I guess you’ve heard the latest. President Bush has decided all us hardworking Americans deserve a tax rebate. Well, I’ll take that back. It’s not that the President thinks we actually deserve a tax rebate; instead, he has finally realized our economy is in dire straits and the administration is desperately searching for a way to jumpstart that economy’s sputtering pulse, although its dangerously close to going into full-blown cardiac arrest. In fact, in case you haven’t noticed, our country is teetering on the edge of a recession. Then again, maybe teetering isn’t exactly the right word. It’s more like our economy has taken a nose-dive over the rim of the toilet bowl, someone has pulled the handle, and our economy is now swirling around, desperately trying to stay afloat, but, alas, is well on its way to being sucked down the drain and vomited out into the sewer system.

Do you ever wonder how our country got into this mess in the first place? Why is the Stock Market so volatile? Why are our retirement accounts losing value, losing so much, in fact, that many of us will never be able to afford to retire? (I know I won’t) And why are prices escalating across the board for everything from milk (average $4.39 a gallon) to bathroom tissue (average $1.18 for a four-pack)?

Granted, the sub-prime lending fiasco and resultant real estate bust certainly contributed to our nation’s rather bleak economic situation, as did the exorbitant increase in the price of fuel, which, in turn, propelled prices upward for those basic commodities previously mentioned.

But my question, again, is how did we get into this mess in the first place? Just think back. Ask yourself how it all began? But don’t strain your brain, because I am about to share with some facts that might help you understand how the United States of America went from having a thriving economy to having one that is in the toilet bowl and well on its way to swirling into the sewer, and did so over a period of only a few short years, namely 2002 to the present. It’s called the War in Iraq.

“No,” you say, to which I reply, “You’re darn tooting.”

As Justin Raimondo asks (2008), “How many Americans realize the US military budget is greater than that of the rest of the world combined?”

Did you realize that? I certainly didn’t, at least not until I read it in Raimondo’s column today. Now I know, however, and I must admit the knowledge is downright scary. Especially since, according to Raimondo, for the first time in history, the defense budget of the United States has exceeded 1 trillion dollars. Hey, but no big deal; after all, as Ramondo says, “Empires are expensive.” Then again, maybe they’re a bit too expense in some cases, for example, in our own country since it seems America has “financed it all with deficit spending, and rather than impose direct taxation—the powers that be have simply set the printing presses of the Federal Reserve on overdrive, creating a huge bubble that’s about to pop” (Raimondo, 2008, para. 4).

And that bubble is our economy. Yes, it’s about to go POP, although I have a strong suspicion that pop is going to be more like a sonic boom that resonates around the globe. Of course, the failure of our economy has been looming, like a thundercloud mushrooming on the horizon, for some time now; and the last four years have only been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Did you realize that in November of last year, the national debt, according to the U.S. Treasury, breached $9 trillion ($9.825 trillion) for the fist time in history? Moreover, although it stood at a mere $5.7 trillion when George Bush became President, under his watch, our national debt increased by 45% (Raimondo, 2008).

And where does all this money being spent by our government go? Well, according to Chambers Johnson, expert on American hegemony and author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic and the Blowback Trilogy, here are the estimated expenditures for fiscal year 2008:

·         481.4 billion for Department of Defense salaries, operations (excluding Iraq and Afghanistan), and equipment

·         141.7 billion for a “supplemental budget to fight the war on terror”

·         93.4 billion for “hitherto unmentioned war costs”

·         50 billion “an additional allowance” to be applied to the fiscal year 2009

·         23.4 billion for the Department of Energy to develop and maintain nuclear warheads

·         25.3 billion for foreign military assistance

·         1.03 billion for recruitment and enlistment incentives for the U.S. military

·         75.7 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the long-term care of soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan

·         46.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Defense

·         1.9 billion to the Department of Justice “for paramilitary activities of the FBI”

·         38.5 billion for the Military Retirement Fund

·         7.6 billion “for military related activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

·         Over 200 billion for in interest “for past debt-financed defense outlays”

(Debt Crisis, 2008, para 6-8)

And, folks, also according to Johnson, “that brings U.S. spending for its military establishment during the current fiscal year (2008), conservatively calculated, to at least $1.1 trillion” (para 8). Yet, as he cautions, “Figures on defense spending are notoriously unreliable;” and he adds that Robert Higgs, an expert on political economy, says, as a rule, we can take the Pentagon’s projected budget and double it (Johnson, 2008, para 2).

So, after seeing those figures, do you still wonder why our country’s economy is frantically gasping for air as it flails about in the toilet bowl? On the other hand, although our current economic fiasco is largely due to this gargantuan military tab, for which we taxpayers are footing the bill, granted, there are other contributing factors, for example, increased tax cuts for the wealthy, an ever growing trade deficit with other countries, an eroding manufacturing base, more and more jobs being outsourced overseas, rising healthcare costs, etc. Yet, on second thought, perhaps these factors are but byproducts of our putting so much money into national defense instead of spending it on things like incentives for companies to hire U.S. workers and to manufacture products here instead of abroad; providing national healthcare; preventing corporate in-trading; overhauling Social Security before it goes belly up; providing training for the unemployed; helping the homeless and destitute; finding alternatives to fossil fuels; and, all in all, making this country the kind of place our Forefathers envisioned—a land of opportunity and prosperity for all its citizens.      

Note: I would like to acknowledge the contribution of my husband, Dr. C. M. Rzadkiewicz, since he provided me with the inspiration for this blog as well as the two articles referenced below: