Nothing is certain except birth and taxes. That’s right, I said birth and taxes. We know that babies will be born. We know that we will pay taxes. We know that eventually those babies will pay taxes too. In fact, that’s why we pay our taxes, to collectively invest in the future for our children. And they in turn will pay taxes to invest in the next generation. And so it goes.
Then why are we doing such a poor job of allocating our federal tax dollars to make a great world for the next generation? This Tax Day is a grand opportunity to start the pivot to such a future for our children.
We can agree that today’s young people need certain basics so that they can become a vital part of our society and in turn help the generation behind them. And one of those is education.
As the mother of a 10 year old who attends public school I am shocked that we set aside only 6 percent of our federal discretionary budget for education, especially when I see that communities of color across the country are losing schools to budget cuts.
And as a person who has made regular payments on her student loans for 20 years, it worries me that this country’s student loan debt has reached $1 trillion and that many young people feel unable to pursue their dreams because of the debt they would incur.
Clearly, we have decided not to invest in education. So, what are we investing in? The Pentagon.
We set aside nearly 60 percent of our federal discretionary budget for the Pentagon, and much of that goes to waste and to pump up defense manufacturer profits. For instance, we’ve invested heavily in the failed F-35 Joint Force Striker, the most expensive weapons system in US history, with a total cost of $1.5 trillion. The F-35 is way overdue, way over budget, has been grounded twice, does little to address 21st century military needs, and is nowhere near completion. So why do we keep funneling money to Lockheed Martin to continue it?
For the $9.4 billion taxpayers forked over for the F-35 in Fiscal Year 2012, we could have invested in our children’s future by funding 100,000 elementary school teachers, and 135,000 scholarships for university students, and 200,000 Head Start places, all for one year. Oh, and we’d still have $36 million left over. (www.nationalpriorities.org)
One is tempted to think that with the drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan we will soon enjoy a peace dividend and be able to start investing in education and other programs.
However, a recent article in the Financial Times by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes made it clear that there will be no peace dividend. “Indeed, the costs after withdrawal may exceed those during the war. Choices made in the past decade mean high costs for years to come – and will constrain other national security spending.” say Stiglitz and Bilmes.
Sadly, it will constrain national security spending in a broader sense as well —spending on education, health and housing programs that are vital to keep communities truly secure.
To be sure, many worry about cutting Pentagon spending because that means cutting jobs – but if we shift our priorities we’ll create jobs in other sectors. One study found that $1 billion spent on the military only created 11,000 jobs, while the same investment in the education sector would have created 26,000 jobs.
Today I’ll be walking the halls of Congress with my colleagues and 65 youth from around the country who want to send a message about federal budget priorities. These young people have all made short videos) that talk about the needs they have in their communities that are going unmet because of how we currently allocate our tax dollars.
They talk about overcrowded classrooms, ancient textbooks, underfunded and closed schools, among many other needs – and they will be asking their representatives to invest in their future instead of fueling further Pentagon bloat.
As a taxpayer, I hope their message is heard. I want my tax dollars to fund the dreams and aspirations of the next generation, not the nightmare of endless war.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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