Bush & co. have added 2.5 million “mercenaries, spooks, and boondogglers” to the public payroll, points out Sean Corrigan:
“Study Says U.S. Government Is Getting Bigger, Wash. Post Says
By Mark Drajem
“Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — The number of civil servants, government contractors and employees at organizations profiting from government grants is on the rise, the Washington Post reported, citing a study by Paul Light of New York University.
“The true size of the federal government is 14.6 million people, compared with 12.1 million in 2002 and 12.7 million in 1990, according to Light’s study, which tallies up both official government employees and those at contractors or related firms.
“While the number of civil servants has declined to 1.87 million people from 2.24 million in 1990, the overall number of employees has grown as the federal government has begun to rely more on private contractors, the study found, the Post said.
“Light said that the growth from 2002 to 2005 came almost entirely from increases in the number of government contractors and is a result of the war on terror and military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Post said.”
8:31 am on October 6, 2006
