Comment Policy

Congress Approves $741 Billion Military Spending for 2021

January-4, 2021 - On January 1, Congress secured its military appropriations plans by overriding a presidential veto. The finalized military budget includes $35 billion more than the request made by president Trump in February. About 10% of the budget is designated for current "hot wars." The rest is for training of foreign armies, for deployment of ultra-sophisticated BMD systems, for development of infrastructure for space-based and land-based military basing, for nuclear weapon modernization and other "peacetime" operations. 

One might ask, why is it that at a time when all the Democratic and Republican politicians are screaming that there is not enough money in the treasury to fully fund basic social services, they can easily come up with billions in extra military appropriations?

The answer can be found in the simple fact that the capitalist politicians place the interests of the U.S. corporate empire above the interests of the people. The $700 billion military budget approved every year by Congress both guarantees super-profits for the military arms contractors and also provides the corporations and banks with the personnel and hardware to maintain their empire from Latin America to the Middle-East and Asia. The capitalist know that their empire of oil, minerals, and other raw materials, as well as their "cheap" exploited labor supply, is maintained through military might. They also know that as the resistance of the oppressed nations and peoples develop, they can find no alternative but to expand their military and repressive overseas apparatus.

The American people must step up their opposition to the militarization of the economy. We must recognize that the gargantuan Pentagon budget not only drains the country's resources but the generals are stockpiling weapons with the intention of using them. We must demand an end to the aggressive U.S. foreign policy and instead of enriching the Pentagon arms merchants, the monies in the public treasury be used for needed social investments to benefit the masses of American people.

To get rid of the cancer of militarism, which is literally devouring our country and our economy, we must get rid of the outdated, exploiting capitalist system. The aim and organization of economic life must be to guarantee the rights of the people and the all-around progress of the country, not to maximize profits for a few.