“People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics, and they always will be until they have learnt to seek out the interests of some class or other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases, declarations and promises.” On Sept. 15, Gen. David Petraeus will issue the Pentagon’s report to Congress. The Bush administration also will request that Congress provide another $141 billion to finance the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. There will be a huge anti-war demonstration on Sept. 15 in Washington, DC, demanding an immediate end to the Iraq
—Vladimir Lenin, 1913
war. The Party for Socialism and Liberation will be mobilizing for that important action.
Thousands will gather in Washington on Sept. 15 to stop the U.S. war machine.
In order to avoid becoming “foolish victims of deception and self deception,” it is critical to understand the real role of military spending in the U.S. economy.
Bush and the generals, as well as their Democratic opponents, all agree on huge military spending. They universally argue that it is critical to “defend the country.” And they make patriotic appeals so that workers will consent to giving a huge part of the country’s resources to a small class of industrialists and bankers who derive enormous profit from war spending.
The U.S. military-industrial complex is a vast war machine. It became a permanent feature of the U.S. economy and a pillar of modern-day capitalism starting with World War II. It became a permanent feature of U.S. state monopoly capitalism with the Korean War in 1950. Without military spending, the economy would quickly collapse into depression. Economic collapse will happen anyway, but militarism and endless war have a temporary stabilizing effect for the capitalist class.
While workers have found it increasingly difficult to pay exorbitant healthcare and housing costs, and skyrocketing tuition fees, the military-industrial complex devours a huge share of the national resources.
According to current projections, the Pentagon will spend an estimated $3.2 trillion between 2001 and 2008. This will be slightly higher—taking into account inflation—than the Pentagon spending level between 1941 and 1948. (Harpers Index 2003, Harpers.org)
Those years, however, included the full scale U.S. mobilization for World War II—the largest and bloodiest war in history.
The Pentagon now has more than 750 military bases in 130 countries. There are more than 2 million U.S. soldiers in uniform.
In the federal budget, war spending accounts for more than 50 percent of all discretionary spending. (New York Times, Feb. 8, 2005)
Military spending, to the extent that it is an economic stimulus, has certain unique features.
 |
Take the $3.2 trillion that will be spent between 2001 and 2008. This money goes to privately owned corporations to produce goods and services that do not compete with other commodities seeking buyers in the capitalist “free market.”
Every warplane, tank, cruise missile and piece of equipment in the so-called missile defense system is ultimately paid for by the government. So is the steel, rubber, plastic and other core commodities used in their manufacturing.
Military commodities will not circulate. They will not be used for anything until it is time to destroy and be destroyed in a military conflict. They cannot be overproduced because they are not competing to be sold on the market.
There is no real capitalist competition; the risk has been removed. The Pentagon guarantees that all costs will be recovered. Often, corporate profits are contractually based on a fixed percentage of the costs of production.
The political domination of the Pentagon over Congress is commensurate with the pivotal role played by militarism in the modern U.S. economy.
But its economic role is only one part of understanding the centrality of militarism in the fortunes of the U.S. capitalist class. The far-flung and ever expanding military buildup conforms to the strategic needs of the U.S. ruling class as it establishes, maintains and enforces a world empire. When thousands descend on Washington, DC, on Sept. 15, they will demand an immediate end to the criminal war of aggression in Iraq.
The PSL will also bring the message that the fight against endless war requires a removal of the capitalist vultures that profit from death and destruction, which are inherent features of militarism.
Read more from PSL about the role of military spending in caplitalism.
