeles, CA
> > http://disweb.org/
> > Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract
> > http://www.commoncouragepress.com/russell_ramps.html
>
> --
> Marta Russell
> author, Los Angeles, CA
> http://disweb.org/
> Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract
> http://www.commoncouragepress.com/russell_ramps.html



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