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CIA Funding: Never Constrained by its Congressional Budget by Peter Dale Scott
If you want to know how to run a slush fund, look no further than the CIA. Author Peter Dale Scott unearths the ways the agency has always been able to spend past its means.
WHO
Who was the biggest winner in the $1.1 trillion “CRomnibus” budget bill passed last night by the House and now moving on to the Senate? Unsurprisingly, Wall Street wins again by all but authoring and securing a key regulatory loophole governing risky loan swaps a.k.a. financial derivatives.
Who will be on the hook if the $303 trillion market derivatives market goes bad, like it did in the 2008 mortgage meltdown? Look no further than a mirror for the answer.
Who made it happen? The White House and GOP leadership joined forces to push this budget past angry Liberals and angry Conservatives with the help of Wall Street and direct lobbying of key Democrats by JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon.
And many of those Dems are some of the biggest recipients of cash from the financial industry. The two parties also joined forces to raise the limit a couple can donate to their parties’ political campaigns to a whopping $1.5 million per election cycle.
And who else won when Congress filled the budgetary trough? Perpetual war-profiteers. And so did the insurance industry. Ka-ching!
WHAT
What national security program might be up next for Senate scrutiny? Some speculate that Obama’s killer drone program could be next on the hit list.
What else is the Senate targeting? Those “dirtbox” spy planes that fly around the U.S. without a warrant, vacuuming up data from cell phones.
What has Verizon done for the NSA? Preemptively hacked its “encryption” software.
WHY
Why is it a good time to be in the luxury goods business? Online sales are booming.
Why is the American male worker vanishing? Low wages are driving them into extinction.
Why are men “idiots”? Because they keep on winning “Darwin Awards”.
Why is Pope Francis lecturing climate negotiators meeting now in Lima, Peru? Because time is running out.
And why is there a sliver of hope for justice? Because the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland was formally ruled a homicide.
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