Budget Balancing Made simple
by Jeff Hackman
As a teacher, I am usually suspicious of simple answers to huge problems. However, in the case of state budget deficits, the numbers are there. If the US would bring defense spending back to the level the people want, the deficits would be gone.
Let’s take Pennsylvania as an example. The state is projecting a $5 billion deficit for the 2011-12 budget year. According to the National Priorities Project, the people of Pennsylvania will pay $4.1 billion this year to keep the nine-and-a-half-year-old Afghanistan War going for one more year. Cut the F-22 jet fleet of over 200 planes by five aircraft, and there you are: a savings of $5 billion.
If you think the Afghan War shouldn’t end, there are plenty other ways of cutting a few billion from a defense-related budget that is closing in on the one Trillion (per year!) mark. The US spends as much on so-called defense as nearly all other countries combined.
It is time to bring home the troops, and bring home the dollars (at least a few billion of them). We could use them here. Go to congress.org, find your Representative and Senators and let them know your thoughts.
