What Would Willie Sutton Do?

 In Afghanistan, Blogroll, Iraq, military, military budget, Nuclear Weapons, Obama, War

When Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “Because that’s where the money is.”

President Obama is violating the “Willie Sutton rule” in seeking to curb the federal budget deficit by freezing discretionary spending, but exempting the military/national security budget from that freeze.

Here is a letter to the editor by Jean Athey, Peace Action Montgomery County (Maryland) and national Peace Action Board Member (she sent it to the Washington Post but they declined to publish it):

To reduce the deficit, President Obama plans to freeze expenditures on social needs during a time of desperation for many in our nation, but he will exempt funding that is related to national security.  Of the total discretionary part of the budget (i.e., the part that is not required by law), “national security” now consumes 55%*. Where do all those billions go?

Here are some of the ways we are spending our “national security” dollars: The U.S. operates about 1,000 foreign military bases**, at a cost of about $250 billion per year***. Almost every week there is another news story on military contractor waste, fraud or abuse. The war spending continues to go up. We have a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons that costs billions to maintain, and we continue to buy weapons systems that in today’s world we don’t need.

If President Obama wants to cut the deficit, he should consider reducing the number of foreign bases, cracking down on war profiteering, eliminating nuclear and other unnecessary weapons, and he should bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

We currently have a military budget that is higher than at any time since World War II, higher even than during the Viet Nam war and the cold war. Why?

Conservative historian and retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich has suggested that we reduce the U.S. military budget to a level that does not exceed the combined military spending of all ten of the next highest-spending countries in the world. If we did that, we’d be cutting our military budget by 31%–a much better way to reduce the deficit. Surely, the U.S. doesn’t need to spend vast sums on the military when our only enemy is a rag-tag bunch of cave dwellers and when we have such pressing needs at home.

*Source: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Publications/NPP_Security_Spending_Primer.pdf

**Source: http://www.fpif.org/articles/too_many_overseas_bases

***Source: http://www.fpif.org/reports/the_cost_of_the_global_us_military_presence

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Showing 6 comments
  • Giancarlo
    Reply

    Nice blog, keep up the good work…..

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    for peace in guatemala and the world

  • Sharon Canty
    Reply

    Have we all lost our senses.. I agree war is at a High cost, expenditure, but, Our Country Must Have the Best, as well as the Locations. That rag-tag bunch of cave dwellers, has and will cause much devestation.. When your dealing with people that have no Human Value,We must be able to hunt them down, before we have another (911) If we where in such high power as before this would of never happened in our Country. Seaking Peace is all well and good, but how do you deal with people that have no regard for human life..?

  • Tim
    Reply

    wow, that spelling contest loser cannot see beyond the tip of her nose. oh, and racist too.

    war is never good except for the rich.

    And 1000 dead US soldiers in Afghanistan does not even BEGIN to measure the horrible human suffering caused by war. (Ask any ex soldier what life has been like with PTSD, or minus a limb, or with a brain injury, etc.) For every death in war there are many fold that number in permanent, horrible injuries that dog the soldier and the soldier’s family throughout his life.

    The number of innocent Afghanis and Iraqis that have been killed is rarely cited. They are humans too. The numbers of INJURED Afghanis and Iraqis could be approaching a million.

    It is always wisest to work SMARTER, not HARDER. Revamping our military (reducing its size) is pure genius. Killing is not the best way to solve disputes. Shrink this monster military we have, and make it a swifter, more effective machine. Shrinking it by 31% is a world saving proposal.

  • Mary Gregory
    Reply

    I agree that the really wasted money is the Pentagon’s budget and I would love
    to see us reduce our number of bases. However, Obama is increasing bases, especially in Latin America. He plans seven more in Columbia

  • Weaver
    Reply

    Why do people lie?

  • Borden
    Reply

    Why do banks leave the door wide open but the pens chained to the counter? =)

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