I was handed a copy of the Tuesday edition of USA Today newspaper last night. The cover story was "Military towns enjoy big booms". The opening line of the article read, "Rapidly rising pay and benefits in the armed forces have lifted many military towns into the ranks of the nation's most affluent communities."
"Soldier, sailors and Marines received average compensation of $122,263 per person in 2009, up from $58,545 in 2000."
Killeen, Texas, home of the Army's Fort Hood, is today more affluent than Austin, the state capital and university town 60 miles away. Manhattan, Kansas, home of the Army's Fort Riley, is the state's wealthiest metro area. In 2000, it was the poorest of the state's six metros.
Tell me killing is not profitable for some. Any doubt we have become a killing culture in the U.S.?
It's obvious to me that we value endless war more than we do public education or health care.
The article reports that from 2000 to 2009 military pay scales grew 84% while private-sector employees saw a 9% increase. Federal civilian workers during that same period saw a 37% pay increase.
The bottom line is that it pays well to risk your life for big corporate control, domination, and profits overseas.
For me this is one big tsunami of proof that the oligarchy in control of America has indeed made the decision that our role under corporate globalization will be "security export" - which translates to endless war.
If you are on the military industrial complex gravy train then you will do well. If not, then you are screwed. Is this the best use of our tax dollars? Is this the kind of nation we want to be? What does this say about the soul of the America? What does this say about the future for our children?
The only legitimate response to this is Bring Our War $$ Home.
Fight for social progress while you still can. Buy local.
What does this article tell me? That economists have done a poor job educating our population, and have found it more profitable to be complicit in the lies that enable a military culture than in honest education.
ReplyDeleteAs the "Economists for Peace and Security" web site states:
"“At present, even within defense and security institutions, virtually no training opportunities exist in this field, no possibilities for students, security personnel, the NGO community, or other interested parties to receive an informed overview of the economic causes and consequences of defense expenditure, how economic theory helps illuminate, formulate, and evaluate policy options.”
http://www.epsusa.org/projects/projects.htm
GDP is the COST of achieving a given level of citizen satisfaction, and for any given level of satisfaction, is to be MINIMIZED, not maximized.
As Eisenhower pointed out years ago, every military dollar is essentially theft from those that really contribute to the future of our children.To paraphrase Ry Coooder "the same thing thing that makes military parasites rich, makes us poor".
see eg David Korten here:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/10-common-sense-principles-for-a-new-economy