Saturday, July 27, 2019

Obscene US military spending...

While US lawmakers can't find enough money to spend on infrastructure, healthcare or education, they have no problem to pour outrageous amounts of money in unproductive sectors like armament industry...


By Philip A Farruggio
Global Research, July 05, 2019
This writer has been focusing tirelessly on the (obscene) fact that over half of our federal taxes goes down the rabbit hole of military spending. Well, writer and researcher Andre Damon of the World Socialist Website just wrote a piece on July 1st on this very subject. He stated that under phony populist demagogue Trump the Senate (with the help of 36 Democrats) passed the largest ever Pentagon budget. Taking over from Democrat Obama, where under his watch the said budgets even surpassed the ones under the war mongering Bush/Cheney cabal, ‘The hits just keep on comin!’ From the $619 billion in 2016 to $700 billion in 2017 to the $716 billion in 2018 to…drum roll please… $750 billion passed last Thursday. This now makes military spending AKA Defense spending (has a better ‘secure our borders’ flavor to it, yes?) accounting for… drum roll again… around 60% of the federal budget!

Imagine if you will that if just 25% of that money immediately went for things like A) Jump starting full Medicare for All with no need for buying supplemental private add on insurance (Read Which Path to National Improved Medicare for All?) B) Fixing our roads, bridges, power distribution below ground like in Europe, and money to sure up coastal areas to stand up to hurricanes better; C) Having an Amtrak to rival the railroad travel and accessibility that the Europeans have had for generations; D) Begin to institute public banking whereupon, with low or non profit, the consumer will save immeasurably. (Read The Public Banking Revolution Is Upon Us by Ellen Brown)

To put things into perspective, according to Andre Damon, Russia’s annual military budget is $61 billion, and they sure as hell kept our USA wolf from overtaking Syria and Venezuela! He goes on to report that the Democratic controlled House of Representatives is only proposing a $733 billion Pentagon budget. That’s some Green Deal hah? One surmises that most of those new Dems, you know the myriad of ex military and CIA folks, must have joined with their bipartisan colleagues to keep the money rolling into the War Economy and OUT of the Green Economy.

When will Sanders and AOC and the handful of true progressives walk away from that corruption? What in the hell good is it to belong to a party that may win elections, and then do as little as possible to help we working stiffs… AND make the world a little less crazy. Duh, it’s called ‘Lead by example’! As far as the other and much more ruthless party, they are far beyond help. Yet, half of the voting suckers choose them for a myriad of reasons… yet never to save their working stiff asses! So sad this country that I love.

= = =
Philip A Farruggio is a contributing editor for The Greanville Post. He is also frequently posted on Global Research, Nation of Change, World News Trust and Off Guardian sites. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1974. Since the 2000 election debacle Philip has written over 300 columns on the Military Industrial Empire and other facets of life in an upside down America. He is also host of the ‘It’s the Empire… Stupid‘ radio show, co produced by Chuck Gregory. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net

No comments:

Post a Comment