Le budget gargantuesque à la loupe

On entendra parler longtemps du budget du Pentagone pour l’année 2008 (FY2008). En attendant, et pour fixer les idées, Jim Lobe en donne un commentaire éclairant en mettant cette dépense en perspective, notamment avec des comparaisons dans divers domaines. Le budget gargantuesque doit être apprécié dans le monde réel pour qu’enfin on puisse comprendre que même Rabelais n’aurait pas osé mettre une telle chose dans les projets de son héros.

Lobe commence par mentionner les diverses réactions dans la presse, marquant la surprise, voire la stupéfaction devant le volume d’argent engagé.

«…Even the far-right Washington Times seemed impressed, noting in its sub-headline that “U.S. allocation to security programs exceeds rest of world combined” and including in its lead paragraph the fact that the total request marked “the largest sum in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1946,” just one year after World War II.

»“What's remarkable about this year's military budget is that it's the largest budget since World War II, but, of course, we're not fighting World War II,” noted William Hartung, a defense expert at the World Policy Institute in New York.

»“We're fighting terrorist networks armed with explosives and AK-47s. This has to be considered a triumph of an arms lobby that can obviously sell us things we don't need at a time that the president claims we're in mortal danger.”

»To put a different perspective on the figure, $623 billion is about $10 billion more than the total gross domestic product (GDP) of all 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa and oil giants Nigeria and Angola, in 2005, according to the World Bank.

»Indeed, Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who, until 2005, was the number-two man at the Pentagon, must be green with envy. Total lending by the Bank, the world's largest single source of development assistance, is currently running at about $23 billion a year, or about 1/27th of the Pentagon's proposed resources.

»Despite a jump of 12 percent in its proposed budget over fiscal 2006 budget, the State Department must be suffering similar pangs.

»Total State Department and related international aid budgets would rise to a record $36 billion under Bush's request, although about $7.5 billion of that total will be earmarked for military- or security-related programs, such as credits for foreign allies to buy equipment from the Pentagon or U.S. defense contractors or cash grants to key partners in the administration's war on terror, such as Pakistan and Jordan, to keep their economies afloat.

»In addition, Israel and Egypt, also allies in Bush's war, would retain their status dating back to the late 1970s as by far the biggest U.S. bilateral aid recipients, at $2.4 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.

»Of course, the costs of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq far eclipse what Washington provides in aid to even its most favored clients. Of the total '08 Pentagon request, the two countries, where some 165,000 U.S. troops are presently engaged, account for $141 billion.

»That means the Pentagon expects to spend nearly $12 billion a month on the two wars next year – or about one billion every two and a half days. By comparison, the State Department has budgeted about $1 billion for migration, refugee, and international disaster and famine assistance for all of 2008.»

Mis en ligne le 7 février 2007 à 10H57