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<div class="MsoNormal">In all the complaint and tumult about the tax increases
passed by the Illinois legislature, I’d like people to consider our financial
problems from another perspective. None of the recent letters in the N-G refer
to the federal budget and the federal tax structure, to which we all
contribute, more or less. No one mentioned the costs suffered due to our wars,
occupations, military bases, “intelligence” and “national security”. <i>These
costs are upwards of one trillion dollars per year.</i><span style="font-style:
normal"> Military, i.e. ”defense” outlays exist not only in weaponry and
associated equipment such as planes, ships, guns, but in personnel,
infrastructure, research and development, state department operations,
propaganda, and CIA operations. All are associated with what Eisenhower called
the “military and industrial complex”, but which also includes, unfortunately,
an associated academic and media complex. Some small fraction of our population
profit from all this expense, but the rest are in debt from it—just as some
have become fantastically wealthy over the past few decades while the rest have
suffered stagnated or diminished incomes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">U.S. citizens do not seem to complain about their military,
and so-called<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“national security”,
burden, but the total state debt in the nation is now roughly 500 B$, and would
be greatly alleviated if the cost of our military and imperial adventurism were
reduced, say, by 50%; that would cover all of our states’ debts, and we could
then better deal with our society’s many problems—environmental, educational,
health, and infrastructure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Here, I do not delve into the moral aspects of U.S foreign
policy: why are we killing and destroying in remote lands such as Iraq, Iran,
Pakistan, Yeman, why are we supporting with our tax dollars repressive
governments around the world such as Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Our national moral deficiencies in foreign policy are
closely connected to our economic and social problems at home. Think about it!</div>
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