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<div align="left"><font color="#990000"><b><font face="Arial"><font
color="#000000">in this email:<br>
1) 11/10 - Bail Out the People Movement Meeting<br>
2) The Pentagon budget: largest ever and growing</font></font></b><b><big><big><font
face="Arial"><br>
</font></big></big></b></font>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><b><font face="Arial">1)</font></b><font
color="#990000"><b><big><big><font face="Arial"><br>
Tuesday, Nov. 10 - 6:30 pm</font></big></big></b></font><br>
</div>
<big><b><font color="#990000"><big><font face="Arial"><br>
<font color="#000000">Get Involved -- <br>
Build a Coalition to Fight for Jobs, Housing, Education & Health
Care!</font></font></big><font color="#000000"><br>
<big><font face="Arial">Stop Racism, Foreclosures, Utility Shutoffs
& Budget Cuts</font></big><br>
</font><big><font face="Arial"><font color="#000000">Bail Out the
People, Not the Banks!</font><br>
</font></big></font></b></big><font face="Arial"><br>
<font color="#990000"><b><big><big>Bail Out the People Movement Meeting</big></big></b></font><br>
<br>
<b><big><big>USW L. 8751</big></big><br>
Boston School Bus Drivers Union Hall</b><br>
25 Colgate Rd., Roslindale<br>
(a few blocks south of Forrest Hills T, off Wash. St.)<br>
<br>
</font>
<div align="left"><b><i><font face="Arial"><span
style="font-style: italic; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">Discussion
will include:</span></font></i></b></div>
<div align="left">
<ul type="disc">
<li><font face="Arial">T</font><font face="Arial">he struggle for
justice by workers at the Hyatt & Harvard</font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">The Campaign to Fight for Jobs & Against
Layoffs</font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">Racism & the Attacks on Healthcare Reform</font></li>
<li style="" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span
style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Organizing to Stop
Foreclosures, Utility Shutoffs and Budget Cuts<o:p></o:p></span></font>
</li>
<li style="" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span
style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Youth Need Jobs &
Education Not Prisons and War<o:p></o:p></span></font> </li>
<li style="" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span
style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">The Pentagon,
Afghanistan, Iraq and the Economic Crisis<o:p></o:p></span></font> </li>
<li style="" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="3"><span
style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">The Struggle for Equal
Quality Education<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
</ul>
<br>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><b><font face="Arial">2)</font></b>
<h1><font color="#990000"><small><font face="Arial">The Pentagon
budget: largest ever and growing</font></small></font></h1>
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<!---byline-->
<div class="byline"><font face="Arial">By Sara Flounders
<br>
</font></div>
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<!--begin page--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">On Oct. 28, President Barack Obama signed the
2010 Defense Authorization Act,
the largest military budget in U.S. history.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">It is not only the world’s largest military
budget but is larger than the
military expenditures of the whole rest of the world combined. And it
is
growing nonstop. The 2010 military budget—which doesn’t even cover
many war-related expenditures—is listed as $680 billion. In 2009 it was
$651 billion and in 2000 was $280 billion. It has more than doubled in
10
years.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin image--><!--end image-->
<!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">What a contrast to the issue of health care.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The U.S. Congress has been debating a basic
health care plan—which every
other industrialized country in the world has in some form—for more
than
six months. There has been intense insurance company lobbying,
right-wing
threats, and dire warnings that a health care plan must not add one
dime to the
deficit.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Yet in the midst of this life-and-death debate on
medical care for millions of
working and poor people who have no health coverage, a gargantuan
subsidy to
the largest U.S. corporations for military contracts and weapons
systems—a real deficit-breaker—is passed with barely any discussion
and hardly a news article.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin image--><!--end image-->
<!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Physicians for a National Health Program
estimates that a universal,
comprehensive single-payer health plan would cost $350 billion a year,
which
would actually be the amount saved through the elimination of all the
administrative costs in the current private health care system—a system
that leaves out almost 50 million people.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Compare this to just the cost overruns each year
in the military budget. Even
President Obama on signing the Pentagon budget said, “The Government
Accountability Office, the GAO, has looked into 96 major defense
projects from
the last year, and found cost overruns that totaled $296 billion.”
(whitehouse.gov, Oct. 28)</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Bernard Madoff’s $50-billion Ponzi scheme,
supposedly the biggest rip-off
in history, pales in comparison. Why is there no criminal inquiry into
this
multibillion-dollar theft? Where are the congressional hearings or
media
hysteria about $296 billion in cost overruns? Why are the CEOs of the
corporations not brought into court in handcuffs?</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The cost overruns are an integral part of the
military subsidy to the largest
U.S. corporations. They are treated as business as usual. Regardless of
the
party in office, the Pentagon budget grows, the cost overruns grow and
the
proportion of domestic spending shrinks.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Addicted to war</strong></font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">This year’s military budget is only the latest
example of how the U.S.
economy is kept afloat by artificial means. Decades of constantly
reviving the
capitalist economy through the stimulus of war spending has created an
addiction to militarism that U.S. corporations can’t do without. But it
is no longer large enough to solve the capitalist problem of
overproduction.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The justification given for this annual
multibillion-dollar shot in the arm was
that it would help to cushion or totally avoid a capitalist recession
and could
curb unemployment. But as Workers World Party founder Sam Marcy warned
in 1980
in “Generals Over the White House,” over a protracted period more
and more of this stimulant is needed. Eventually it turns into its
opposite and
becomes a massive depressant that sickens and rots the entire society.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The root of the problem is that as technology
becomes more productive, workers
get a smaller and smaller share of what they produce. The U.S. economy
is more
and more dependent on the stimulant of superprofits and
multibillion-dollar
military cost overruns to soak up a larger and larger share of what is
produced. This is an essential part of the constant redistribution of
wealth
away from the workers and into the pockets of the superrich.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">According to the Center for Arms Control and
Non-Proliferation, U.S. military
spending is now significantly more, in 2009 inflation-adjusted dollars,
than it
was during the peak years of the Korean War (1952: $604 billion), the
Vietnam
War (1968: $513 billion) or the 1980s Reagan-era military buildup
(1985: $556
billion). Yet it is no longer enough to keep the U.S. economy afloat.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Even forcing oil-rich countries dependent on the
U.S. to become debtor nations
with endless weapons purchases can’t solve the problem. More than
two-thirds of all weapons sold globally in 2008 were from U.S. military
companies. (Reuters, Sept. 6)</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">While a huge military program was able in the
1930s to pull the U.S. economy
out of a devastating collapse, over a long period this artificial
stimulus
undermines capitalist processes.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Economist Seymour Melman, in books such as
“Pentagon Capitalism,”
“Profits without Production” and “The Permanent War Economy:
American Capitalism in Decline,” warned of the deterioration of the
U.S.
economy and the living standards of millions.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Melman and other progressive economists argued
for a rational “economic
conversion” or the transition from military to civilian production by
military industries. They explained how one B-1 bomber or Trident
submarine
could pay the salaries of thousands of teachers, provide scholarships
or day
care or rebuild roads. Charts and graphs showed that the military
budget
employs far fewer workers than the same funds spent on civilian needs.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">These were all good and reasonable ideas, except
that capitalism is not
rational. In its insatiable drive to maximize profits it will always
choose
immediate superprofit handouts over even the best interests of its own
long-term survival.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>No “peace dividend”</strong></font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The high expectations, after the end of the Cold
War and the collapse of the
Soviet Union, that billions of dollars could now be turned toward a
“peace dividend” crashed against the continued astronomical growth
of the Pentagon budget. This grim reality has so demoralized and
overwhelmed
progressive economists that today almost no attention is paid to
“economic conversion” or the role of militarism in the capitalist
economy, even though it is far larger today than at the highest levels
of the
Cold War.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The multibillion-dollar annual military subsidy
that bourgeois economists have
relied on since the Great Depression to prime the pump and begin again
the
cycle of capitalist expansion is no longer enough.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Once corporations became dependent on
multibillion-dollar handouts, their
appetite became insatiable. In 2009, in an effort to stave off a
meltdown of
the global capitalist economy, more than $700 billion was handed over
to the
largest banks. And that was just the beginning. The bailout of the
banks is now
in the trillions of dollars.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Even $600 to $700 billion a year in military
spending can no longer restart the
capitalist economy or generate prosperity. Yet corporate America can’t
do
without it.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The military budget has grown so large that it
now threatens to overwhelm and
devour all social funding. Its sheer weight is squeezing out funding
for every
human need. U.S. cities are collapsing. The infrastructure of bridges,
roads,
dams, canals and tunnels is disintegrating. Twenty-five percent of U.S
drinking
water is considered “poor.” Unemployment is officially reaching 10
percent and in reality is double that. Black and Latino/a youth
unemployment is
more than 50 percent. Fourteen million children in the U.S. are living
in
households below the poverty level.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Half of military costs are hidden</strong></font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The announced 2010 military budget of $680
billion is really only about half of
the annual cost of U.S. military expenditures.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">These expenditures are so large that there is a
concerted effort to hide many
military expenses in other budget items. The War Resisters League
annual
analysis listed the real 2009 U.S. military expenses at $1,449 billion,
not the
official budget of $651 billion. Wikipedia, citing several different
sources,
came up with a total military budget of $1,144 billion. Regardless of
who is
counting, it is beyond dispute that the military budget actually
exceeds $1
trillion a year.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The National Priorities Project, the Center for
Defense Information and the
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation analyze and expose many
hidden
military expenses tucked into other parts of the total U.S. budget.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">For example, veterans’ benefits totaling $91
billion are not included in
the Pentagon budget. Military pensions totaling $48 billion are stuck
into the
Treasury Department budget. The Energy Department hides $18 billion in
nuclear
weapons programs in its budget. The $38 billion financing of foreign
arms sales
is included in the State Department budget. One of the largest hidden
items is
the interest on debt incurred in past wars, which totals between $237
billion
and $390 billion. This is really an endless subsidy to the banks, which
are
intimately linked to the military industries.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Every part of these bloated budgets is expected
to grow by 5 to 10 percent a
year, while federal funding to states and cities is shrinking by 10 to
15
percent annually, leading to deficit crises.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">According to the Office of Management and Budget,
55 percent of the total 2010
U.S. budget will go to the military. More than half! Meanwhile, federal
block
grants to states and cities for vital human services—schools, teacher
training, home-care programs, school lunches, basic infrastructure
maintenance
for drinking water, sewage treatment, bridges, tunnels and roads—are
shrinking.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Militarism breeds repression</strong></font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The most dangerous aspect of the growth of the
military is the insidious
penetration of its political influence into all areas of society. It is
the
institution that is the most removed from popular control and the most
driven
to military adventure and repression. Retired generals rotate into
corporate
boardrooms, become talking heads in major media outlets, and high-paid
lobbyists, consultants and politicians.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">It is not a coincidence that along with having
the world’s largest
military machine, the U.S. has the world’s largest prison population.
The
prison-industrial complex is the only growth industry. According to the
U.S.
Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 7.3
million
adults were on probation or parole or incarcerated in 2007. More than
70
percent of the incarcerated are Black, Latino/a, Native and other
people of
color. Black adults are four times as likely as whites to be imprisoned.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Just as in the military, with its hundreds of
thousands of contractors and
mercenaries, the drive to maximize profits has led to the growing
privatization
of the prison system.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The number of prisoners has grown relentlessly.
There are 2.5 times more people
in the prison system today than 25 years ago. As U.S. capitalism is
less and
less able to provide jobs, job training or education, the only
solutions
offered are prisons or the military, wreaking havoc on individuals,
families
and communities.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The weight of the military pushes the repressive
state apparatus into every
part of society. There is an enormous growth of police of every kind
and
countless police and intelligence agencies.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">The budget for 16 U.S. spy agencies reached $49.8
billion in fiscal year 2009;
80 percent of these secret agencies are arms of the Pentagon.
(Associated
Press, Oct. 30) In 1998 this expense was $26.7 billion. But these top
secret
agencies are not included in the military budget. Nor are the
repressive
agencies of immigration and border control.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">U.S. armed forces are stationed at more than 820
military installations around
the world. This doesn’t count hundreds of leased bases and secret
listening posts and many hundreds of ships and submarines.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">But the more the military machine grows, the less
it can control its world
empire because it offers no solutions and no improvements in living
standards.
Pentagon high-tech weapons can read a license plate on a car from a
surveillance satellite; their night vision goggles can penetrate the
dark; and
their drones can incinerate an isolated village. But they are unable to
provide
potable water, schools or stability to the nations attacked.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">Despite all the Pentagon’s fantastic high-tech
weapons, the U.S.
geopolitical position is slipping year after year. Regardless of its
massive
firepower and its state-of-the-art weaponry, U.S. imperialism has been
unable
to reconquer the world markets and position of U.S. finance capital.
Its
economy and its industries have been dragged down by the sheer weight
of
maintaining its military machine. And as the resistance in Iraq and
Afghanistan
has shown, that machine cannot match the determination of people to
control
their own future.</font></p>
<!--end paragraph--><!--begin paragraph-->
<p><font face="Arial">As the mighty U.S. capitalist economy is able to
offer less and less to working
people here in the U.S., that level of determined resistance is sure to
take
root here as well.</font></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature"><big><b>-- </b></big><br>
<hr><font face="arial" size="2"><br>
<b>Bail Out The People Movement<br>
Boston</b><br>
617-522-6626<br>
<a href="mailto:bopmboston@gmail.com">bopmboston@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://bopm-boston.blogspot.com">http://bopm-boston.blogspot.com</a><br>
</font>
<p><font face="arial" size="2"><b>National Office</b><br>
212-633-6646<br>
<a href="mailto:bailoutpeople@safewebmail.com">bailoutpeople@safewebmail.com</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.BailOutPeople.org">http://www.BailOutPeople.org</a>
</font></p>
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