#225 / Where The Money Goes

Since I am a member and contributor to the War Resisters League, I get a pie chart, like the one above, every year. Incidentally, there is a difference between being a contributor and being a member. Contributors send money. Members send money and take the pledge: 

The War Resisters League affirms that all war is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive nonviolently for the removal of the causes of war, including racism, sexism and all forms of human exploitation.

I got to thinking about the WRL "pie chart" when I read Thomas Friedman's June 24, 2020, column in The New York Times. Friedman titled his column, "China and America Are Heading Toward Divorce." Here is something he says near the end of the column: 

It is not just that China reportedly has fewer than 5,000 Covid-19 deaths and America has over 120,000 — and the virus started there. It is not just that it takes about 22 hours on Amtrak to go from New York to Chicago, while it takes 4.5 hours to take the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, slightly farther apart. It’s not just that the pandemic has accelerated China’s transformation to a cashless, digital society. 

It’s that we have reduced investments in the true sources of our strength — infrastructure, education, government-funded scientific research, immigration and the right rules to incentivize productive investment and prevent excessive risk-taking. And we have stopped leveraging our greatest advantage over China — that we have allies who share our values and China only has customers who fear its wrath (emphasis added).

If we invest huge amounts of our money in what we call "defense," but which is really an investment intended to maintain world dominance through military might, it's no wonder that we are failing behind in the other categories that Friedman lists. 

In the United States of America, people are dying without health care, and there are increasing numbers of homeless persons, shoved from shelter to the sidewalks. 

It's all about where the money goes!

Image Credit:

https://www.warresisters.org/resources/pie-chart-flyers-where-your-income-tax-money-really-goes