Where Tax Dollars Are Going Vs Where They Should Be Going
Apr 11, 2021 18:44:45 #
berchman
Loc: South Central PA
There are those who will suggest that these proposals are a joint production of Iran, China, Russia and North Korea, but not everyone will think so.
"President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure package is worth half of the $4 trillion annual federal budget — but the infrastructure plan spans a period of eight years. On an annual basis, that amounts to an approximately 14 percent increase to the federal budget for a finite number of years. It’s significant, but not earth-shattering. Meanwhile, we must remember what this country has already proved it is willing to spend trillions of dollars on, over the years.
War Spending: $6.4 Trillion
Over the past 20 years, the U.S. has spent $6.4 trillion on wars that have served only to further destabilize the Middle East, cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and enrich military contractors. If that money had been spent on infrastructure and clean energy instead of destructive and deadly wars, the U.S. could have had a fully renewable energy grid by now. The Pentagon is one of the most egregious uses of trillions of dollars.
That $6.4 trillion doesn’t even include the regular, non-war Pentagon budget. President Biden’s $2.3 trillion jobs package works out to about $280 billion a year. The last time the military budget was less than that amount was 1951.
The Biden plan is really not all that big, especially given how overdue it is.
Just a week after announcing his jobs plan, President Biden released a budget proposal that pegged Pentagon spending at $753 billion. That’s more than the $740 billion the Pentagon got this year under President Trump, and it’s more than two and a half times the annual value of the jobs proposal. Every year in recent memory, the Pentagon has accounted for more than half of the discretionary federal budget that Congress allocates each year. Federal spending on domestic militarization and policing, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, the FBI and the need to take care of veterans of our wars adds another 10 percent. All told, war and militarization accounts for nearly two-thirds of annual discretionary spending.
Even the amount the Pentagon awards to contractors each year exceeds the jobs plan’s annual projected expenditure. In 2020, due to a C***D bump (of which the Pentagon spent $1 billion intended for C***D on jet parts and body armor), the Department of Defense awarded $422 billion in lucrative and often non-competitive contracts. Last year, the Department awarded $383 billion in contracts. And the year before that, $358 billion. The Pentagon’s expenditures on military contracts alone have surpassed the amount of Biden’s infrastructure package every year for decades.
The Pentagon’s expenditures on military contracts alone have surpassed the amount of Biden’s infrastructure package every year for decades.
Investments in infrastructure, clean energy and education all create more jobs than the military, dollar for dollar.
The Pentagon has big plans for future spending, too. There’s the $1.5 trillion estimated cost to perpetuate the nuclear threat into the 21st century. And another $1.6 trillion for a single plane — the F-35 fighter jet, recently famous for literally shooting itself.
These are foolish and destructive uses of money. If the Pentagon can afford trillions for its dangerous future, we should be able to afford at least that much for priorities that promote health, environmental t***sformation, economic justice and the survival of humanity.
....Trump made the tax problem much worse, but he didn’t create it. Even prior to the Trump tax cuts, the U.S. gave away more money in tax breaks that heavily favored the wealthy than it spent on the entire federal discretionary budget. Fair tax policies, including taxing financial t***sactions on Wall Street, taxing investment income the same as income from work and strengthening the estate tax could bring in an additional $886 billion a year in federal tax revenue. Right now, that money is bolstering extreme wealth ine******y and its distortions on democracy.
In a mark of where the resources really are in this country, the wealth of the nation’s billionaires grew by $1.3 trillion from the beginning of the p******c in March 2020 to February 2021. The billionaires’ p******c windfall brings their total wealth to $4.3 trillion. These profits aren’t government spending, but government tax policies have made it possible, and it’s time to call in the bill."
https://t***hout.org/articles/pentagon-and-tax-c***ts-already-cost-taxpayers-far-more-than-bidens-job-plan/
"President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure package is worth half of the $4 trillion annual federal budget — but the infrastructure plan spans a period of eight years. On an annual basis, that amounts to an approximately 14 percent increase to the federal budget for a finite number of years. It’s significant, but not earth-shattering. Meanwhile, we must remember what this country has already proved it is willing to spend trillions of dollars on, over the years.
War Spending: $6.4 Trillion
Over the past 20 years, the U.S. has spent $6.4 trillion on wars that have served only to further destabilize the Middle East, cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and enrich military contractors. If that money had been spent on infrastructure and clean energy instead of destructive and deadly wars, the U.S. could have had a fully renewable energy grid by now. The Pentagon is one of the most egregious uses of trillions of dollars.
That $6.4 trillion doesn’t even include the regular, non-war Pentagon budget. President Biden’s $2.3 trillion jobs package works out to about $280 billion a year. The last time the military budget was less than that amount was 1951.
The Biden plan is really not all that big, especially given how overdue it is.
Just a week after announcing his jobs plan, President Biden released a budget proposal that pegged Pentagon spending at $753 billion. That’s more than the $740 billion the Pentagon got this year under President Trump, and it’s more than two and a half times the annual value of the jobs proposal. Every year in recent memory, the Pentagon has accounted for more than half of the discretionary federal budget that Congress allocates each year. Federal spending on domestic militarization and policing, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, the FBI and the need to take care of veterans of our wars adds another 10 percent. All told, war and militarization accounts for nearly two-thirds of annual discretionary spending.
Even the amount the Pentagon awards to contractors each year exceeds the jobs plan’s annual projected expenditure. In 2020, due to a C***D bump (of which the Pentagon spent $1 billion intended for C***D on jet parts and body armor), the Department of Defense awarded $422 billion in lucrative and often non-competitive contracts. Last year, the Department awarded $383 billion in contracts. And the year before that, $358 billion. The Pentagon’s expenditures on military contracts alone have surpassed the amount of Biden’s infrastructure package every year for decades.
The Pentagon’s expenditures on military contracts alone have surpassed the amount of Biden’s infrastructure package every year for decades.
Investments in infrastructure, clean energy and education all create more jobs than the military, dollar for dollar.
The Pentagon has big plans for future spending, too. There’s the $1.5 trillion estimated cost to perpetuate the nuclear threat into the 21st century. And another $1.6 trillion for a single plane — the F-35 fighter jet, recently famous for literally shooting itself.
These are foolish and destructive uses of money. If the Pentagon can afford trillions for its dangerous future, we should be able to afford at least that much for priorities that promote health, environmental t***sformation, economic justice and the survival of humanity.
....Trump made the tax problem much worse, but he didn’t create it. Even prior to the Trump tax cuts, the U.S. gave away more money in tax breaks that heavily favored the wealthy than it spent on the entire federal discretionary budget. Fair tax policies, including taxing financial t***sactions on Wall Street, taxing investment income the same as income from work and strengthening the estate tax could bring in an additional $886 billion a year in federal tax revenue. Right now, that money is bolstering extreme wealth ine******y and its distortions on democracy.
In a mark of where the resources really are in this country, the wealth of the nation’s billionaires grew by $1.3 trillion from the beginning of the p******c in March 2020 to February 2021. The billionaires’ p******c windfall brings their total wealth to $4.3 trillion. These profits aren’t government spending, but government tax policies have made it possible, and it’s time to call in the bill."
https://t***hout.org/articles/pentagon-and-tax-c***ts-already-cost-taxpayers-far-more-than-bidens-job-plan/
Apr 11, 2021 23:45:18 #
berchman wrote:
There are those who will suggest that these propos... (show quote)
The jobs -infrastructure- bill is a s**m. Less than 10% of the money goes to infrastructure. It is actually a human engineering/green new deal bill/ But Biden couldn't call it that because he (his minders) knew the peop[le wouldnt buy it .Over 90% again the civid relief bill did not go for C***d relief, but for pork to democrat politicians. The democrat congress and the president are busy pissing away the countries money ar an alarming rate. IT MUST STOP
Apr 12, 2021 08:24:30 #
thom w
Loc: San Jose, CA
[quote=boberic]The jobs -infrastructure- bill is a s**m. Less than 10% of the money goes to infrastructure. It is actually a human engineering/green new deal bill/ But Biden couldn't call it that because he (his minders) knew the peop[le wouldnt buy it .Over 90% again the civid relief bill did not go for C***d relief, but for pork to democrat politicians. The democrat congress and the president are busy pissing away the countries money ar an alarming rate. IT MUST STOP[/quote]
When did you become the arbiter of what is, and what isn't, infrastructure?
When did you become the arbiter of what is, and what isn't, infrastructure?
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.