Next week, there is going to be a "debate" in Congress on yet another war funding bill. The bill is supposed to pass without debate, so no one will notice.
What George Orwell wrote about in 1984 has come true. What Eisenhower warned us about concerning the "military-industrial complex" has come true. War is a permanent feature of our societal landscape, so much so that no one notices it anymore.
But we're going to change this. Today, we're introducing a bill called 'The War Is Making You Poor Act'. The purpose of this bill is to connect the dots, and to show people in a real and concrete way the cost of these endless wars.
Next year's budget allocates $159,000,000,000 to perpetuate the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That's enough money to eliminate federal income taxes for the first $35,000 of every American's income. Beyond that, leaves over $15 billion to cut the deficit.
And that's what this bill does. It eliminates separate funding for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and eliminates federal income taxes for everyone's first $35,000 of income ($70,000 for couples). Plus it pays down the national debt.
The costs of the war have been rendered invisible. There's no draft. Instead, we take the most vulnerable elements of our population, and give them a choice between unemployment and missile fodder. Government deficits conceal the need to pay in cash for the war.
We put the cost of both guns and butter on our Chinese credit card. In fact, we don't even put these wars on budget; they are still passed using 'emergency supplemental'. A nine-year 'emergency'.
Let's show Congress the cost of these wars is too much for us.
Tell Congress that you like 'The War Is Making You Poor Act'. No, tell Congress you love it. Act now.
http://www.TheWarIsMakingYouPoor.com
All we are saying is "give peace a chance." We will end these wars.
Together.
Follow Rep. Alan Grayson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alangrayson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBAktyuaq6E
Legalize the Trillion $$$ Crop
discussing the environmental disaster in the Gulf
you are doing FANTASTIC job...
the country needs MORE Alan Graysons!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex
anywya
business runs our country.
if we bring the troops home then we have 20% unemployed...
unless we put them on the border, in ports and airports.
but that makes too much cents and dollars too.
The thing is, money spent on the military is so much less efficient at creating jobs and products than money spent in the civilian sector that even dumping all those troops back into their home country where they belong would release enough pent-up tax money to let businesses do far more hiring, expansion, and paying down of debt, and also let consumers do far more spending AND paying down of debt at the same time. This country would experience an enormous boom in productivity and growth, and possibly even one day become a creditor nation again rather than a debot nation.
Bring the economy home!
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2010/03/bring-economy-home.html