3 Steps to a Peace Economy
by Andy Heaslet, PEP Coordinator
Adapted from a presentation to attendees of the Memorial of the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Columbia, MO on August 8th, 2009.
I’ve said it many time, instead of a War Economy, we should shift towards a Peace Economy.
What does that mean, though? And how do we get there?
A Peace Economy, well, a Peace Economy wouldn’t make profit off of making instruments of war. Wouldn’t profit off of inciting and supporting international arms races. Wouldn’t profit off of fear-mongering and hate.
In a sentence, a Peace Economy would place the needs and priorities of the people ahead of the needs of war profiteers.
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Taking care of health, housing, the environment, education, employment – these very real and very present issues are what affect us all in our daily lives and they’re what we would prioritize in our federal policies and spending.
How do we get there?
Well, I’ve boiled it down to 3, easy to follow steps:
-1- Expose and stop the current waste.
-2- Expose corruption and put into action policies and regulations that actually confront and prevent it.
-3- Constantly remind our leaders who hold the purse strings of what our real priorities are.
Regarding this first goal, I’m delighted that we had a victory recently – and that was the stripping of funds for the hallmark of wasteful military spending, the F-22. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; there’s so much more waste to get rid of!
Some of the other wasteful items on my chopping block include:
Back-up, yes back-up second engines for F-35 jets. (See JW Stern’s breakdown of this proposal)
Some of the more than 1000 overseas military facilities, over half of which are in Germany, Japan, and South Korea
The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan – we are frighteningly close to having spent a trillion dollars on this war, not even including the long-term costs.
And, of course, remembering the 64th year since the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I have to mention Nuclear Weapons - According to a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report, in fiscal year 2008, the United States spent $52.4 billion on nuclear weapons programs alone. This amount exceeds the entire military budgets of all but four other countries. It is past time to begin drawing down our massive arsenal of globally lethal weapons.
But to have a cut list of expensive military toys isn’t going to do it by itself. We’ve got to look beyond individual weapons programs and look at the system that perpetuates the waste.
This segways into my second point, in which, somewhat surprisingly, I’ll reference Republican Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, who has made some impressive comments regarding taking on waste at its roots.
In an early April presentation, Gates told us that his “department must consistently demonstrate the commitment and leadership to stop programs that significantly exceed their budget or which spend limited tax dollars to buy more capability than the nation needs.”
Yes, it appears that the defense secretary isn’t prepared to leave the military spending hose on all week when he’s not watching.
He also recommended that we “ensure that requirements are reasonable and technology is adequately mature to allow the department to successfully execute the programs.”
This sounds like he doesn’t want us to be investing in things that haven’t been proven to work and might never work. What a novel concept!?!
A final encouraging remark he made was suggesting that we “realistically estimate program costs, provide budget stability for the programs we initiate, adequately staff the government acquisition team, and provide disciplined and constant oversight.“
Realistic? Stable? Oversight? Discipline? This guy is going to really make some defense contractors angry. And I’m alright with that.
We need to do all we can to make sure that these recommendations go beyond sound bites in last season’s press. These recommendations while they wont solve every problem; will put a major kink in the flow of money out of our treasury and into the pockets of contracting CEOs.
Finally, we need to keep a vision of what a peace economy would look like in our minds and in the ears of people in power. We need to keep fighting for healthcare, fighting for environmental sustainability, fighting for good jobs, mass transit, education, the whole gamit. We have to shout that pie in the sky down to earth. It’s possible. We can truly make that change we want to see in this world, but we have to share our vision to make it possible.
This path that I’ve laid out; stopping waste, stopping corruption, sharing our vision, doesn’t take us on an easy journey, but it does take us on one well worth traveling. And I’m glad that we’re all along for the ride together!