War, security blow a hole in economy

Article written by Betsy Crites and was published in the Durham Herald-Sun Newspaper. Crites is the director of NC Peace Action and has collaborated with AFSC Area Office of the Carolinas on a number of events.

By Betsy Crites

Herald-Sun guest columnist

It's budget time again, that contentious time of year when we argue about our priorities as a community, state and nation. We often hear from politicians that ordinary citizens know how to balance their checkbooks and that government needs to do the same.

The federal budget deficit is projected to be $1.5 trillion and the state budget deficit is projected at $2.7 billion. Deficits deserve to be a big issue. The question is how do we determine our priorities?

Everything is "on the table," we're told. That being the case, we can brace ourselves for a major debate over the military budget, which is 59 percent of discretionary spending (including the Department of Defense, war, Veterans Affairs and nuclear weapons programs). Will the Pentagon continue its favored status, immune from cuts? How does that affect us locally?

According to a study conducted by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC), affiliated with the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, average Americans can not only balance their own budgets, they are also able to balance the federal budget. Unlike conventional polls, PPC first presents respondents with information on policy issues and a range of options.

Steven Kull, director of PPC said, "When given information and a chance to sort through their options, most Americans do a pretty good job of dealing with America's budget problems -- better than most politicians."

Respondents came up with cuts and revenue increases that on average would reduce the deficit by $437.3 billion.

They made net spending cuts of $145.7 billion. The largest cuts were to defense, intelligence, military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the federal highway system.

(See www.worldpublicopinion.org for more information on the study.)

The study indicates that when presented with the same problem faced by elected officials, but free of the pressures of lobbyists and ideologies, people can find the ways to restore balance.

Although many elected officials use fear-based arguments to avoid looking at the biggest line item in the budget, not all politicians are dogmatic about maintaining high levels of military spending. A bipartisan commission known as The Sustainable Defense Task Force explored possible defense budget contributions to deficit reduction. They chose cuts that would not compromise the essential security of the United States and came up with the recommendation to cut the military budget by 25 percent.

In November the Defense Business Board, a Pentagon oversight body, said that major systemic cuts were necessary. Why? The Pentagon's budget is simply not sustainable.

Last May, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed "cutting" $100 billion over 5 years. These are not real cuts: The savings will be recycled back to the Pentagon.

In January he proposed actual cuts of $78 billion over five years. Given the size of the Pentagon budget, this would, in the words of President Reagan's budget director David Stockman, amount to "a pinprick." He further commented, "There are no real seriously armed enemies left in the world that can possibly justify an $800 billion national defense and security establishment, including Homeland Security."

On the state level, North Carolina taxpayers share of the military budget for 2011 is $19.9 billion. For perspective, the entire state budget is $19 billion. Durham City taxpayers' share is $487.3 million. Durham's total budget appropriations are about $345 million. In other words, 70 percent of what Durham citizens' pay for U.S. defense could cover the entire city budget.

As we watch the legislature cut jobs and funding for schools, healthcare, food programs and more, we must remember it is not for lack of money. It's just that the money, our money, is going to fund weapons and wars rather than to meet human needs.

To see our personal priorities in action, we can look at our checkbooks or credit card statement. We generally put our money where our values are, unless we are trapped in some addiction where we spend excessively without considering the consequences.

The same is true of our state and federal checkbook. For decades it has shown that we value warfare, now euphemistically called "security." This addiction is draining resources. Elected officials need to hear from us about priorities. Let's put our tax money where are values are.

Betsy Crites is the director of N.C. Peace Action.

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