Guns or Butter?
Dear editor:
In testimony to a Congressional committee on Tuesday, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, President Bush’s nominee to be Chairman or the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the U.S. will be in Iraq for “years not months” and a Pentagon official said the war was costing even more than expected. In separate testimony to the House Budget Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said next year’s war expense will be more than the administration’s request for $141.7 billion. This request did not include next year’s costs for the extra 30,000 troops sent in as part of “the surge,” nor the need of more money to build and deliver mine-resistant vehicles to repel insurgent attacks. When all added together the cost will be over $150 billion, or about $3 billion per week. It also will bring the current cost of the war to over three quarters of a trillion dollars, with no end and increasing costs in sight.
There has always been a discussion of spending federal money for “guns or butter,” and it is time not only to judge that question, but how do we do this? Where will this money come from? Who will pay the bill down the road, and what will be the interest costs for this unfathomable borrowing?
The federal Technical Review Panel of the Medicare Trustees Report has stated that Medicare was safe until 2021, at an annual rate of $218 billion. Three quarters of this huge, and growing cost, could be covered by that $150 billion spent on Iraq, without cutting benefits for the elderly.
And what about the growing need of Social Security and our growing senior population?
This is not a matter of political party or conservative versus liberal, it is an American problem faced by all of us. Whether we agree or disagree with the president on the war in Iraq, we have to make a choice about the financial condition of our country and its future in this troubled world. We no longer can afford to make the choice of “guns over butter,” but rather must get our house in order so this republic can survive. If a citizen of this country spent money on what they want as opposed to need, he or she would face bankruptcy. Is that what we want for America? Do we want to dump our elderly on the street because we can’t afford to pay Social Security? Do we want to leave our senior citizens without medical care because we can’t afford the Medicare program?
The answer to these scary questions is obviously NO. But we can’t talk about it anymore and we cannot afford the financial luxury of this war. We must get all Senators and Congressmen to stop pandering to their party and the lobbyists and start saving America. Not only does charity begin as home, but so does responsibility.
In testimony to a Congressional committee on Tuesday, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, President Bush’s nominee to be Chairman or the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the U.S. will be in Iraq for “years not months” and a Pentagon official said the war was costing even more than expected. In separate testimony to the House Budget Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said next year’s war expense will be more than the administration’s request for $141.7 billion. This request did not include next year’s costs for the extra 30,000 troops sent in as part of “the surge,” nor the need of more money to build and deliver mine-resistant vehicles to repel insurgent attacks. When all added together the cost will be over $150 billion, or about $3 billion per week. It also will bring the current cost of the war to over three quarters of a trillion dollars, with no end and increasing costs in sight.
There has always been a discussion of spending federal money for “guns or butter,” and it is time not only to judge that question, but how do we do this? Where will this money come from? Who will pay the bill down the road, and what will be the interest costs for this unfathomable borrowing?
The federal Technical Review Panel of the Medicare Trustees Report has stated that Medicare was safe until 2021, at an annual rate of $218 billion. Three quarters of this huge, and growing cost, could be covered by that $150 billion spent on Iraq, without cutting benefits for the elderly.
And what about the growing need of Social Security and our growing senior population?
This is not a matter of political party or conservative versus liberal, it is an American problem faced by all of us. Whether we agree or disagree with the president on the war in Iraq, we have to make a choice about the financial condition of our country and its future in this troubled world. We no longer can afford to make the choice of “guns over butter,” but rather must get our house in order so this republic can survive. If a citizen of this country spent money on what they want as opposed to need, he or she would face bankruptcy. Is that what we want for America? Do we want to dump our elderly on the street because we can’t afford to pay Social Security? Do we want to leave our senior citizens without medical care because we can’t afford the Medicare program?
The answer to these scary questions is obviously NO. But we can’t talk about it anymore and we cannot afford the financial luxury of this war. We must get all Senators and Congressmen to stop pandering to their party and the lobbyists and start saving America. Not only does charity begin as home, but so does responsibility.
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 5:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home