war, the economy and the health of our communities hosted by east bay citizens for peace

War,The Economy andThe Health of our Communities

hosted by East Bay Citizens for PeaceApril, 2011

Direct Costs of War:

Iraq War: $790 billion, as of March 2011$9 billion per month average cost$3.12 billion, cost to RI

Afghanistan War:$386 billion, as of March 2011$1.55 billion, cost to RI

Total:$1.12 trillion, as of March 2011$4.67 billion, cost to RI

Source: National Priorities Project, Cost of War project,http://costofwar.com/en/

Rhode Island’s Economy

$47 billion, GDP in 2009or $41,000 per person

$54,562 median household income in 2008408,424 households

$7.66 billion, budget of RI State Government 2012$3.17 billion from general revenue$2.55 billion from federal funds$1.72 billion from other sources$209.5 million from restricted or dedicated fee funds

$295 million projected deficit

US Federal Budget 2010

$3.55 trillion $2 trillion mandatory $1.55 trillion discretionary

US Federal Budget Exercise

A 25 Percent Solution:

Withdraw in a timely fashion from Iraq = $105 billion in year one

Withdraw from Afghanistan = 25 billion

Eliminate wasteful weapons systems = 33 billion

Reduce active nuclear warheads = 16 billion

Close half of US overseas military bases = 51 billion

Trim unused air wings and sea forces = 5 billion

Eliminated waste in procurement and operations = 20 billion

Total: $255 billion, or 25 percent of Federal Budget’s discretionary spending

$1 billion in Federal spending creates

8,555 jobs for defense

17,687 jobs for education and

19,795 for mass transit.

Source: Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier, (2007) The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities. Amherst: University of Massachusetts.

Some resources:

New Priorities Network: http://newprioritiesnetwork.org/resources

25 Percent Solution: http://www.25percentsolution.com/

Friends Committee on National Legislation, Rebalancing Our Nation’s Checkbookhttp://fcnl.org/issues/checkbook/