Where my tax $ go ...

The Washington Post recently ran an article on how the immense national security industry of the United States created since 9/11 and gobbling up taxes. The New Yorker called it a "bureaucratic behemoth" that as become so large, so unwieldy, and so secretive" that "it amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight". For example,

• some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counter terrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the USA.
• An estimated 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearance.
• Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.
• Security analysts of foreign and domestic spying publish about 50,000 intelligence reports every year, a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

Now, this wouldn't matter to me so much. I am not an American citizen. But, because I taught there for six years, my retirement money went to an American fund and I, misguidedly, continued to contribute to this fund for 10 more years even after coming to Hong Kong. earlier this year, when I began to withdraw money from this fund in view of my retirement, I was taxed 30%. Remember, this is not my income but my retirement money. I now know why the American government needs cash. To fund this utterly wasteful counter terrorism programs.

A note about the 854,000 people who hold top security clearance. As I write, Wikileaks has announced the release of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents that will embarrass the United States. And who is alleged to have leaked them? A lowly Private in the army. I assume he is one of those with "top security clearance".