Government Spending Reveals National Priorities
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Dennis Kucinich Blog
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04/17/2012
Washington D.C. (April 17, 2012) – As Americans file our tax returns, Congressman Kucinich (D-OH) reminded us of the heavy burden taxpayers bear as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
See video here.
“On tax day, we remember the ramifications of waging wars abroad. In 2011, thirty-nine percent of our income tax dollars went to the Pentagon; yet only 9% for trade, commerce, education and employment programs,” said Kucinich.
The war in Afghanistan has cost American taxpayers more than $520 billion according to the National Priorities Project. The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the average American family of four almost $13,000. At a time when the national unemployment rate continues to be between 9 and 10%, and when families are struggling to pay their mortgages, send their kids to school and feed their families, we know that the average family cannot afford that. Furthermore, estimates by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes put the cost of the war in Iraq to American taxpayers at $5 trillion. The global financial crisis, they say, was due at least in part to the war.
Kucinich continued, “Compared to the approximately $159 billion budgeted in Fiscal Year 2011 for wars, the $6 billion Congress budgeted for the Workforce Investment Act—the primary federal program supporting workforce development—is paltry. We have nearly 23 million Americans either unemployed or underemployed, and about 5.5 million who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. We have millions of workers who need skills training to start working in the jobs that are available right now.
“Wake up America, wars are ruining our economy. On tax day, we must remember that our government has a responsibility to use our money wisely, not to waste our hard earned dollars on unnecessary wars. The answer to war and economic decline is peace and prosperity.”
Congressman Kucinich is author of The National Emergency Employment Defense Act (The NEED ACT), H.R. 2990, which would create millions of jobs maintaining the basic infrastructure on which American relies every day. The bill would allow the federal government to correct crippling national deficiencies in infrastructure maintenance and education nationwide by spending money into circulation without increasing the national debt or causing inflation. It would incorporate the Federal Reserve within the United States Treasury, establish fiscal integrity, and reassert Congressional sovereignty.
