Slight of Hand

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes, when talking about the US Defense Budget, advocates will compare it to the rest of the descretionary budget, rather than the whole Federal budget.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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My vote? Cut Pentagon Bloat!

From an EMail from Peace Action, by Ms Lilly Dragnev, Friday, 28 May 2021.

Here is the letter I received:

Dear Cliff,

President Biden’s FY 2022 budget is scheduled to be released today.  In it, he is requesting $753 billion for the Pentagon, a $13 billion increase over Trump’s last budget!

The real work begins in Congress, however.  Soon the Congressional debate will begin about where to actually allocate our taxpayer dollars.  We need to take this moment to collectively call for their use on sorely underfunded human needs over more Pentagon bloat.  Today, I ask you to speak out against the billions of dollars allocated to the Pentagon year after year.  We have an opportunity to reallocate funds from the Pentagon into healthcare, infrastructure, education, racial justice, sustainable energy programs, and so much more.  Help us urge Congress to seize this important opportunity.

The U.S. spends more on its military than the next eleven countries combined.  Such consistently massive military budgets have been funding wars and overseas operations that disproportionately target and harm people of color around the world — all while simultaneously eating up funding for critical programs here at home, which then takes a greater toll on communities of color.

Even as we face a historic pandemic and another economic crisis, President Biden requested that nearly half of the budget be spent on the military-industrial complex.  He requested a whopping $13 billion more for the military than Trump did.  This increase alone is 33% greater than the entire Center for Disease Control budget! Clearly, our priorities, and certainly our true security, are misplaced.

Demand your members of Congress speak out and vote against ever-growing Pentagon spending by adding your name to this petition today!

With talk of life returning to normal, we need to remind those in charge that “normal” didn’t work for many communities — communities marginalized by the status quo of endless revenue streams toward the Pentagon and simultaneous cuts to the critical programs that could offer change.  Let’s make sure that the world we move toward as we rein in this pandemic is not one where few profit at the expense of many, but instead one in which Congress puts taxpayer dollars into the critical programs we need to help everyone thrive.

For peace and true security,

Lilly Dragnev
Peace Action

Budget numbers are tricky.  Here are the numbers from President Biden's Budget release.

ITEMS	MONIES (Billions)
Receipts	3,421
Outlays	6,550
Deficit	3,129
DISCRETIONARY
Defense	754
Non-Defense	913
MANDATORY
Social Security	1,186
Medicare	767
Medicade	518
Other	1,255
Net Interest	305

That is a lot of money.  And some of it may be optomistic.  Remember, we are talking billions of dollars.  Remember the late Senator Everett Dirksen, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

This is what I wrote back to Ms Dragnev:

Lilly

Divert it for what? More domestic spying?  I hope not.  More mental health? Only if we find a program that works.  Homelessness?  I think we are avoiding the hard questions.  And, we need to agree on peace.  The idea that we will support Hamas and not Israel leaves open the question of then what?  I would propose Jewish Dakota.  Where else would they go?  Baring the Second Coming, they have to be somewhere, unless folks are advocating they be eliminated as a race.  The Corbynization of the Democratic Party is an embarrassment for those of us who had supported HHH or Shirley Chisholm or Jimmy Carter.

As for the Pentagon, we need to decide what we wish to do.  Is North Korea, nuclear armed, a threat to South Korea or Japan?  Do we care about Taiwan?  Should India be left to deal with Pakistan and China on its own?  What would that look like?  What about Ambazonia, or the larger danger of Islamification of Africa?

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You can't rationally pick a defense budget until you have decided what it is that you wish to accomplish.  Strategy, per Colonel Arthur F Lykke, Jr, is matching ends ways and means.  I had Colonel Art Lykke as a Professor at Army War College.  I adapted his view to "Strategy is matching objectives, threats and opportunities in a resource constrained environment."  Either way, you need to nail down the objectives, the "ends".

Is there anything out there worth fighting for?

Regards  —  Cliff