Archive for January, 2012

This graphic, released in the wake of announced budget-increase slowdowns from the Pentagon, shows the areas of the U.S. Military that readers of the Times would cut. Have a look, and play imperialist and design your own military budget here!

This analysis from Steven Kull at World Public Opinion shows how ready Americans are to cut military spending. Polling on the subject reveals that less informed respondents are less likely to favor cuts. GDAMS participants should focus on raising peoples’ awareness of just how wasteful and excessive military spending is, and what human cost that carries.

Kull writes:

“As respondents are given more information, support for reductions rises. When Quinnipiac University in March simply told respondents that defense, Social Security and Medicare together constitute more than half of the federal budget, 54% favored cutting defense spending.

In this article from The Atlantic Jeffery Smith breaks down the so-called ‘budget cuts’ to the Pentagon, touching on everything from jobs affected to potential security risks.
Smith states: “Actually, describing it as a cut is a misnomer. The plan actually calls for an increase in the national security budget over the next decade — but it would scale back the 18 percent boost previously set for that period.”

Not long ago, Bob Pollin, founding co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, appeared on the Real News to discuss PERI’s new report entitled “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities.” The report finds that compared to $1 billion spent on the military, 35% more jobs are created simply by returning the money to consumers through tax cuts, 50% more by clean energy investments, 53% more from health care and 138% more from education.