Fred Fiske in Agreement on the Absurdity of the Military Budget

On public radio in Washington, D.C., Fred Fiske identified the absurdity of the U.S. Military Budget. His statistics agree that the military budget is superfluous and should be the area targeted for cutbacks. Based on this information, my recommendation would be towards the WCCI mentioned in the previous blog.

WAMU 88.5
Many consumers, businesses, and universities have been finding ways to put a lid on spending during the recession. Senior Commentator Fred Fiske says if the government is looking for a place to cut back, it should look no further than the military.

Fred Fiske
With all the talk about budget deficits and our horrendous national debt, you don't hear references to the fact that the amount the United States spends on defense equals the combined military spending of all the other countries in the world. No patriotic American would want to endanger our country, however, in view of the fact that our crippling deficits present a very real threat to our stability and opposition in the world, I would like to present to you some facts about our military spending.

Of 195 countries in the world, only 19 have no U.S. military presence. Of a total of 1,690,000 personnel, more than 550,000 are posted outside our borders. In 1938 we had 14 military bases oversees; today we have about a 1000. We have soldiers in East Asia and the Pacific, in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Canada, Brazil, in all the countries of Europe, in the former Soviet Union, and 2000 stationed in the Americas. Let it be said that 271,500 military personnel are stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. We could understand why those numbers are high. Why we need soldiers in Australia and New Zealand, in Mozambique and Botswana, in Costa Rica and Uruguay is another story. It's easy to understand our military presence in may parts of the world where U.S. interest may be in danger, but why they are vital in many other countries is a mystery.

The figures I have presented are from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Office of Management and Budget, and from the budget of the American government. They've been published in American History Magazine.

Analysts have said that the U.S. faces no military threat from any nation in the world. The dangers we face are economic and ideological. The nation threatening our leadership position in the world is China. China's share of world military spending is 8%, the U.S. share is 48%. All of Europe spends 20%, our sometimes adversary Russia only 5%. My guess is that most of this growth took place following World War II when we were protecting military supply routes, and during the Cold War with the Soviet Union when we feared Communist subversion in many parts of the world. The threat is gone, but the troops remain. Like bureaucracies generally, I suspect the numbers just kept growing. We had large surpluses and nobody wanted to appear soft on defeense. Now, however, when we're considering whether we can afford national healthcare and whether we should cut other programs, wouldn't it be wise to assess the necessity and the wisdom of our worldwide military spending?

Petition for the Starving

As the Dalai Lama says, "Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation," but "human to human."

By the end of the evening, an estimated 25,000 children will have died from malnutrition (UNICEF). One billion children live in poverty world wide. Over 13 million children lived in poverty in 2007 in America alone--before the recession. As children die in masses from malnutrition, our government sits unresponsive. Meanwhile, over 44 percent of tax dollars are allocated to the military budget. Based on the CIA Factbook, the U.S. Military Budget for 2008 was 623 billion dollars. The rest of the world's combined military budgets reached only 500 billion dollars.

With over 37 million people in the United States living in poverty and over 3 billion people living on less than $2 per day world wide, America must answer the call for action. By lowering the military budget by one percent and dedicating the savings to poverty response spending, America can save millions of children worldwide from the quiet and lingering death of hunger. The funds would be allocated by the government to World Centers of Compassion for Children International, who would then distribute the money to organizations who have a direct need to help children in danger which may result from the war-torn situations, extreme poverty, inadequate access to safe water, etc. To receive the funds, these organizations would provide a proposal of how much money is needed and their desired results.

The goal of World Centers of Compassion for Children International is to have every country lower their military budgets one percent for this cause. As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, America should lead this initiative. Because our military budget already far surpasses that of any other country in the world, a one percent decrease would offer no threat to national security, but would greatly influence the lives of countless children across the globe.

We have sat idly and watched the tragedies of our time unfold for too long; it is time to intervene. It is time to stand for the values we claim to hold most dear, and move to defend the least of these among us. We are called to action by the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu who says, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." Time for action is now. Visit this website, sign this petition, and let's work together for change.

Click Here!
http://www.change.org/actions/view/petition_for_the_starving