New York's Spending on the Afghanistan War Is Larger Than Its Budget Hole

On Wednesday, January 5, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) delivered a "State of the State" address to warn New Yorkers that big cuts are coming to their public services. According to him, New York's $9.2 billion budget deficit means policymakers have to slash things like health care and education spending. But it seems to me that before we go cutting kids off their field trips to the museum or their doctor's visits, we should start by looking for big chunks of money leaving New York state for useless purposes.

And it turns out there's a $9.6 billion stack of cash that's going to be sucked out of New York this year -- that's how much New York taxpayers will be charged for Afghanistan War spending this year.

That $9.6 billion is more than enough to fill the budget hole this year. New York has plenty of money to keep kids in school and to make sure they can see a doctor when they're sick or hurt. It's just that too many of the state's politicians just have broken priorities. Those broken priorities are reflected in the narrow majority of the state's federal congresspeople voting in favor of the latest war funding bill (14 voting "Yea," 13 voting "Nay"):

Voting "Yea" (in favor of the Afghanistan War spending)

• Timothy H. Bishop (D)
• Steve Israel (D)
• Peter T. King (R)
• Carolyn McCarthy (D)
• Gary L. Ackerman (D)
• Michael McMahon (D)
• Eliot L. Engel (D)
• Nita M. Lowey (D)
• John Hall (D)
• Scott Murphy (D)
• William Owens (D)
• Michael Arcuri (D)
• Christopher J. Lee (R)
• Brian Higgins (D)

Voting "Nay" (against the Afghanistan War spending)

• Gregory W. Meeks (D)
• Joseph Crowley (D)
• Jerrold Nadler (D)
• Anthony D. Weiner (D)
• Edolphus Towns (D)
• Nydia Velazquez (D)
• Carolyn B. Maloney (D)
• Charles B. Rangel (D)
• Jose Serrano (D)
• Paul Tonko (D)
• Maurice D. Hinchey (D)
• Dan Maffei (D)
• Louise Slaughter (D)

Thanks in part to those who voted "Yea," $9.6 billion will leave New York this year in the form of federal tax dollars to pay for the Afghanistan War. On top of the initial loss of the original $9.6 billion, the New York economy also takes a hit in the form of lost potential jobs and economic activity. An October 2007 study by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) found that per $1 billion invested in the following fields, you create wildly different numbers of jobs:

• Defense: 8,555 jobs
• Construction for home weatherization/infrastructure: 12,804 jobs
• Health care: 12,883 jobs
• Education: 17,687 jobs
• Mass transit: 19,795 jobs

In other words, thanks to policymakers spending New York taxpayer money on the Afghanistan War instead of things like mass transit this year, the state lost 107,904 potential jobs, along with all the economic activity (and state tax revenue!) those jobs would create.

Since defense spending is one of the least economically stimulating ways to spend money, New Yorkers might as well have set that $9.6 billion on fire to watch it burn for all the good it will do the state.

If Governor Cuomo wants to avoid cutting school kids off of their educational opportunities and cutting poor kids off their doctor's visits, he might consider calling the congressional switchboard at 202.224.3121 and asking to have a word with the Members of Congress on the list of people above who voted "Yea" on funding for the Afghanistan War.

 

 

 

Follow Robert Greenwald on Twitter: www.twitter.com/robertgreenwald

Comments

[temashana]

02:56 PM on 01/10/2011

If you are a fan of one of these people, you can also commen on the FB page. Hopefully they will have the respect to not delete it. I've just posted on Carolyn McCarthy's page. I'm usually in agreement with her views but was quite shocked by this choice of hers.

[Contrarian22]

04:13 AM on 01/10/2011

Great point. I think the left needs a movement like the Tea Party and like the Tea Party it should concentrate on government spending but unlike the Tea Party the emphasis should be on military spending. Why do we have bases all over the world let alone the expense and mayhem of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? An initial demand might be a reduction in the military budget of 50%, about 500 Billion, to open the discussion. We need a debate about the cost and benefits of Empire. It would be great to force a justification of all that money. And in the process, we could point out that saving this much money is way more than any possible savings on domestic spending.

[WeCanDoMore]

12:09 AM on 01/10/2011

Excellent post.

[vladimir-huff]

11:58 AM on 01/10/2011

can't disagree with you

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:50 PM on 01/09/2011

Huzzah.

[BlackYowe]

08:35 PM on 01/09/2011

The Russians could have told us the war was a waste of money.

[1donewrong]

08:32 PM on 01/09/2011

why not mention the $100B that the taxpayers in the other 49 have paid to the 9/11 funds

[giverny98]

10:39 PM on 01/09/2011

I'm not sure I get your point.

[1donewrong]

11:04 PM on 01/09/2011

NYC has received over $100 billion because of 9/11 and they just received another $7B in dec

[MikeyJaii]

08:24 PM on 01/09/2011

C'mon New Yorkers, why are we allowing this? We can't afford this!

[Peace and Justice Online]

05:58 PM on 01/09/2011

I agree with Mr. Greenwald that the monies used to fund this war can and should be used to, instead, fund our needs at home. I support the national "Move the Money Campaign." The cost of the war is preventing us from addressing so many of our needs, here, at home. However, I think we should not lose sight of the fact that there is substantial untapped funding available for our "human needs." In NY, ending the rebate on the stock transfer tax would eliminate the state's deficit. The wealthy, in New York and throughout the U.S. have been paying far less than they did, could, and should in income taxes. In NY, income tax rates for the wealthy are exactly the same as those for families earning $41,000. That is absurd. More importantly, however, let's remember that decisions as to whether to be at war should not be based primarily upon fiscal considerations. We should keep in mind that the war in Afghanistan is both illegal and immoral. Most Americans and most Afghans want us to end the war, ASAP. To hear comments from a group of young Afghans, from the New Year's Calls for Peace, check out the recent post on the Peace and Justice Online website, at http://peaceandjusticeonline.org

[Jay Hardee]

05:13 PM on 01/09/2011

Look, I'm all in favor of ending the war in Afghanistan but what does that have to do with a state budget deficit in need of immediate attention? Even if the governor gets on the phone and successfully lobbies for New York's representatives to vote against war funding (again, a laudable idea) that won't put money in the state's coffers. He would still have difficult budget decision to make, unless he could also convince those reps to get congress to send 10 billion dollars to New York AND those reps would have to successfully persuade both houses ofmcongress and the President to do so. I doubt that will happen. I suppose the author's argument is rhetorical, meant to show that the budget deficit in NY equals or is eclipsed by NY's share of the war funding, which is interesting and alarming. But still it's kind of an apples and oranges argument.

[sbrannon]

03:44 PM on 01/09/2011

We were promised, and that promise has been broken. I voted for obama based on his promise to get us out of the wars, so we can keep our money at home where it's needed. The journalist let us down, by not doing their job when there were not any warheads, they stayed silent and over a million people have died. Not counting those who now have to worry about their childrens education, health and how to put the next meal on the table. Obama, failed us. Bit I don't like the republicans either. Now, NY lost all by one vote. Where are our leaders? Where is our revolution?

[jeffp26]

04:56 PM on 01/09/2011

Totally agree.

[waldopepper]

03:27 AM on 01/10/2011

I don't mean to be disagreeable but Obama never said he was leaving Afghanistan anytime soon if he became President when he was campaigning. Rather he would take the troops from Iraq and redeploy them to Afghanistan.

[KIVPossum]

01:26 PM on 01/09/2011

Pity we have money to invade other nations but are broke when it comes to taking care of our own

[Drmhp]

09:36 PM on 01/09/2011

Murder is our mission in the world today. There is no excuse for it.

[Peter Noble 2]

12:53 PM on 01/09/2011

Just goes to show we have the money to fund welfare but war comes first for Democrats and Republicans. Though it is heartening to see the number of NY Democrats voting against the war. However our supreme leader be he Bush or Obama, are wanting to keep this war of choice going. Obama is expanding the war zones so we can expect further cuts to pay for his Hubris. Disgraceful when it was Bush, why are there no mass demonstrations now? Oh right it's a Just War now.

[ewldest]

09:11 AM on 01/09/2011

It's amazing - and sad - that so many Americans still feel that such nonsensical wars 'protect' America and make it stronger, when in fact they weaken and demoralize us more and more day by day. We have passed the point where our lives are mere economic drudgery while supporting military ventures, that's now a given. We are now approaching the point when such drudgery will be demanded simply and solely in order to support such wars, when wars will be the only reason to believe there is any America at all.

[sarah amy]

11:56 AM on 01/08/2011

Nice way to break down a big deficit into a smaller scale. I love the documentary you made on Afghanistan, btw!!

[RealistBC]

11:50 AM on 01/08/2011

There really is only one way to deal with the civilian budget. Eliminate it.

At age seven, all children will be drafted into the military, trained, and sent abroad to occupy foreign nations for the benefit of multinational corporations operating under WTO rules. All their parents will understand, as they have been separated by their deployments ever since said child was born.