The National Priorities Project http://www.nationalpriorities.org/ provides up-to-date information for every state, city and town on what their war tax money could purchase in alternative domestic goods and services. For example, the 2009 cost of war to Massachusetts taxpayers could fund 600,000 Head Start jobs, provide health care for 1.5 million people, and fund renewable electricity for 7.5 million citizens.
Defense apologists argue that the Pentagon and the military industrial complex form the keystone of the economy, assuring military and defense-related civilian jobs as well as technical innovation. However, recent analysis of the effect of defense spending on job creation challenges this axiomatic notion. Comparing $1 billion spent on clean energy, health care, and education to the same amount spent on defense, researchers found that a larger number of jobs with mid- to high-range salaries and benefits would be created in the non-defense sectors than in defense. The reason? Military jobs provide higher average wages and much more generous benefits than the other sectors, thus fewer jobs overall per billion dollars spent. A related study assessed the long-term (20 year) effect on jobs and economic growth of current defense spending (5.6% of GDP). The results reveal a diminished economy: a loss of 2 million jobs and a reduction of 1.8% GDP. (3)
Has the status of Afghan women improved since the 2001 war and 2005 elections?
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