Max Sawicky wrote:
>
> The sales of the defense contractors to DoD
> are reflected in DoD spending. Otherwise
> you would be double-counting.
>
The correct figures are whatever figures can be expressed in a leaflet _without_ generating the kind of bickering that this thread illustrates. Thus the correct figures are the those of the _lowest_ estimate. Any larger claim would seriously interfere with building a mass movement.
Chomsky's practice, on the whole, is exemplary: the sources for almost all his claims are "establishment" sources. That is, he goes after those _open_ 'secrets" of capitalism. The crimes that are out in the open but still not known by masses of people.
Masses of people know that the Defense Dept. spends too damn much. Our task is not to debate, courtroom style, over the exact amount, but to explain the evils contained the military/security/counter-intelligence budgets conservatively estimated. It is seriously counter-productive to claim a figure larger than those masses already know.
Carrol