Sign PEP's Annual Signature Ad for Peace!

The following ad appeared in the Riverfront Times on Wednesday, October 29. Please add your name and it will be forwarded to your new President.

A message from voters to the next President of the
United States of America:

We, the undersigned, believe that our federal budget does not reflect our needs or values. Therefore, we ask that you work with Congress to dramatically reduce and alter the defense budget. For example, we propose cuts to the following military programs:

What:- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Savings:

-Department of Energy's
Atomic Energy Defense Activities--------------$15.9 Billion in FY 2009
(Existing Nuclear Weapons Program)

-Star Wars Missile Defense---------------------$12.2 Billion (FY09)

-Joint Strike Fighter-----------------------------$11 Billion per year

-V-22 Osprey Aircraft----------------------------$2.73 Billion (FY09)

-SSN-774 “Virginia” Attack Submarine-------$3.59 Billion (FY09)

War in Iraq----------------------------------------$158 Billion (FY08)

Furthermore, we propose that money saved from cutting excessive military programs be invested in:

- Education
- Rebuilding and sustaining our nation’s infrastructure
- Protecting the environment
- Creating new, non-military jobs and
- Making health care accessible to all, especially children.

It is time that our nation’s spending priorities meet the needs and values of its citizens. While $720 million a day are wasted on the senseless war in Iraq, the needs of millions of Americans go un-addressed. We call on you, as the new leader of this great nation, to end the war in Iraq immediately and reduce military spending in favor of social and infrastructure needs.


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Challenge Your Political Candidates to Answer Some Questions!

The following questions fall in line with PEP's goal of getting the messages of economic conversion, diarmament, and military spending into the 2008 electoral debate.

To see this in its flyer format (which you can print and share), click here.

1. Research shows that public money spent on health care, mass transit, and education creates more jobs than investing these same dollars in the military.
Question: What percent of the military budget are you willing to cut to reinvest in job creation programs that support our communities?

2. We spend $11 billion each year on missile defense, yet we have 46 million uninsured citizens.
Question: Why is this shield, which is designed to protect us from a theoretical attack, granted so much funding when so many of us are unable to defend ourselves from the very real attacks of diseases and illnesses?

3. The U, S. spends over $20 billion annually to maintain its nuclear arsenal although many of the weapons in that arsenal no longer have practical utility.
Question: Would you vote to eliminate spending on obsolete weapons systems and use the funds saved to meet urgent domestic needs for health care & education?

4. The “Common Sense Budget Act,” H.R. 1702, would reduce the Department of Defense budget by $47 billion dollars and would invest that money in the health and education of our people.
Question: If elected (or re-elected), will you cosponsor the “Common Sense Budget Act”?

5. $60 billion of the United States defense budget is expended annually on weapons that were designed to thwart Soviet Union aggression during the Cold War and other obsolete programs.
Question: If elected (or re-elected) would you be willing to cut this spending from the Defense budget?

6. The U.S. ranks #1 in global weapons exports yet railcars, such as those found in the New York City subway, are made in Europe, Asia, and Canada.
Question: Would you be willing to reduce military contracts in order to create opportunities for development in other vital American industries?

7. Many American weapons programs are fraught with flaws and yet continue to be funded. We have already put $20 billion into the V-22 Osprey, for example, and can expect to spend an additional $35 billion before the program is finished. The Osprey has cost the U.S. thirty lives and has serious technical faults.
Question: How do you justify the continued funding of such weapons systems when nine million children in this country have no health insurance?

8. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ Report Card for America’s Infrastructure (asce.org/reportcard) has given American infrastructure an average grade of D (or poor). The ASCE estimates that it will take an investment of $1.6 trillion over five years to repair and restore American infrastructure.
Question: How do you justify a fiscal year 2008 “base military budget” of $520 billion and another $127.5 billion in war spending when our infrastructure is literally falling apart?

9. $10 billion a month is being spent on the occupation of Iraq.
Question: How do you justify this continued expenditure when more than 25 million Americans must use food pantries every week for their daily bread?

10. The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2003 that the Department of Defense could not account for over $1 trillion of appropriated funds.
Question: Given the fact that 46 million individuals in the United States lack health insurance, the infra-structure of the United States is in desperate need of rebuilding, 85% of the Nation’s public schools need repair work, and the U. S. now ranks 42nd in the world in infant mortality, what will you do to insure that the Department of Defense is a more responsible steward of its funding?

11. (Bonus!) The Department of Defense’s increasingly large budget provides for total defense spending that is greater than that of 192 other nations combined, yet the U. S. now ranks 37th in overall healthcare for its citizens.
Question: Will you vote to substantially cut the budget of the Department of Defense in order to better provide much needed health-care to our nation?

Can we be a safe and secure nation
With less military spending
AND still have good jobs?

The Peace Economy Project thinks so.

Consider:

1. Many of America’s weapons are strictly offensive and may be pushing our nation into another arms race that we cannot afford. (Nuclear weapons, weapons in space, and other “first strike” jets, missiles, bombs, etc.)

2. A University of Massachusetts, Amherst study* recently wrote that dollars invested in alternatives to defense spending such as education, healthcare, mass transit, or even tax cuts “create more jobs and,” potentially, provide “both an overall higher level of compensation… and a better average quality of jobs.”

3. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given US infrastructure (including transportation, water, waste, schools etc.) an overall grade of D, or poor, requiring an investment of $1.6Trillion dollars to adequately improve.

The Peace Economy Project calls on Federal Representatives, Corporate Leaders, and Employees and Union members of Military Contractors to come together to look at how we can more effectively use our federal dollars to fund jobs, infrastructure, health care, and access to affordable food, water, and housing in addition to keeping our country safe.

-1- What is your reaction to the idea of a “Peace Economy?” Even if you think it is nonsense, tell us why.

-2- Could local Boeing facilities and their employees design/produce non-military goods? You know the machines, you know the workforce, and you know local and national needs. What kind of goods, if any?

-3- The Peace Economy Project has called on Boeing to diversify its St Louis production to increase job security in the region. Do you think that Boeing should diversify? How secure do you find your job? To read the article published on this topic, click here.