"Money makes the world go around ... a mark, a yen, a buck or a pound .... that clinking clanking sound ... can make the world go 'round."
That's right out of the Broadway play and movie Cabaret. What has a decades-old movie or play have to do with the modern USA? Well, it seems things haven't changed. Look at our Congress, and if you even glance at the ongoing budget considerations, you will come away mumbling, "Money, money, money."
Yep, that's the way we keep score, and lately it's like certain companies and individuals have won the lottery. Consider this: The current administration is proposing to add $80 billion (at last count) to the defense budget.
The $80 billion increase is a lot more than the Defense Department requested, but that doesn't matter to those generous members of Congress who are loading up every branch of the armed services, from extra ships for the Navy, more men for the military, and additional planes to the Air Force that will never see combat. Not only that, there are gobs of military bases the Pentagon has requested be closed, but you and I know there's not a snowball's chance in hell that will happen.
We have 150,000 troops posted overseas to keep countries like Japan and the Philippines safe. These troops are left over from World War II and serve no purpose except to cost us billions in defense spending each year.
The sum total of wasted money is easily north of $200 billion, and with the deficit soaring, our health-care costs going out of sight, plus the needs of children and college students at an all-time high, why waste $200 billion? The answer is actually fairly simple. It's just a matter of dollars.
Those defense dollars must go to the right people, and those people aren't folks who need health care, college students, or needy kids. The $200 billion would easily pay for a complete college education for every high school graduate for the next five years, and have enough money left over to pay every child in America's health-care costs for the next decade, and go a long way toward universal health care.
So why won't Congress do the right thing? Former President Dwight Eisenhower pinned it on the Military Industrial Complex: There's money to be made during a war, or by building the armaments necessary to fight a war, or by paying companies to supply the troops around the world.
However, peace is not good for business. if you are building yet another tank or destroyer or paying to put troops in the Philippines, that means jobs and money for big companies. That is why, during a Republican administration, the Defense Budget soars.
There is not a country in the world that is a legitimate threat to the United States. The phony hand-waving by our Congress because of the threat of North Korea, China, or Russia is no more than fake news. We have a military that is more than a match for any or all of the above countries.
Russia has a budget of only 20 percent of our defense budget, and China and North Korea aren't anyone's idea of realistic threats to us. The increased defense budget is just another bone, like the tax bill, to reward the big corporate supporters of the present administration. What could be simpler than that?
Republicans always cut the taxes of the wealthy, pad the defense budget, and cut benefits for the poor and middle class. It's what Republicans do. Who could possibly be surprised at that observation?
It's not just unnecessary Defense Department spending. It's also a failure of Congress to close bases and other facilities that are no longer needed, to quit adding ships the Navy says it has no use for and planes the Air Force doesn't want.
Let's take another look at closing bases, a little boondoggle that is a bipartisan issue in which Democrats are as guilty as Republicans. I have yet to see one congressman or senator vote to close a base in their state or district. We have outmoded pieces of decades-old military equipment sitting on runways and in storage that are useless in a modern war. If that's not bad enough, our home state congressmen and senators not only want to keep those pieces of junk lying around, but they insist they be replaced and added to even though they know it's a waste of money.
Naturally, when you confront one of our representatives about closing a base in their state, they will cook up some far-fetched, implausible scenario that shows why the state can't shut down the military base, and why pieces of outmoded junk should be kept in top shape.
What really gets me is the lack of accountability. If elected representatives are going to waste $200 billion in taxpayers' money, at least they should have the guts to stand up in a town hall meeting to defend their actions. You and I know they won't, and what's even worse, when it's time to run for office again, they'll show up with their hands out, unless they are like Congressman Bruce Westerman, who has sugar daddies in the forestry industry, which have kicked $142,000 into campaign funds since 2014. Well, what a coincidence! Do you think the super corporate-friendly forestry bill he has introduced has anything to do with all that money?
Environmentalists are lining up to oppose making our national forests into industry timber farms, and guess what? Surprise, surprise, the timber industry supports the bill. Congressman Westerman, have you no shame? Why don't you show up for a town hall meeting and answer some of your constituents' questions? Are you afraid some little gray-haired lady will hit you with a tough one? Or are you just avoiding being held accountable for the way you're voting?
Richard Mason is a registered professional geologist, downtown developer, former chairman of the Department of Environmental Quality Board of Commissioners, past president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and syndicated columnist. Email richard@gibraltarenergy.com.
Editorial on 02/11/2018