Groups all across the country, and world, are opposing the influence that war corporations have on our domestic and foreign polices. War corporations–Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrup-Gruman, to name the biggest–perpetuate continuous wars through their political pull on members of Congress, executive branch departments, public opinion, research and more. The result is bloated defense budgets that impact communities around the world.
Since 2001 these war budgets have totaled 14.6 trillion. That’s $14,600,000,000,000. Of that, $6 trillion went to military contractors. Those trillions have funded some very big wars, supported occupations, destroyed ecosystems, poisoned ground water, tortured legions and inflicted suffering on a scale hard to imagine. But the devastation of this war machine doesn’t end abroad. It comes home in the form of militarized police departments, surveillance of indigenous water protectors, the grooming and recruitment of our children into a culture of war and violence, and of course the pain and suicides of so many soldiers.
When 55% of our discretionary budget gets spent on war and military contracts, there is not enough left to provide for affordable housing, public transportation, raising up low-income people, student debt relief, pre-school education, green jobs and so many other things we need to truly thrive.
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