Money for health care, not for war

author : Marco Rosaire Rossi topic : health care | Iraq occupation

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

Polls have continually shown that the two issues that Americans have been most concerned with this past year were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the state of the domestic economy. Not surprisingly, the two issues are remarkably connected.

The New York Times has reported that, despite on-going corporate scandals, the past few years have been "the age of profitability" for American corporations -- surpassing all previous record in the post World War II age. Meanwhile, the American worker is in the worst position she has been in that same stretch of time. Since Bush Jr. has been in office, more than 2 million jobs have been lost. Total economic growth for the past year was a meager 2 percent. Inflation continues to rise -- especially for basic goods such as food, housing, energy, and transportation -- while wages remain stagnant and Congress refuses to raise the minimum wage. Indeed, America is seeing the largest gap between rich and poor since the great depression.

At the top of these economic issues is the on-going healthcare crisis. Currently, there are around 48 million Americans without any form of health insurance -- with millions more in various stages of being uninsured. The cost of healthcare has gotten so steep that large corporations are now moving factories north to Canada because it is cheaper for them to pay Canadian taxes than it is to keep paying healthcare benefits to their workers. Now, more than ever, it would appear that instituting some form of universal healthcare plan for the nation would be the top priority for any policy-maker. After all, the United States remains outside the rest of the developed world as the only industrialized nation without some form of universal healthcare. Sadly, this is not the case. Money in the federal government continues to be dedicated to funding wars abroad rather than providing social services at home.

In total, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost this nation over $500 billion -- with Iraq alone costing $350 billion. So far, Congress has agreed to give the Pentagon $450 billion for next year's budget with $170 billion allocated for military purposes -- $50 billion up from last year. What that means is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing this nation $465 million a day, or $322,000 a minute.

The scariest thing is what the money might be used for. Despite the fact that the wars have become increasingly unpopular, and the cry to "bring the troops home now" reflects the majority sentiment, the military is looking at putting more money toward recruitment and expanding its rank. The cost of just adding and maintaining another 40,000 troops in the army is almost $7 billion. In the coming years, the cost of fighting these foreign wars will surely get steeper -- not to mention the social cost of losing American, Iraqi, and Afghani lives.

Right now there is a campaign in Olympia to get the Olympia City Council to pass a resolution condemning the war in Iraq. A few months ago, the Olympia city council had already made a statement to state representatives that the war was one of the city's major concerns because the money spent on war could be better used in our communities by providing important social services. It is time we all realized that if we are ever to have economic justice at home, then we will need to ensure peace abroad. Please contact the Olympia City Council and ask them to take the next step in passing a resolution against the wars.