The Military Times reports “lawmakers on Capitol Hill are expected to move quickly this month on overdue work on the fiscal 2024 defense budget and annual defense authorization bill…” The debt ceiling deal set out $886 billion in military appropriations for next year, but a “defense supplemental” is being planned to increase military spending even more. [1]
Besides $886 billion for the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), another $640 billion must pay interest on the national debt. [2]
U.S. budget projections for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 have outlays at $6.4 trillion, revenues at $4.8 trillion, and deficit at $1.5 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. [3]
Ukraine’s much heralded Spring Counteroffensive may have already begun, with nobody noticing. The Ukrainian military launched what appeared to be the beginning of a counteroffensive on Sunday, June 4th. However Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses in a multi-pronged attack. [4]
Ukraine is “very well prepared” for its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told CNN on Monday, June 5th. [4] Nonetheless, right on the heels of the debt ceiling agreement Kiev immediately demanded another $55 billion from the West for dozens of US-made Patriot air defense system batteries. The total cost of Vladimir Zelensky’s demand “exceeds the amount of money Washington has already spent on military assistance for Kiev.” [5]
Not onboard the gravy train for American dollars are the poor in the United States. Instead, austerity measures are being placed on their backs. The debt ceiling deal for them means cuts and caps on social programs. [6]
Military prowess provides neither peace nor strength, declares Reverend Jesse Jackson. He says our budget for 2022 was $1.7 trillion. This seems to vary from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of $6.4 trillion for FY 2023. (I am having trouble tracking down exactly how much the U.S. budget is.) Jackson says just one “baroque F-35 combat aircraft” costs as much as the full budget of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). [7]
According to the Mises Institute, the F-35 is a “$1.5 trillion boondoggle”. The F-35 is “the most expensive weapons system in history”. Yet “Defense News identified thirteen significant deficiencies in one or more F-35 models: from the possibility of a blown tire destroying the entire aircraft, to inadequate vision and sensor systems, to not being [able] to fly too high, too fast, or in certain maneuvers without either apparent or actual major problems. [8]
——- Sources ——-
[1] “After debt fight, Congress turns its attention to defense budget”, by Leo Shane III. Military Times, June 4, 2023. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/06/05/after-debt-fight-congress-turns-its-attention-to-defense-budget/
[2] “Loan Shark Burdens Nation”, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, June 4, 2023. https://ersjdamoo.wordpress.com/2023/06/04/loan-shark-burdens-nation/
[3] “Budget”, Congressional Budget Office. https://www.cbo.gov/topics/budget
[4] “Ukraine ‘well prepared’ for counteroffensive – top US general”, Russia Today (RT), June 5, 2023. https://on.rt.com/cdme
[5] “Kiev demands $55 billion worth of weapons from West”, Russia Today (RT), June 3, 2023. https://on.rt.com/cdjh
[6] “Biden’s debt deal: A bipartisan blueprint for war and austerity”, by Barry Grey. World Socialist Web Site, June 3, 2023. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/03/aavt-j03.html
[7] “Military prowess provides neither peace nor strength”, by Jesse Jackson. Published locally in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, May 21, 2023.
[8] “THE F-35: A $1.5 TRILLION BOONDOGGLE”, by Elijah J. Henry. Mises Institute, September 2, 2019. https://mises.org/power-market/f-35-15-trillion-boondoggle