The middle class has dodged most of the bullets from the Battle
of the Cliff, but the guns from the promised negotiations on spending cuts are
squarely aimed at us.
The president has expressed a willingness to reduce spending on popular
programs like Medicare, and he’s still talking about entitlement reform, which
means cuts to Social Security. Republican lawmakers are salivating at the
prospect of getting these cuts. Where in all this chatter is any mention of cuts to the bloated Pentagon budget? Numerous reports document that $100 billion a year could be safely cut from military spending, with hundreds of costly overseas bases as the chief culprits of overspending.
Other reports document that military spending is the least effective way to
create jobs. Education, health care, renewable energy, and, yes, even tax cuts
create more jobs than giving money hand over fist to the war industry, as we do
now.
Let’s flip this script. First, cut the Pentagon. Remember, Social Security has added not one dime to our deficit.
Let’s flip this script. First, cut the Pentagon. Remember, Social Security has added not one dime to our deficit.
Jane Swift Dugdale, Bryn Mawr
No comments:
Post a Comment