Pocket Money

The House debated today on next year’s U.S. defense budget. It’s a long bill, as usual, since the thing consumes around half the entire federal budget. This year's version weighs in at $381.7 billion. Since that’s about nine and a half times the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of North Korea, I’m not too concerned about their nuke anymore.

Of course, the $381.7B figure isn't hard-and-fast, as the bill allows Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld room to spend up to a trillion dollars—literally more money than you or I could imagine.

There are some nice little nuggets in the bill, too:

• $1,939,830,000 for the Army for "Other" expenses


• Gas & repairs are lumped in with money for recruiting, for a total of more than $12 billion between the various branches.


• The Air Force gets $24,457,062,000 to try new shit out.

We’ve certainly put our money where our magnetic ribbons are. Remember this appropriations bill next time you wonder whether or not we are adequately supporting our troops.