Taxes buy Bombs

In Tankwoman's latest post, she laments the piss-poor value we're getting for our tax dollars these days. Our infastructure is in shambles. Public transportation is a joke. Hospitals are shutting down all over the country. The tragedy in New Orleans was a direct result of underfunded infastructure projects. Our roads are in shambles; nuclear waste sites are busy seeping into ground water and the atmosphere causing all kinds of damage.

These are a direct result of spending more than the rest of the world on our military. According to Joel Andreas in his book "Addicted to War":

Since 1948 the U.S. has spent more than $15 trillion to build up its military might. Just how much is $15,000,000,000,000 worth? It adds up to more than the cumulative monetary value of all human-made wealth in the U.S.!

What did he just say?

In other words, the government has spent more on the military over the last four decades than the value of all the factories, machinery, roads, bridges, water and sewage systems, airports, railroads, power plants, office buildings, shopping centers, schools, hospitals, houses, etc., in this country put together!

All of this spending has a direct impact on people. It impacts all of us in different ways. And if you think somehow this spending is keeping us safe, you couldn't be more wrong. Not only does our addction to war result in slashed social programs and essentially higher taxes for less value, but we directly fund the violence in much of the world. We are the world's number one arms dealer. Wonder where Saddam got his helicopters to dump his gases on Kurds? The United States. Wonder where Osama Bin Laden and his miscreants got their weapons and training? From the United States. How does Israel maintain its brutal oppression of the Palestinians? Through U.S. millitary hardware, given as gifts by U.S. taxpayers. When the Indonesian military was massacaring East Timorise, they did so with American made AK47s. The list goes on and on. The lesson is simple:

Taxes buy bombs.

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