DEPARTMENTS
ANTI-WAR
DEATH PENALTY
ELECTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
GLBT ISSUES
HEMP
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
REVIEWS
|
Departments National Issues I just found 29 million jobs No, I'm not about to say "Just raise taxes on gazillionaires and hire people to build stuff." I'm all in favor of that, for lots of reasons, including the political corruption created by a concentration of wealth. We might have to disempower gazillionaires before we can enact any sensible policies, including the one I'm about to propose, but it can itself be done without raising a dime in revenue. This means that the President, who has broad, albeit unconstitutional, powers to move funding around from one program to another could do this himself. Or Congress could. Whichever branch of government found the decency first could create 29 million well-paid and rewarding jobs improving the world. And this could be done through policies long favored by a majority of Americans. How, you ask? Well, I noticed that we didn't create any more jobs in August, but did see a record number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan. Then I saw all the reports on the $60 billion "wasted" by the Pentagon in Iraq and Afghanistan. This started me thinking. Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe looked at that $60 billion and asked what else could have been done with it. Drawing on a 2009 study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), they concluded that instead, we might have created 193,000 jobs. That is to say, given all the military and contractor jobs that in fact were created for the U.S. workforce by that $60 billion, we could have created 193,000 MORE jobs. This is, in fact, the tradeoff found in the 2009 study between military spending (not even "wasted" military spending) and tax cuts for working people. There are some other calculations in the same study, however. If we had spent that $60 billion on clean energy, we would have created (directly or indirectly) 330,000 more jobs. If we'd spent it on healthcare, we'd have created 480,000 more jobs. And if we'd spent it on education, we'd have created 1.05 million more jobs. But isn't it strange to make this calculation using the $60 billion that was supposedly wasted rather than with the $1.2 trillion that has been spent in total on two wars that a majority says should be ended and should never have begun? If we look at the $1.2 trillion that has been worse than wasted on killing large numbers of people and making us less safe, we find that we could have instead created anything in the range between 3.9 million to 21 million more jobs, depending on whether we moved the war spending to tax cuts or education or something in between. Ideally, of course, we'd have put some into education, some into clean energy, etc., resulting in a figure somewhere between those two. But this is all looking at the past. What about going forward? Well, I also noticed Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's calculation that $1.8 trillion could be saved over 10 years by ending the wars now. That's a figure taking a broader view of war spending, to include veterans' care, and that fact almost certainly alters the calculations. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the same tradeoffs still held, by choosing to save that $1.8 trillion, we could add between 5.8 million and 31.5 million jobs over the next 10 years. Or, sticking with the "wasted" military spending angle, we could start with the $2.3 trillion the Pentagon is unable to account for. That kind of tradeoff would give us 7.4 million to 40.3 million jobs depending on how we chose to invest the money. Of course, the $2.3 trillion is in the past, but given the dramatic trend toward more no-bid contracts (now 45% of military contracting) it seems a safe bet that corruption will hold steady or increase in the years to come. But let's forget about "lost" trillions and look at typical military spending, which is what the study we're basing this on looked at. Of the $1.2 trillion spent each year now on the military, about $700 billion goes through the Department of Defense, which is what the study we're using looked at. (Another $75 billion, for example, is spent on protecting cows and lakes while enriching campaign funders through the Department of Homeland Security.) We're spending about half of discretionary spending on the military, and several times as much as the next highest spending nation in the world. Let's say we want to create 29 million jobs in 10 years. That's 2.9 million each year. Here's one way to do it. Take $100 billion from the Department of Defense and move it into education. That creates 1.75 million jobs per year. Take another $50 billion and move it into healthcare spending. There's an additional 400,000 jobs. Take another $100 billion and move it into clean energy. There's another 550,000 jobs. And take another $62 billion and turn it into tax cuts, generating an additional 200,000 jobs. Now the military spending in the Department of Energy, the State Department, Homeland Security, and so forth have not been touched. And the Department of Defense has been cut back to about $388 billion, which is to say: more than it was getting 10 years ago when our country went collectively insane. Of course I'm writing about numbers here and the numbers represent actual people with particular needs and abilities. A major effort would be needed to convert military factories and workers to green energy and other industries. Net job gains reflect a lot of job losses and redirected careers. But that conversion is part of this process and will involve job creation itself. If additional funding is needed, then, you know what, the hell with it, go ahead and tax a few multi-billionaires. It won't hurt them. ---------------- David Swanson is the author of War Is A Lie. Article |
|
Recent National Issues Articles Extraordinary interview: In love with tortured man -- Indefinite imprisonment, torture, terror inside California prisons through eyes of woman of courage Stop picking on the poor plutocrats Don’t mute Newt My declaration of war on Christmas Pvt. Manning and Imperative of Truth The Real Christmas Story The trial of Bradley Manning — Rule of law or rule of intimidation, retaliation & retribution Are Americans in line for Gitmo? Project Bugsplat Eliminate tax subsidies for big oil companies ? The last whistleblowers Lesson of White House Strafing: Limit Guns Now The bravest man I ever met I'm thankful for Occupy Occupy Crackdown: PCJF and NLG Demand Records of Federal Involvemen Mass day of action on 2-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street Seven arrested at demonstration at US Bank in downtown Columbus, Ohio Move to Amend gaining momentum Listen to the song: Occupy Wall Street From Occupy Wall Street to Occupy the Neighborhoods Occupy movement demands home mortgages correction Will the 1% steal Ohio's labor rights referendum? Democracy key to fixing economic and eco crises, says Van Jones during visit to Columbus Former Tea Partier reaches out to Occupy Movement Official VFP statement regarding police assaults in Oakland Numbers justify Occupy Movement Occupy our chambers of commerce Arab Spring revolutionaries meet with Occupy activists in DC The abandoned class: Will Occupy Wall Street hold together long enough to cut to the deep chase? Jim Hightower tells Occupistas : just being out here is a big part of the battle Occupy The Hood Let's protest big banks at their Columbus branches Obama vs. jobs; Hope vs. reality Be a part of history. Help Occupy Columbus. Ohio Right of Life: Informed consent v. informed consent -- it's all situational Dr. Cornel West and 14 others arrested protesting corporate power at U.S. Supreme Court Occupy Columbus continues with gatherings at Ohio Statehouse and so-called Columbus Commons Class warrior from Wisconsin says building a movement requires courage, solidarity, and long-term organization Occupied -- What now? Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern : the movement is building Hey DC--You Look So Sexy ! To build a mass movement we got to care more and be uncomfortable, says flaming fundamentalist Columbus Free Press photos : Occupation in Freedom Plaza, D.C. Mass movement appears to be getting started, says David Swanson Our overripe moment We Are The 99 Percent The Progressive Humanifesto Declaration of the Occupation of New York City A judge grants dubious probation The old integrity You've convinced me...Now go out and make me do it. Fracking (if done right) is a way to combat Global Warming, says Congressman Tim Ryan The NFL will remember 9/11 in all the wrong ways I just found 29 million jobs 9/11 and the Orwellian redefinition of "Conspiracy Theory" An upcoming Charlottesville conference highlights the importance of whistleblowers when addressing the corruption present in military contracting How do we build a movement to defeat right-wing extremism? How the budget cutting Is going to go down Did Tenet Hide Key 9/11 Info? Equal and opposite lunacy Obama on the Backs of the Poor Budget deal Is a “Huge Mistake” If you declare bankruptcy, will everything be OK in a few days, weeks? Balance the budget on the backs of billionaires Move the budget debate to one of those democracies we're bombing into place The "There's Plenty of Money Act of 2012" King George III won: Happy Fourth of July! Fight Back Radio Show with Wayne Madsen In Memoriam: Gil Scot Heron Libertarians say restore freedom, repeal Patriot Act Perfecting the art of civil protest Down the rabbit hole with democracy and three urgent pleas The cure for plutocracy: Strike! White House website lying about your taxes Did you just call me a Socialist? Local and national political leader Norman Solomon officially launches his run for Congress in the North Bay Stand Up for Women's Health Rally Manning Marable and me In a Heartbeat: Ruling Class keeps the Bush tax cuts then attacks the middle class. Michigan fascism old news in DC The Green Bay Packers and the union backers Go to Wisconsin, President Obama The Push of Conscience and Secretary Clinton Fighting the 5 fascisms in Wisconsin & Ohio Fight yields victory, points the way! Ohio Republicans would execute Medicare recipients NFL---The untold story! Decades in the making: The U.S. police state Profiles of the Targeted: FBI Raided My Home, Wanted to Know About "My Indoctrination" An extremist for love: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Then and now A Time for Action -- Not Servility Following, not just commemorating, Dr. King – in Words. Deeds. Action… Bradley Manning and the rule of law The Tuscon shooting: We must place blame where it belongs Welcome to 2011: The american dream lives -- while you're asleep Repeal, replace, ... ridiculous Read National Issues Articles by Year: |
FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE
Donate to the Free Press Election Protection Fund to help us investigate and monitor election fraud in this year's election.
FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook
SEARCH THE FREEPRESS
1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer