Priorities. Our government has them, but they don’t resonate with many of our personal values. One good example is a bloated military budget (an amazing $515.4 Billion or 16.5% of our budget earmarked for 2009) when one out of every three Americans is left without adequate health care.
Another good example is the government’s obsession with terrorism. While the fat cats on Wall Street are robbing us blind, the FBI is kept busy wiretapping our phones and reading our emails.
F.B.I. Struggles to Handle Wave of Financial Fraud Cases
Since 2004, F.B.I. officials have warned that mortgage fraud posed a looming threat, and the bureau has repeatedly asked the Bush administration for more money to replenish the ranks of agents handling nonterrorism investigations, according to records and interviews. But each year, the requests have been denied, with no new agents approved for financial crimes, as policy makers focused on counterterrorism.
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Some critics question whether the shift indicates not just a lack of resources, but a lack of interest by the Bush administration.