Dr. Bob Reuschlein, Dr. Peace, for more info: www.realeconomy.

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10 Military Spending (Empire) Domestic Effects

#1. PRODUCTIVITY. High military spending deprives the manufacturing sector of scientists,
engineers, and capital, reducing economic growth and job growth proportionately. In wartime this
negative effect is often offset by not taxing for it and running a federal deficit instead.
#2. CRIME. High military spending drives up the crime and murder rates proportionately.
Indirectly, the depressed economy leads to higher crime, directly, crime is higher around military
bases, and wounded vets with PTSD have higher suicide, divorce, mental illness, and crime rates.
#3. INEQUALITY. High military spending leads to empire and lord serf type income inequality.
Military industry jobs pay one third more than similar jobs in other private industry. Military pay
and benefits increased 72% in the decade 2000-2010 (WSJ) while private industry pay dropped
14%. Military Spending and Income Inequality correlate .78 among the developed countries.
#4. DECLINE. High military spending causes the decline of empires. Arnold Toynbees analysis
shows that 23 of 25 empires studied declined because of high levels of military spending.
#5. POLITICS. Those representing areas of high military spending dominate the political
leadership of America. As measured by per capita military spending, while equal populations live
in states above or below the line, the high military spending states have about 80% of the Supreme
Court, leadership in congress, presidential cabinet, and presidents since World War II, a four to one
advantage coming from a high military spending state.
#6. REGIONAL. Of the four major regions of the United States, the manufacturing heartland of
the Great Lakes region Midwest is by far the lowest in military spending, about 60 percent below
the average. Congress favors the financial military coastal regions of America over the
manufacturing heartland. Bailing out the banks was much easier than bailing out the auto
companies.
#7. SOCIAL MOBILITY. Once considered a classless society, America has become much less
socially mobile than Europe, Japan and other developed nations, especially since 1980 when the
empire mentality became firmly entrenched in the American economy and culture.
#8. HEALTH. While America has the worst mental health, obesity, and teen birth rates in the
developed world, the correlation on these is much worse with long term military spending (.79) than
income inequality (.67) among the 22 nations studied in the book Spirit Level. We also pay twice
as much for our health care as other developed countries that have about one third our military
budget percentage of the economy.
#9 PRISONERS. With 5% of the worlds population we have 25% of the worlds prisoners. We
doubled the people in prisons in the nineties while crime rates were cut in half by the post Cold War
lowered military spending rates. The fear based culture of militarism has entrenched extreme
attitudes in America, as imprisonment becomes the new racism with ten times the lock up rates of
whites.
#10 PRESS FREEDOM. As the national security state influences the press, we have much lower
press freedom than Canada, Japan, and Northern Europe according to Reporters Without Borders.