Peace and Justice, KZFR
Chris Nelson
07/05/2019
On the Peace and Justice Program on KZFR Community Radio in Chico, California, NPP research analyst Ashik Siddique discusses the Trump military budget and trade-offs on how that money could be used elsewhere, as detailed in the Poor People's Moral Budget.
Chico's big issue is homelessness and affordable housing, especially after the Camp Fire destroyed the nearby town of Paradise. It has been dire here for quite awhile with people dying in the streets- two just last month. The rancor of the right is aimed at the homeless and all attempts to do right-- for shelter, services, even toilets are met by hate. The progressive city council is under recall by the same forces... they want development but not for affordable housing... for wealthy people. Wealthy people have already moved on... only the poor remain. So the Poor People's Moral Budget is really relevant.
Out of the $712.5 billion spent on the federal military budget in 2018:
- Taxpayers in the state of California paid $97.5 billion
- taxpayers in Butte County, California are paying $263.04 million
- taxpayers in Chico, California are paying $130.05 million
That amount of money could go a long way toward housing and meeting the basic needs of all people in this time.
Listen to the interview here, starting at about 32:00, or download here.
