This economic crisis, the Military budget and Me
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a primer This Economic crisis you CAN do something : Engage with your community. Plan a town Hall meeting in your area! (contact us if you need help [email protected]) contact your congress people. www.house.gov www.senate.gov Send the budget priorities postcard! It's time for some NEW PRIORITIES! We now spend almost as much on our military as the rest of the world combined and yet we are less safe and less secure. ( www.newprioritiescampaign.org). Print your Name I endorse the Declaration of Principles of the Campaign for New Priorities City zip signature address phone& email
Transcript of This economic crisis, the Military budget and Me
a primer
This Economic crisis you CAN do something :
Engage with your community. Plan a town Hall meeting in yourarea! (contact us if you need [email protected])contact your congress people. www.house.gov www.senate.gov
Send the budget priorities postcard!
It's time for some NEW PRIORITIES!We now spend almost as much on our military as the rest of the world combined andyet we are less safe and less secure. ( www.newprioritiescampaign.org).
Print your Name
I endorse the Declaration of Principles of the Campaign for New Priorities
Cityzip
signature
address
phone& email
April 12th is Global Day
to Cut Military Spending
here we are in context!
fyi!
The question is what will we do to survivethe hard times while upholding our per-sonal values and the common values of ourdemocracy?
“It is the inherited weaknessof the economy that causedthe deficit, not the otherway around.
The solution to thedeficit problem is puttingAmerica back to work.”
Joseph Stiglitz Nobel Prize EconomistMarch 14, 2011 Barron’s
Unless you are in the top 5% of wealthy Americans,truly untouched by the economic crisis and uncon-cerned about the deep stresses it is putting on ourfederal, state and local budgets, as well as your fel-low citizens, we can probably all agree that these aresome hard times.
THE FEDERAL BUDGETTHE FEDERAL BUDGET
The Federal government is part of our every day lifeeither through direct programming or federal fund-ing. We all benefit from federal services rangingfrom the post office, the national weather service,food and drug safety programs, environmental re-search and protection, infrastructure such as roads,trains, bridges, and administration of programssuch as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.
Right now we have a huge debt, a huge deficit and atottering economy. Some say narrowing the deficitis the greatest priority. It may seem obvious ex-penses ought not be greater than income. But some-times debt is not bad. Properly spent it can stimulatethe economy.
There is a great need to spend more money especially on infrastructure. Nationwide:26% of our bridges are structurally deficientor functionally obsolete33% of our major roads are in poor ormediocre conditionWater systems are in serious need of repair–especially here in CA.Our public schools need $254.6 billion in repairs.
corporate welfare?
Sign up on line to endorse the Declaration of Principles of the Campaign for New Prioritiesor email us. [email protected]
Total national security spendingin the United States for 2011 isproposed at $895 billion, orclose to 24% of the total UnitedStates Federal Budget. The cost of our wars since 2001are conservatively projected at$1.17 Trillion. Others calculate$3 Trillion just for Iraq.
THE MILITARY BUDGETTHE MILITARY BUDGET
‘Since 2001, military and se-curity expenditures havesoared by 119 percent.
For most of that time, ofcourse, the United States hasbeen fighting two wars...Even if the costs of the con-flicts in Iraq and Afghanistanare subtracted, the defensebudget has swelled by 68percent since 2001. (Allmoney figures in this articleare stated in 2010 dollars.)The U.S. defense budget isnow about the same as mili-tary spending in all othercountries combined.”
Gregg Esterbrookthe new republic 11/10/10
"A nation that continues year after year to spendmore money on military defense than on programsof social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
Martin Luther KIng Jr.
for example: A study by the BrookingsInstitution found, as a conservative es-timate, that the U.S. spent $5.5 Trilliondollars on nuclear weapons from1940–1996 (in constant 1996 dollars).Nuclear weapons spending during thisperiod exceeded the combined totalfederal spending for education; train-ing, employment, and social services;agriculture; natural resources and theenvironment; general science, space,and technology; community and re-gional development, including disasterrelief; law enforcement; and energyproduction and regulation.
An outmoded nuclear arsenal does notkeep us safe from the real threats thatwe face in the world today
at what price security and at whatat what price security and at whatcost to the rest of our society? cost to the rest of our society?
at what price security and at whatat what price security and at whatcost to the rest of our society? cost to the rest of our society?
Many were surprised by theObama administration’s commit-ment to increase military spendingwhile cutting heating oil subsidiesto the poor. As Thomas D’Agostinothe head of the National NuclearSecurity Administration proudly pro-claimed:“Despite the economic challengesfacing our nation and the budgetpressures being felt throughoutthe federal government, the Pres-ident demonstrated his commit-ment to our mission by proposingan unprecedented investment inensuring the nuclear security ofour country and our allies”
His nuclear disarmament rhetoricnot withstanding, a plan submit-ted to Congress by PresidentObama projects an investment of“well over” $185 Billion by 2020to maintain and modernize U.S.nuclear weapons systems.
“The budget is the skeleton of thestate stripped of all misleadingideologies.”– Joseph Schumpeter
THE FEDERALTHE FEDERAL
BUDGET FOR 2012 BUDGET FOR 2012
IS $3.7 IS $3.7 TRILLION TRILLION ..
Projected income is $2.6 trillionthat means a deficit of $1.1 trillion.
The cuts that Congress is makingwill actually make the economyworse. Spending is not the main causeof the federal deficit. The combi-nation of tax cuts and the recenteconomic downturn accounts forover two-thirds of the 10-year pro-jected deficit. For comparison, theRecovery Act accounts for only one-tenth of the projected deficit.
Stimulus money in the civil sectorcreates jobs, which creates taxes,which create revenues, which re-duce needs and spending on needssuch as unemployment insuranceand other so called ”entitle-ments”.
Spending is only one side of the equation– lost revenue is the other. Lost revenuefrom high unemployment can be recoupedby getting people working and payingtaxes again. The tax cuts for the verywealthy and corporate loopholes create thegreatest losses.
Taxpayers in State of California will pay $70.1 billion for proposed Department of Defense for FY2012.
if you want to know more about the facts and figures related to the federal debt and deficit here are some fascinating links:
national priorities project: http://nationalpriorities.org/en/center on budget and policy priorities: http://www.cbpp.org/
friends committee on national legislation http://fcnl.org/issues/checkbook/
As you can see the largest share of the fed-eral discretionary budget goes towards mil-itary spending.
While it is true that military spendingcreates some jobs it creates fewer jobs atdecent pay than than many other spendingchoices.
Support New Priorities End our Wars and Make Major Reductions in the Pentagon Budget
Increase spending on jobs for infrastructure, new technologies, education, health care, an effective social safety net, environmental protection and all other efforts that enhance the
Common Good.Tax the Rich, Large Corporations and Big Oil for Their Fair Share.
For the same amount of money, the following could be provided:
47.3 million Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR909,989 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR919,997 Firefighters for One Year OR8.0 million Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR24.9 million Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year 66.3 million Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year OR7.4 million Military Veterans Receiving VA Medical Care for One Year OR24.2 million People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR750,686 Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR8.4 million Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR12.6 million Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550
