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/