Transcript War, the Economy and the Health of Our Communities

War,
The Economy
and
The Health of our
Communities
hosted by
East Bay Citizens for Peace
April, 2011
Direct Costs of War:
Iraq War:
$790 billion, as of March 2011
$9 billion per month average cost
$3.12 billion, cost to RI
Afghanistan War:
$386 billion, as of March 2011
$1.55 billion, cost to RI
Total:
$1.12 trillion, as of March 2011
$4.67 billion, cost to RI
Source: National Priorities Project, Cost of War project,
http://costofwar.com/en/
Rhode Island’s Economy
$47 billion, GDP in 2009
or $41,000 per person
$54,562 median household income in 2008
408,424 households
$7.66 billion, budget of RI State Government 2012
$3.17 billion from general revenue
$2.55 billion from federal funds
$1.72 billion from other sources
$209.5 million from restricted or dedicated fee funds
$295 million projected deficit
US Federal Budget 2010
$3.55 trillion
$2 trillion mandatory
$1.55 trillion discretionary
US Federal Budget Exercise
A 25 Percent Solution:
Withdraw in a timely fashion from Iraq = $105 billion in year one
Withdraw from Afghanistan = 25 billion
Eliminate wasteful weapons systems = 33 billion
Reduce active nuclear warheads = 16 billion
Close half of US overseas military bases = 51 billion
Trim unused air wings and sea forces = 5 billion
Eliminated waste in procurement and operations = 20 billion
Total: $255 billion, or 25 percent of Federal Budget’s
discretionary spending
$1 billion in Federal spending creates
8,555 jobs for defense
17,687 jobs for education and
19,795 for mass transit.
Source: Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier, (2007) The U.S.
Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending
Priorities. Amherst: University of Massachusetts.
Some resources:
New Priorities Network:
http://newprioritiesnetwork.org/resources
25 Percent Solution:
http://www.25percentsolution.com/
Friends Committee on National Legislation,
Rebalancing Our Nation’s Checkbook
http://fcnl.org/issues/checkbook/