Stimulus or War Profiteering? Interviews Available

"While virtually everyone in the country
saw Sept. 11 as an immense tragedy, many special
interests saw it as a rich opportunity. They
promptly sent hoards of lobbyists to swarm Capitol
Hill to line up for all kinds of goodies."
"It’s obscene that some of
corporate America thinks this is the moment to
cash in on all their access and influence in
Congress with unwarranted tax rebates and
unnecessary bailouts."

MICAH SIFRY
msifry@publicampaign.org

http://www.publicampaign.org

http://www.howdarethey.org

A senior analyst with Public Campaign,
Sifry said today: "It’s obscene that some of
corporate America thinks this is the moment to
cash in on all their access and influence in
Congress with unwarranted tax rebates and
unnecessary bailouts.

By a margin of 56 to 32 percent, the public chooses increased government spending over new tax cuts, according to a Gallup Poll.

But Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill says not
to worry. The $100 billion House bill will provide
300,000 new jobs, he told the Sunday TV talk
shows.

That works out to $333,333 in corporate welfare for every new job.

Rather than using the word ‘stimulus,’ the bill should be called the Campaign Contributors War Profiteering Act of 2001."

WILLIAM HARTUNG
hartung@newschool.edu

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms

Senior
research fellow at the World Policy Institute and
author of "The New Business of War," Hartung said today: "U.S. military spending will increase by more than $50 billion over last year’s total, creating a windfall for U.S. weapons
manufacturers.

Despite the evidence of Sept. 11 that the U.S. is more vulnerable to low-tech terrorist attacks than to ballistic missiles, President Bush’s Star Wars scheme was authorized for more than $8 billion, an increase of nearly 57 percent.

The vast majority of the funds authorized
have little or nothing to do with protecting the
country from future terrorist attacks. The money
the Democrats tried to add is a real mixed bag.

There is a danger that homeland security could
become another pork barrel project — or worse, an
excuse to cut back on civil liberties and the
right of dissent…. I don’t think you can
organize a country simply under the rhetoric of
war on terrorism. There are other priorities that
need to be respected."

HOLLY SKLAR
hsklar@aol.com

http://www.raisethefloor.org

Co-author of the new book Raise
The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of
Us, Sklar said today: "We have crucial choices to make as we work to revive the economy in the wake of Sept. 11 and recession: We can rebuild the economy in a way that brings us closer together — or drives us apart.

During the boom, we grew further apart. Average workers have still not caught up to the wages of their counterparts in 1973, adjusting for inflation.

The top 1 percent has as much after-tax income as the 100 million Americans with the lowest incomes.

Tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations would be as irresponsible as taking your paychecks, health insurance, retirement savings and children’s
college funds and blowing them on a gambling
spree. We need economic stimulus, not greed
stimulus."

JOAN CLAYBROOK
slittle@citizen.org (via Shannon Little)

http://www.citizen.org

President of Public Citizen, Claybrook said
today: "While virtually everyone in the country
saw Sept. 11 as an immense tragedy, many special
interests saw it as a rich opportunity. They promptly sent hoards of lobbyists to swarm Capitol Hill to line up for all kinds of goodies.

The
airline industry was the first in line and got a $15 billion bailout package with no strings attached.

It didn’t even have to share the money with its workers.

Other industries have followed suit. The insurance industry is pressing for the government to bail it out in future attacks…"

STEVEN WEISS
sweiss@crp.org

http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/alertv6_28.asp

Weiss is communications director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which recently published the article "The Economic Stimulus Package: A Guide to What Special Interests Want and May Get."

For more information, contact the Institute for Public Accuracy:

Sam Husseini 202.347.0020 or David Zupan 541.484.9167

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