The United States spends more on its military-corporate complex than the next seven nations of the world combined, and unlike any other nation on earth we have been in a state of constant war somewhere in the world essentially for half a century. From the corporate point of view this has been profit heaven. They make a bomb, a bullet, or a missile, for a total cost of billions of dollars, and they only get used once. Then the government buys another one. The one thing the trillions of dollars America has spent on the military-corporate complex that doesn't get enough money is the funding to pay the men and women who serve in the military, to a point that low rank enlisted often don't have enough money to buy food for their families. I argued about this when I was Special Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations in the 1970s, and since then it has only gotten worse. Why is this happening? Obviously, because the people who serve in the military only represent cost, they produce no profit, and everything in the United States is run on the priority of producing profit.
Food service specialists assigned to the 429th Brigade Support Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Credit: Flickr
By any standard, the money the United States government pours into its military is simply overwhelming. Take the $858-billion defense spending authorization that President Biden signed into law last month. Not only did that bill pass in an otherwise riven Senate by a bipartisan majority of 83-11, but this year’s budget increase of 4.3% is the second highest in inflation-adjusted terms since World War II. Indeed, the Pentagon has been granted more money than the next 10 largest cabinet agencies combined. And that doesn’t even take into account funding for homeland security or the growing costs of caring for the veterans of this country’s post-9/11 wars. That legislation also includes the largest pay raise in 20 years for active-duty and reserve forces and an expansion of a supplemental “basic needs allowance” to support military families with incomes near the poverty line.
Albus Eddie
on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 5:30 am
Until the population learns that military service equals service to the political/corporate elite this will continue. The lesson is slowly being learned which is why the military has such a difficult time meeting its recruitment goals. If you have a job that will not allow you to feed your family that is easily done in your local community. No need to risk your life overseas for the prospect. This reality was true at the time of Vietnam, and has continued to be true since.
Albus Eddie
on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 6:01 am
“Hunger can and does fuel armed violence, and has helped lead the way to some of the most brutal regimes in history. In an era when uniformed personnel were distinctly overrepresented among the domestic extremists who attacked our Capitol on January 6, 2021, one of the fastest ways to undermine our quality of life may just be to let our troops and their families, hungry and in anguish, turn against their own people.”
These points at the end of the article resonate. The question is: Will we as a society learn the lesson?
Until the population learns that military service equals service to the political/corporate elite this will continue. The lesson is slowly being learned which is why the military has such a difficult time meeting its recruitment goals. If you have a job that will not allow you to feed your family that is easily done in your local community. No need to risk your life overseas for the prospect. This reality was true at the time of Vietnam, and has continued to be true since.
“Hunger can and does fuel armed violence, and has helped lead the way to some of the most brutal regimes in history. In an era when uniformed personnel were distinctly overrepresented among the domestic extremists who attacked our Capitol on January 6, 2021, one of the fastest ways to undermine our quality of life may just be to let our troops and their families, hungry and in anguish, turn against their own people.”
These points at the end of the article resonate. The question is: Will we as a society learn the lesson?