General David Petraeus greeting members of Congress on Capitol Hill, 04/09/08. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
By Congressman Alan Grayson /MichaelMoore.com / May 21, 2010
Next week, there is going to be a “debate” in Congress on yet another war funding bill. The bill is supposed to pass without debate, so no one will notice.
What George Orwell wrote about in “1984” has come true. What Eisenhower warned us about concerning the “military-industrial complex” has come true. War is a permanent feature of our societal landscape, so much so that no one notices it anymore.
But we’re going to change this. Today, we’re introducing a bill called ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act’. The purpose of this bill is to connect the dots, and to show people in a real and concrete way the cost of these endless wars.
Next year’s budget allocates $159,000,000,000 to perpetuate the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s enough money to eliminate federal income taxes for the first $35,000 of every American’s income. Beyond that, leaves over $15 billion to cut the deficit.
And that’s what this bill does. It eliminates separate funding for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and eliminates federal income taxes for everyone’s first $35,000 of income ($70,000 for couples). Plus it pays down the national debt.
The costs of the war have been rendered invisible. There’s no draft. Instead, we take the most vulnerable elements of our population, and give them a choice between unemployment and missile fodder. Government deficits conceal the need to pay in cash for the war.
We put the cost of both guns and butter on our Chinese credit card. In fact, we don’t even put these wars on budget; they are still passed using ’emergency supplemental’. A nine-year ‘emergency’.
Let’s show Congress the cost of these wars is too much for us.
Tell Congress that you like ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act’. No, tell Congress you love it. Act now.
http://www.TheWarIsMakingYouPoor.com
All we are saying is “give peace a chance.” We will end these wars.
Together.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Good idea and I wish you the best of luck. However as a believer of the Merchant Banker Theory, I see little chance that you will be able to shut down the most profitable war in world history. Wars have always made money for a privileged group, but the FAKE war on terror is beyond all previous scams. Unless the world runs out of Muslim men, this scam of all scams will continue for years. I suggest you start any effort by trying to make world corporate media a better offer than those who put together the New Pearl Harbor did. Don’t waste your time on the ignorant masses, they will just follow leaders like they follow Gods.
Alan Grayson is at least willing to introduce this (largely) symbolic act. It won’t pass. But hopefully it will get people thinking.
Unfortunatly, the USA’s mostly sold-out, pandering politicians will only end their War-Mongering ways when we finally collapse from the weight of their ignorant, multi-trillion dollar military deficit spending. They’ve exported the USA tax base along with the American jobs they’ve sent overseas, wholesale – what are they thinking?
The USSR fell primarly from their military excesses & ruling class corruption. How far are we, behind them?
From ignoring President (& General) Ike’s prophetic warning – to continued pandering to the ultra-Greedy, self-serving NY Banksters, to the fear spinning, so the masses actually think the loss of their freedom & the multi-trillion dollar military deficits are somehow necessary for their “safety” – this all must be one of the biggest, longest running cons of all time.
737 USA military bases worldwide …. 737 …. & the USA public isn’t up in arms?
The generation of – “make love, not war” – has somehow morphed into one of the greediest, most self-centered, & least responsible of all time.
Sad, yes, but still we must continue to educate, & “keep fighting, the good fight” ….
“God bless us, everyone” ….
On a presentation for investors yesterday, Intel noted that Portugal and other Western European countries will be providing each schoolchild ages 6 to 11 with a netbook computer to use at school. Intel also said that more than 25 other countries in Latin American and Asia will unveil similar programs in the next couple years.
Meanwhile, us Americans are scaling back our public education while flushing billions upon billions of dollars into a violence-hole in the Middle East. Sweet.
I remember feeling very optimistic back in the mid seventies. People were making bullets into roach clips. And now…35 years later…there are still way too many bullets in this world, and not enough roach clips.