Military Spending Hurts Our Economy

Glen Anderson, submitted to The Olympian September 26, 2010

The September 22 editorial claiming that the local military base helps our economy repeats a familiar myth that simply is not true.

The editorial praises the numbers of military people who move here. Our local communities already suffer from excessive population, suburban sprawl, air and water pollution, and traffic jams. The editorial supports more of the same — more problems and higher expenses to those of us who already live here.

Reagan, Bush, and Obama sharply increased military spending. How do we pay for the bloated military? By raising taxes, borrowing from China and other countries, and cutting spending for vital domestic priorities.

Federal budget cuts to state and local governments have caused very severe crises for state and local funding for education, health, housing, libraries, mass transit, and environmental protection.

Politicians and the Olympian point to the money that military bases spend, but they avoid admitting that military spending causes deficits and forces cuts to these truly vital local activities.

For decades economists have proven that military spending creates fewer jobs per billion dollars than spending for domestic programs such as education or housing. The bloated military budget is actually costing our economy a great many jobs that could have been created for the same amount of money.

Also, domestic spending would give us better education, health, housing, environments, etc. – rather than be wasted on killing people and destroying nations.

The editorial looks more like a public relations scam from the Pentagon’s propaganda machine than a serious economic analysis.

Sincerely,

Glen Anderson