{"id":16688,"date":"2022-12-03T17:03:32","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T22:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/?p=16688"},"modified":"2022-12-03T17:03:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T22:03:32","slug":"the-permanent-disaster-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/?p=16688","title":{"rendered":"The Permanent Disaster Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"po-hr prt-y\">\n<figure class=\"po-hr-im po-hr-im--landscape prt-x\"><figcaption class=\"po-hr-im__caption po-hr-im__caption--landscape\"><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"po__container\">\n<div class=\"po__main prt-y\">\n<aside class=\"po-sr-sb po-sr--b prt-x\">\n<div class=\"po-sr-sb__container\">\n<div>Earlier this year, Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atrupar\/status\/1508525070033076241?s=20&amp;t=COxKPCS0yYRCYaOEuFWP4g\">described<\/a> his military budget for Fiscal Year 2023 as \u201camong the largest investments in our national security in history.\u201d But what it will actually deliver is a historic redistribution of wealth to the business class: <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/10\/pentagon-budget-military-contractors-lobbyists-biden\">more than half<\/a> of the annual US military budget goes to for-profit companies. So when the House and Senate vote later this month on the Fiscal Year 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/house-bill\/7900\">National Defense Authorization Act<\/a> \u2014 which contains $858 billion in military spending, thanks to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/11\/30\/house-senate-negotiators-45b-biden-defense-budget-00071367\">agreement<\/a> reached this week \u2014 the two chambers will effectively be deciding whether to lavish well over $400 billion on private contractors.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div id=\"post-content\" class=\"po-cn wp po-ws\">\n<section id=\"ch-0\" class=\"po-cn__intro po-ws__intro\">The contrast with ordinary workers could hardly be starker. At the same time weapons companies <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/10\/pentagon-budget-military-contractors-lobbyists-biden\">propel<\/a> Pentagon spending ever-higher \u2014 putting even Cold War\u2013era military budgets <a href=\"https:\/\/stephensemler.substack.com\/p\/reagans-military-buildup-vs-pentagon\">to shame<\/a> \u2014 millions of people in the United States are struggling with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/10\/19\/report-american-workers-are-worse-off-financially-than-a-year-ago.html\">cost-of-living<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/email\/1482d7eb-df80-4f60-9724-e429d5abc72a\/?ref=Lever+Daily-newsletter\">crisis<\/a> exacerbated by inflation. Nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/10\/24\/more-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-as-inflation-outpaces-income.html\">two-thirds<\/a> of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasfed.org\/research\/economics\/2022\/1004\">found<\/a> that a majority of employed workers\u2019 real wages haven\u2019t kept up with inflation over the past year.And how has the Biden administration responded? By dropping pandemic relief in a bid to curb rising prices. Ending pandemic aid has simply <a href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/ending-pandemic-aid-created-a-disaster\/\">deepened<\/a> economic precarity for millions of people. According to an October <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/data\/tables\/2022\/demo\/hhp\/hhp50.html\">Census Bureau<\/a> survey, 41 percent of US households say it\u2019s very or somewhat difficult to pay their typical household expenses. That number was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/data-tools\/demo\/hhp\/#\/?measures=EXPENSE\">26.2 percent<\/a> in April 2021, right <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/03\/25\/about-127-million-1400-stimulus-checks-have-been-sent-what-to-know-about-them.html\">after<\/a> the third round of stimulus payments.<\/p>\n<p>Not surprisingly, most Americans now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/majority-americans-back-stimulus-checks-inflation-poll-1755636\">support<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/12\/17\/22179401\/covid-19-coronavirus-stimulus-national-debt-poll\">enacting<\/a> a fourth stimulus payment. The checks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/06\/02\/us\/politics\/stimulus-checks-economic-hardship.html\">reduced<\/a> economic hardship and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jainfamilyinstitute.org\/news\/robust-evidence-for-1400-relief-and-recovery-checks\/\">improved<\/a> people\u2019s well-being, including their mental health. Unlike military spending, the payments actually met ordinary people\u2019s most urgent and relevant security needs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-177159 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jacobinmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/02122307\/Screenshot-2022-12-02-112221-900x615.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"615\" \/><\/p>\n<aside class=\"sr-at__slot sr-at__slot--left prt-x\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1530207829426-1\" data-google-query-id=\"CL_uuK6w3vsCFfmVAAAdDMcJYA\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21690955159\/jac_posts_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Nothing is stopping Biden or his congressional allies from reviving the stimulus checks (or, for that matter, any of the social programs that were <a href=\"https:\/\/stephensemler.substack.com\/p\/why-isnt-the-ira-bigger-and-better\">stripped out<\/a> of his <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/09\/build-back-better-wasnt-so-great\">Build Back Better plan<\/a>, such as the child tax credit or paid family and medical leave). For instance, here\u2019s one <a href=\"https:\/\/stephensemler.substack.com\/p\/funding-stimulus-checks-with-the\">modest proposal<\/a> to convert a chunk of Fiscal Year 2023 military spending into $600 stimulus checks: First, via amendment, cut $141 billion \u2014 the amount spent on the $600 stimulus checks, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/statistics\/soi-tax-stats-coronavirus-aid-relief-and-economic-security-act-cares-act-statistics\">IRS data<\/a> \u2014 from the amount authorized for the Pentagon for Fiscal Year 2023. (Reductions would not apply to the accounts for military personnel and the Defense Health Program.) Then, send the $141 billion to the Treasury to repeat the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/treasury-and-irs-begin-delivering-second-round-of-economic-impact-payments-to-millions-of-americans\">second round of stimulus payments<\/a>. Simple as that.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that Biden has soured on human security spending. While his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.securityreform.org\/commentary\/2021\/4\/20\/congressional-progressives-must-reject-bidens-regressive-budget\">first budget request<\/a> featured a sweeping domestic agenda (in addition to a massive military budget), ambitious social spending is now being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/28\/us\/politics\/biden-budget-deficit.html\">displaced<\/a> by an emphasis on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/10\/21\/remarks-by-president-biden-on-historic-deficit-reduction\/\">deficit reduction<\/a> and an <a href=\"https:\/\/stephensemler.substack.com\/p\/where-bidens-fy2023-funding-proposal\">even larger<\/a> Pentagon budget. Just recently, the White House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jackbrewster\/2021\/05\/04\/psaki-throws-cold-water-on-a-4th-stimulus-check-those-are-not-free\/?sh=d2224027a8cc\">threw cold water<\/a> on the prospect of a fourth stimulus payment, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/the-ascent\/personal-finance\/articles\/white-house-press-secretary-makes-clear-stimulus-checks-are-no-longer-a-priority\/\">citing<\/a> the cost.<\/p>\n<p>The COVID-19 pandemic was <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/03\/biden-budget-military-pentagon-social-spending-war\">supposed<\/a> to impart the lesson that security isn\u2019t bought through a gargantuan Pentagon budget, but instead through social spending that improves safety and well-being. Future budgets, it seemed, might finally prioritize funding pro-worker programs rather than weapons.<\/p>\n<p>The policy platform Biden and mainstream Democrats are pushing \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2022\/10\/pentagon-budget-military-contractors-lobbyists-biden\">austerity<\/a> for social programs, a <a href=\"https:\/\/stephensemler.substack.com\/p\/the-governments-two-approaches-to\">blank check<\/a> for the military \u2014 is doing exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>(from Counterpunch, Dec. 3, 2022, by Stephen Sember)<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year, Joe Biden described his military budget for Fiscal Year 2023 as \u201camong the largest investments in our national security in history.\u201d But what it will actually deliver is a historic redistribution of wealth to the business class: more than half of the annual US military budget goes to for-profit companies. So when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-budget","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16691,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16688\/revisions\/16691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohiopeacecouncil.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}