A Huge Spending Bill You Haven’t Heard About

In case it’s somehow flown under your radar (my puns are always intended), shift your glance leftward to Matthew Blake’s thorough and enlightening piece on the $488-billion defense spending bill (beyond the Iraq/Afghanistan tab) passed by Congress without much scrutiny or fanfare.

While the $700-billion bailout made headlines for weeks, this bill, which increased funding for programs opposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, including F-22 fighter planes, received little attention. But it’s certainly worth a look.

And speaking of huge government expenditures you haven’t noticed, skip on over to Charles Morris’ piece on the Fed’s $1.6-trillion gamble, which has received a lot of attention today after being inexplicably picked up by ESPN.com under a piece about the Tennessee Titans.