Cross-posted at Reports from the Economic Front.
Here is a short (less than 4 minute) video that illustrates the fact that 53% of our tax dollars, conservatively estimated, go to finance our military.
And here is a link to a recent study by Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier on the employment effects of military spending versus alternative domestic spending priorities, in particular investments in clean energy, health care, and education.
The authors first examine the employment effects of spending $1 billion on the military versus spending the same amount on clean energy, health care, education or tax cuts. The chart below shows their results.
Moreover, even though jobs in the military provide the highest levels of compensation, the authors still find that “investments in clean energy, health care and education create a much larger number of jobs across all pay ranges, including mid-range jobs (paying between $32,000 and $64,000) and high paying jobs (paying over $64,000).”
Let’s see if these facts come up in the next Congressional budget debate.
Comments 10
eduardo — January 2, 2012
War is big business, and the military-industrial complex won't go away without a fight. Who reaps the biggest profits? Certainly not the poor sap on the frontlines. I wonder what Dick Cheney thinks of this.
» Wastin’ money Epicene Cyborg — January 2, 2012
[...] The military and tax dollars. [...]
LarryW — January 2, 2012
It has always been easier for Democratic and Republican politicians to agree to spend money on war, that to agree on domestic spending.
Gilbert Pinfold — January 2, 2012
And Ron Paul is portrayed in the mainstream media as non-serious because he actually intends to do something about the imperial military?q
Anonymous — January 3, 2012
Whether it is better to spend money on more military or on anything else is debatable, but in any case, jobs are a meaningless way to compare value.
If what you really want is the most energy or health care for your buck, trying to create jobs in the process is counter-productive. If eliminating some position saves tax money, we should want it to be eliminated, but that won't happen if the job itself is the goal.
Yrro Simyarin — January 3, 2012
Just want to say that putting all of the interest on the debt under military spending is a bit of a dishonest rhetorical trick.
Not that conservatives don't do the same thing. Everyone assumes that *their* pret project is legitimate spending, and attribute the deficit 100% to those *other* projects.
Also, when you say 53% of our taxes... even assuming his numbers are accurate, it's only 53% of our federal taxes. Almost exactly half of all taxes paid is state or local.
Bud — January 4, 2012
Does more jobs automatically mean that's a good idea? I could spend a billion dollars on brownies too, doesn't make it a good investment. Why can't liberals learn anything about finance or math instead of just complaining about what is spent on things they happen to not like. We need a military, get over it.
Anonymous — February 17, 2012
This short video is excellent. Our military-ndustrial-political( Fascist?) system is burying us. God have mercy