Corporate "Big-Intel" takes what amount of tax dollars? This is currently secret, should it be ?

[Civilization2]

Why is is acceptable to have for-profit corporate mercenaries spying on citizens? How is it that the budget these for-profit spies take from the hard working people is a "state secret"? Follow the money,.the war-OF-terror, waged by the 1% on us and the world, is a money and power grab, pure and simple. It has been since 9/11, and long before that. The Bush terror attack was a major catalyst for the corporate Big-Intel industry to grab at power and more of our wealth. The wealth transfer accelerates even now. This is not the will of the people. This is the will of some people less than 1% of us.

The 1% is never satiated, they always need more, just like a junkie,. only they shoot pure power and our wealth,. straight into numb veins, hardened by avarice and hate. Like the war on drugs, feeding the police and enforcement industry, the prison-industrial complex feeding on the poor for profits, and the many resource extraction industries that take resources that equally belong to all of us, and selling them back to us at huge profits, all while destroying the land where we live,. from their gated "communities". The rise of Big-Intel is a blight on democracy, a blight on freedom, a symptom of the disease of rampant unfettered capitalism run amok. This is not the will of the people.

When the government stops representing the people, defends only the interests of the 1%, their banksters and their faceless corporations. When the military and police are used to enforce edicts written by the 1% and not read by "our representatives" yet voted for by "our representatives",. when these "laws" do not represent the will of the people, then democracy has ceased to function, and the system has a very different designation.

We will take the power back from the few. We will take the wealth of our planet back from the few. We have an amazing planet, full of life,. still. We need to stop the downward spiral created by the few sociopathic greedy power mongers that rise to control the broken system of corporate-capitalism that currently prevails.

This is not as difficult a task as they the few in power would have you believe,. like all bullies they rule by fear and disinformation. Seek the truth, look through a lense of love and peaceful community building creativity, and build what you want to see. The future is what we make it today, do not let the few lead the debate,. or more accurately stifle and obstruct actual debate, with inane nonsensical double speak and circular non-logic. You have read the posts, the ones that address no issue and feed argument and produce nothing of value. The posts that attack the character of those they fear, instead of debating the content of the information they present. Blind faith in the system, in a single leader, in a party or in anything at all, is a danger and should set off an alarm in your mind. Critical debate, and constant questioning is always required in a democracy, in a free and open society. This is what the few are attempting to break, and to put down,. an actual functioning society, this is not what they want. They want a police state, a state of fear, a state of control, corporate control without democratic input, the 1% rulers, and the rest of us as expendable slave/workers fighting amongst ourselves over the crumbs they drop down to us.

Same as it ever was., but does not need to be. It is up to us the majority of people.

[99th_Monkey]

1. Well said. This is not the will of the people, and we can change that.

Thanks for your thoughtful OP.

[BlueStreak]

2. It is at least twice as much as the TOTAL we spend on SNAP

you know, that program that helps ensure that every child has access to a minimal amount of nutrition. That is about $80 billion a year. When you add up all the dark programs -- and a big part of the Pentagon budget has gone dark, it is undoubtedly over $200 Billion a year, and may be closer to $600 billion a year if you could account for all of it.

Before we cut one penny of nutritional assistance -- before we cut one dime for pre-school education -- before we close one more public school for lack of funding, Americans must demand to know just how much we are spending for this illegal, unconstitutional authoritarian machine.

[Civilization2]

6. Ah yes, I suppose it could be roughly figured from a look at the books,. and finding the holes.

However, there really should be no "secret budgets", all tax money should stay in the light of day. Infact all the records should be searchable on the net, as well as all the intel generated. I see absolutely no reason any information gathered through tax spending should not be public knowledge. The people payed for it, and should be able to access it. Government should not be in the business of secret manipulations at all, this is counter democratic and simple not needed, I would argue destructive in fact.

[BlueStreak]

7. Of course the budget should be public

Secret laws and secret budgets are equally evil.

I bet every single person on this forum agrees that there are certain circumstances where we must trust a few people doing a few vitally important investigations to do so in secret. It is the sheer scope of the secret operation that is so astounding and THAT is why they won't publish a budget. it has nothing to do with protecting us. It is all about protecting the money.

The budget can be published in summary fashion that doesn't jeopardize the operational integrity of any individual investigation. There is absolutely no legitimate reason for not doing that. The only reason is that, once Americans understand just how vast this is, people would then start asking questions, and we can't have that in a "democracy."

BEFORE 9-11, the dark budget was estimated at over $100 Bn a year. Even with our low inflation, that would still put it near $200 Bn today if there were no real increases at all. But we know there have been LOADS of increases, and one thing that is generally not understood is that the Pentagon has shifted big parts of its budget into dark CIA budgets. I don't know exactly how much, but if the official "Pentagon budget" is $700 Bn a year, it is entirely plausible that another $100-200 Bn -- maybe more -- has been hidden away in dark budgets.

And I bet there is not a single Senator, probably not even the President, who knows with any accuracy what that total dark budget is.

[HiPointDem]

3. very good points.

[woo me with science]

4. K&R

[BadGimp]

5. NAILED IT

Big-Intel = f-ing brilliant