How America Loves Killing More Than Life Itself (In 5 Graphs)
America’s war machine is not new, therefore it’s not news. It is nonetheless the greatest single threat to life on this planet. It’s not just that America is the single greatest killing force in the world, though it is. The US military is also the single largest emitter, killing us all.
And it’s not just the murder, this is also suicide. Americans are also human beings who live in a shared climate, and this kills them as well. Americans are also people that live without healthcare and basic social services so that arms dealers can loot them. Every American budget is a murder-suicide pact, but their corporate press doesn’t report on it because it’s not new. It is nonetheless true.
Just look at a few graphs (from the intrepid Stephen Semler) and see.
The Killing
America’s Pentagon budget is more than they have spent on Biden’s supposedly transformative investments in America itself. It’s more than 4x the relief given to the American people during COVID-19. For reference, more people have died from their failed pandemic response than all US combat deaths ever, but you can see what the priority is. More killing than death. Always more killing.
Even if you look at regular appropriations spending, the priority is still death. Even under Democrats the budget is mostly militarized. America is officially fighting no wars, so in truth they are just out there murdering.
Everything President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in his 1961 farewell address has thus come to pass.
Whereas “American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well” now…
