Military Pays Up From 'Odd Source,' Other Feds Can Starve
The Independent reports that as the government shutdown hit day 15, military personnel found their paychecks secured by a previously unmentioned, 'odd source.' Meanwhile, the rest of the federal workforce faced financial uncertainty. This isn't just about 'essential' services; it’s about whose essentiality gets funded, no matter what. The 'odd source' is the Department of Defense’s working capital
fund—a slush fund for maintaining readiness, now repurposed for paychecks. One might wonder why such creative accounting isn't applied to, say, food stamp administrators or air traffic controllers. But then, those don't typically involve multi-billion-dollar weapons contracts that keep defense industry lobbyists happy. It appears the gears of the military-industrial complex never truly stop
turning, even when the rest of the country grinds to a halt. The national debt is a crisis, until it's time to pay the military, then funds magically appear.