Bush's Shopping List

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
— James Madison, Political Observations, 1795

I spent part of the weekend figuring out taxes for the year. We are part of the squeezed middle class, and will have to send money in. It's fairly daunting, since some of our money will probably go to fund warfare, and less to health and education. I know that our country is responsible for a huge segment of the planet's military spending, that we lag for healthcare, and that when budget cuts occur under conservative administrations, social programs go onto the chopping block. So I went looking for some of the particulars, to see what Congress will be handed.

The New Budget

Bush's new budget totals $2.9 trillion. It will keep tax cuts for the rich permanent while exercising "spending restraint" on social programs. This budget puts defense and war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan at top priority, yet omits long-term war costs.

$249 billion goes for war costs through 2008, with $100 billion the rest of the current fiscal year and $145 billion for next year. Including $70 billion that Congress has already approved, the total of $170 billion for this fiscal year would mark the highest spending level so far for the two wars. The figure does not include more than $93 billion in supplemental money in this fiscal year and about $145 billion in the next fiscal year for the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. If Congress approves the war-funding request, the United States will have spent $US661.9 billion on combat in Iraq, Afghanistan and related activities.

(courtesy DeviantImages.com)
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What Will Be Chopped

"Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Some of these cuts include:
$4.9 billion or 8 percent cut in education, training, employment, social services
$66 billion in cuts to Medicare, health program for the elderly
$12 billion in cuts for Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor.
$2.4 billion cut in community and regional development

Bush claims the budget will be balanced by 2012, when he won't even be in office. The White House's Office of Management and budget admits that President Bush's budget proposal Monday will delay by two years the point at which the federal budget will return to surplus.
(Figures come from Bush's Saturday radio address and from various newspaper stories dated 2/5/02).

Further Breakdown of Military Spending

The San Jose Mercury News provides this breakdown:
The budget would provide a 3 percent pay raise for members of the military. In a statement released with the budget request, the Pentagon said military pay has increased by 32 percent since 2001, when the war on terror began. Among the services, the Army would get $130.1 billion, a 20 percent increase over this year. The Air Force would get an 8 percent increase, to $136.6 billion; the Navy's budget would rise by 9 percent, to $119.3 billion, and the Marine Corps would rise 4.3 percent, to $20.5 billion.

The U.S. military budget request by the Bush Administration for Fiscal Year 2007 is $462.7 billion. (This includes the Defense Department budget, funding for the Department of Energy (which includes nuclear weapons) and “other” which the source does not define. It does not include other items such as money for the Afghan and Iraq wars—$50 billion for Fiscal Year 2007 and an extra $70 billion for FY 2006, on top of the $50 billion approved by Congress.)

The president's proposed increases bring the Defense Department budget back up to where it was during the 1980s, a peak period for Pentagon spending, when calculated in today's dollars. An 11.3 percent increase is the kind of increase we had right after 9/11 and in the four or five years of the (President) Reagan buildup, so by historical perspectives, it's a pretty big jump.

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How Do We Stack Up for Military Spending

The 15 countries with the highest spending account for 84 per cent of the total;
The USA is responsible for 48 per cent of the world total, distantly followed by the UK, France, Japan and China with 4–5 per cent each.

The U.S. military budget request by the Bush Administration for Fiscal Year 2007 is $462.7 billion. (This includes the Defense Department budget, funding for the Department of Energy (which includes nuclear weapons) and “other” which the source does not define. It does not include other items such as money for the Afghan and Iraq wars—$50 billion for Fiscal Year 2007 and an extra $70 billion for FY 2006, on top of the $50 billion approved by Congress.)

For Fiscal Year 2006 it was $441.6 billion
For Fiscal Year 2005 it was $420.7 billion
For Fiscal Year 2004 it was $399.1 billion .
For Fiscal Year 2003 it was $396.1 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2002 it was $343.2 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2001 it was $305 billion. And Congress had increased that budget request to $310 billion.
This was up from approximately $288.8 billion, in 2000.
These figures typically do not include combat figures, so 2001 onwards, the Afghan war, and 2003 onwards, the Iraq war costs are not in this budget. As of early 2006, Congress had already approved an additional funding total of $300 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Context: U.S. Military Spending Versus Rest of the World
As of 2005:
The US military spending was almost two-fifths of the total.
The US military spending was almost 7 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender.
The US military budget was almost 29 times as large as the combined spending of the six “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) who spent $14.65 billion.
It was more than the combined spending of the next 14 nations.
The United States and its close allies accounted for some two thirds to three-quarters of all military spending, depending on who you count as close allies (typically NATO countries, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan and South Korea)
The six potential “enemies,” Russia, and China together spent $139 billion, 30% of the U.S. military budget.

As we move into the 2008 elections, and as we wait for Congress to consider Bush's budget request, we should weigh each member on the values they hold when they are asked to loosen the purse strings.

Comments

[Doug Tarnopol]

If the Congress doesn't use its power of the purse, whether by filibuster or not, to scale back the explosion in military spending, the tax cuts, etc. -- and especially to end the war in Iraq (to say nothing of passing legislation to prevent war in Iran), then we are truly living in an authoritarian state.

Don't hold your breath -- make phone calls every day to your Senators and reps; make them log the calls (they usually do but sometimes squirm out of it); write letters to the editors, etc.

I think war in Iran is coming. At that point, there really does need to be a massive outpouring into the streets that makes 2/15/03 look like the small crowd that was reported. If that doesn't happen, we deserve everything we get. Sooner or later, we the people must act.