New York Times
Lindsay Koshgarian
05/12/2016
To the Editor:
In “A Better, Not Fatter, Defense Budget” (editorial, May 9), you hint at but do not fully disclose the extent to which a Pentagon run amok shortchanges our way of life.
The military-industrial complex is thriving. Fully half of the Pentagon budget now enriches a vast ecosystem of for-profit contractors. Lockheed Martin, the maker of the ill-fated F-35 jet fighter, received more than $25 billion in Pentagon contracts in 2014.
That’s more than most states received in federal government grants, including Medicaid, in 2013.
And while Lockheed and others reap rewards from the Pentagon’s largess, Americans feel the squeeze: health care, education, infrastructure and job training must all do more with less.
Our current politics, under sequestration, ensures that this remains the case: Any increase in domestic spending results in still more spending for the Pentagon. We must re-examine our priorities.
LINDSAY KOSHGARIAN
Research Director
National Priorities Project
Northampton, Mass.
