“The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life ... A ruling group is a ruling group so long as it can nominate its successors... Who wields power is not important, provided that the hierarchical structure remains always the same."

George Orwell, 1984

The US military budget for 2005 is US$420.7 billion, representing more than 51% of the total budget. By comparison, budget expenditure on education & health is dwarfed at US$60 billion [7%] & US$51 billion [6%] respectively.

US military expenditure is estimated to be equal to the rest of the world combined: 8 times larger than that of China, the next biggest spender & 29 times larger than the alleged “rogue states