They Have The Reparations Money: The US Has Spent $21 Trillion On The Military Since 9/11
NPP Pressroom
The Moguldom Nation
Ann Brown
09/08/2021
One of the arguments against the U.S. paying reparations to the descendants of American slaves is that such a program would be too expensive — that the U.S. just can’t afford it.
Renowned reparations scholar Dr. William “Sandy” Darity, professor of public policy at Duke University, and his wife, Kirsten Mullen, have estimated that the cost of reparations would be between $10 trillion and $12 trillion, or about $800,000 to each eligible Black household.
In their latest book, “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century,” Darity and Mullen argue that this is the amount of money it would take to eliminate the existing Black-white wealth gap, CNBC reported. Others predict the cost could reach up to $51 trillion, which would triple the national debt.
Those against reparations have claimed that reparations at any cost would be too pricey. Yet, since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S., the U.S. government has spent $21 trillion on foreign and domestic militarization.
A new report revealed the monetary costs of a militarized American society over the past 20 years. The U.S. has spent a whopping $21 trillion on foreign and domestic militarization over the past two decades, according to the “State of Insecurity: The Cost of Militarization Since 9/11” report, recently published by the Institute for Policy Studies. Authors Lindsay Koshgarian, Ashik Siddique, and Lorah Steichen report analyzed data drawn mainly from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Some $16 trillion was used for military spending (at least $7.2 trillion being on military contracts), with $3 trillion going to veterans’ programs, $949 billion to the Department of Homeland Security, and another $732 billion going to federal law enforcement, according to a report recently published by the Institute for Policy Studies.
The report, called “State of Insecurity: The Cost of Militarization Since 9/11,” was written by Lindsay Koshgarian, Ashik Siddique, and Lorah Steichen. They analyzed data drawn mainly from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Jacobin Magazine reported.
The Pentagon budget is now higher than it was at the peak of the Cold War or during military operations in Vietnam, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, ultimately comprising more than half of the federal discretionary budget in a normal year.
Still, while trillions of dollars have been spent on the military, some say reparations would bankrupt the U.S.
The burden of reparations “would totally wreck the economy,” wrote Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. This is especially true at a time when the national debt has climbed to more than $28 trillion, due in part to pandemic stimulus spending, CNBC reported.