This story was sent to you by: Lowell Sunderland
Mike... would you post this on the blog, pls, with a note that the writer is affiliated with a group that includes peace activist Jean Athey,who spoke back in the fall to SPRING Currents.
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Convert defense cuts into civilian benefits
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Shrinking the Pentagon gives the U.S. a chance to bolster education, energy and infrastructure
By Charlie Cooper
December 15 2011, 1:10 PM EST
Weapons-makers, ideologues and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta are busy whipping up fears in reaction to scheduled reductions in our bloated military budget. Don't be fooled. These cuts will not put our security at risk, though they will cut into profits and executive pay at certain defense-establishment corporations.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-defense-cuts-20111215,0,7695343.story
My understanding is that the announced defense cuts will only cover part of the budget deal. More cuts are on the way. This money is already allocated for deficit reduction, so in order to do things stated in the article we need to raise taxes.
ReplyDeleteMike's precisely correct. But aren't these distinctions a bit artificial?
ReplyDeleteWe know that any serious cutbacks in defense will trigger accompanying cutbacks in jobs, both directly and indirectly related, which I believe our (and probably the global) economy cannot tolerate now or for the forseeable future. Therefore, no matter who sits on the White House throne (no more sears catalogues?), lots of alternative jobs will have to be ginned up, no matter how they may be funded. And, the internal bookeeping identifying which pile of debt-funded money will be used to offset the job losses only matters optically. I guess you point to whatever is best politically at the time to receive the savings from Defense cuts.
The real punch line is that however you want to target the identified "savings", they should be seen as only the first down payment on a long and tortuous defense restructuring. Imagine the Right's reaction and political posturing if Pannetta or anyone else breathed the true dimensions of what has to be in store for DOD?
Fortunately or unfortunately, Defense jobs tend to be above the pay grades of most civilian jobs, so even if there was to be a one-for-one shift of jobs to infrastructure rebuilding, they would not have the same impact on the economy. It will take a long, long time to wean the economy away from the Defense distortions of the last decade. The fun is only beginning!
Ron
Ron has a good point. The defense industry provides jobs and it is a form of government spending that the Right is willing to tolerate. So why can't we raise taxes to keep our current level of defense. Better still, make it a surtax on the wealthy, since it can be argued that the wealthy benefit the most from defense spending.
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