Trillions for perpetual war…not 2 cents for infrastructure

The two cents for infrastructure is hyperbole. We may get upwards of a trillion dollars to peck away at our woefully inadequate infrastructure over the next decade.

But the trillions for perpetual war is dead on. The Congressional Budget Office reports that at current levels we’ll spend $7.3 trillion over that same decade. It’s concerned enough about this gargantuan windfall to the weapons makers and military suppliers that it recommends lopping a cool trillion off this gargantuan boondoggle to endless war.

It’s not just pulling that trillion out of thin air. The specifics include a cross the board 20% reduction in all armed services, cancelling unneeded, wildly expensive weapons programs like a new generation of ground based ICBM’s and the proposed B-21 bomber.

All Republicans and a handful of Democrats in Congress are agonizing about $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years for drastically needed infrastructure. Even $3.5 trillion may not be enough to prevent the vaunted American economy from becoming an also ran. But mention national defense, which more accurately is national offense, maintaining military interventions all over the Middle East and Africa, and they green light spending trillions without a thought or a care.

To paraphrase a common meme, ‘Perpetual war talks…and infrastructure walks."