Special Alert: We Are Not Broke!

Great news, readers: despite reports that the cupboard has gone bare and we simply lack the money to ensure a sound education, good jobs, a robust infrastructure, and a solid safety net for this generation and those to come, it turns out the money has been right here all along.

Hidden behind that big jar marked "Pentagon" and the supersized box of corporate tax breaks, we have all the resources we need to thrive as a nation — if we all pay our fair share and make sound choices that bring us real security in our homes and communities.

For years the idea has been cultivated that federal spending on everything but the military has been out of control, and we are coming down to our last crumbs of federal resources. Some of those pushing this narrative have insisted we must slash all but the military budget if we are to avoid dire collapse in our economic system.

Most recently, a number of groups have been pushing for a so-called “grand bargain” that would trade some concessions on taxes for fundamental changes that would cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and other programs that fund community needs while exempting the Pentagon’s bloated budget from the conversation. There’s something very fishy in this narrative.

Like a hard sell from a used car dealership, the numbers on this high pressure sales job just don’t add up. Don’t be fooled: the consequences of such a “grand bargain” are far worse than those of sequestration.
To be clear, there would be no “fiscal cliff” if some in Congress had not sought to force cuts to non-military discretionary programs through a series of manufactured crises over the past two years. Rather than pursuing sensible, reality-based budgeting by allowing misguided tax cuts for the wealthiest to expire and reversing the massive increases in military spending that largely fueled the current federal debt, those calling for cuts have focused on the parts of the budget that have grown least.

It makes no sense for Congress to spend over half of the dollars it has discretion to allocate on a military budget that has already doubled since 1998 — without even counting the $1.38 trillion in additional funds allocated to wage wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — even as millions of families struggle to find work, and to feed and house their families.

Pentagon contractors have raised an anguished outcry over potential impacts of the “sequester” on the military budget — yet these "dangerous" cuts of roughly 10 percent over 9 years would only return military spending levels to the dark ages of 2007, a time when the U.S. was waging two wars and military spending levels far outpaced those of the Cold War. And what about all those jobs at risk? Many of the military contractors most vocal about the likelihood of massive job cuts if military budgets are cut have actually cut more jobs in recent boom years than in lean ones. A battery of studies have shown that military spending is a particularly poor job creator, and most other areas of federal spending create much higher levels of employment.

Our current levels of military spending far exceed rational bounds. The U.S. accounts for roughly half — more than $700 billion — of all global military spending — and many of the other big spenders are our allies. We’re like a family hoarding a massive personal arsenal of weapons completely extraneous to any real threats we face – and when hard times come, we decide to spend less on food, medicine, heat, and home repairs so we can fill our neglected pantry with rocket launchers and grenades.

Instead, let’s make a choice to thrive once more, by moving our money to health care, clean energy or education, where any spending will support twice as many jobs and more fundamental security for our families and communities. One of the most effective ways to spend public dollars is on services to those who need them, like meals for children in poverty, cancer screenings, and unemployment stipends. Both our physical infrastructure — roads, bridges, buses, trains — and our communal infrastructure — hospitals, libraries, schools — deserve more funding, not just to keep them safe and functioning, but also to connect workers to jobs and neighbors to neighbors.

It’s also time to act on the other side of the federal budget equation — raising revenues from those who’ve benefited the most from unfairness in our tax code. If all corporations just paid the 35 percent federal tax they are supposed to, we’d have an extra $219 billion in the public treasury annually to cover the cost of fixing roads, hiring teachers, and helping families heat their homes.

Readers, we’re not broke. We remain a nation of abundance and opportunity if we make smart budgeting decisions. Real security for this nation comes in the form of jobs, schools, housing, and healthcare – not outdated weapons and extras the Pentagon hasn’t even asked for. The Obama Administration and Congress must get to work filling our pantry with the things we truly need to ensure a better future for all.

Arnie Alpert is the New Hampshire program coordinator and Robin Aura Kanegis is the director of the Office of Public Policy for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker peace and social justice organization with programs in 35 cities and 14 countries.

Federal Spending From the Ground Up, Not the Top Dow

President Obama’s budget proposal, due Monday, will touch off Washington-centric squabbles over proper levels of federal spending and taxing. Snooze-inducing terms like “continuing resolutions,” “discretionary spending,” and “entitlement spending” will dominate political debates all the way through the presidential caucus/primary season to the 2012 election.

In the rest of the country, people would prefer a straightforward response to the unemployment and foreclosure crises that are prompting talk of states declaring bankruptcy. One answer is staring us in the face: Put cutting the “national security” budget back on the table.

That’s a key step for President Obama and Congress to fulfill their constitutional obligation to “promote the general welfare” - and to protect vital programs, like food and housing assistance, for our most vulnerable neighbors.

People across the country are watching relatives, friends, and coworkers struggle with unemployment and under-employment at levels which make claims of an “economic recovery” laughable. In my state of New Hampshire, homeless shelters that were already full before the economic collapse are seeing increasing numbers of first-time visitors. The average length of a shelter stay continues to rise from 51 days in 2009 to 55 days in 2010 because there simply are not enough decent jobs or apartments with affordable rents.

Nationwide, the number of low-income households who had to pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing went up by 20 percent in the past two years. But instead of recognizing this housing emergency, budget hawks in Washington are letting their obsession with deficits cloud common sense. For example, the House Appropriations Committee is proposing a 17 percent cut in the housing budget. That would mean that hundreds of thousands of poor families whose rent is subsidized with public dollars will lose their homes.

And the President proposes to reduce federal spending by focusing on domestic programs – even though his own budget director acknowledges “discretionary spending not related to security represents just a little more than one-tenth of the entire federal budget.”

That “national security” spending is out of proportion to people’s daily needs. With two ongoing wars funded as special “overseas contingency operations” and a defense budget whose scale has little relationship to the actual threats our country faces, security-related funding takes up roughly half of the appropriations controlled on an annual basis by Congress - the so-called “discretionary budget.”

That amount - $708.3 billion - equals the combined military spending of nearly every other country, many of whom are our allies. Why continue this bloat, especially in the face of continued and growing human needs at home?

Instead, Congress and the President should join forces to put America back to work, even if investments in education and infrastructure cause short-term deficits. Money in the wallets of low income and working class people is the best recipe for raising demand and producing economic growth.

Finally, we need to look at our tax system. Given the fact that most of the benefits from economic growth in recent years has gone to the wealthiest among us, it is reasonable to let the Bush era tax cuts expire for those at the top of the pile. Congress also should give attention to closing corporate tax loopholes, which the President’s deficit commission calls a significant leak in the federal coffers.

The President’s budget director says the budget is “an expression of our values and aspirations.” That’s a good place to start, and a good place to return.

Arnie Alpert is New Hampshire Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that works for peace, social justice, and nonviolent change.

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