The department of glass houses and military expenditures

Stat house
March 2002

The department of glass houses and military expenditures
While in South Korea, President Bush said that North Korea is evil because the North Korean government is building weapons while their people starve. The 8th Day Center for Peace and Justice argues that his remarks could also be applied to the U.S. The president's recent budget request includes a $48 billion increase—to $396 billion—of the fiscal year 2003 military budget.

8th Day's not-so-fun facts about U.S. hunger

* 31 million people—including 12 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents one in ten households in the United States (10.1 percent).—United States Department of Agriculture

* Three percent of U.S. households experience hunger: they frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. Nearly eight million people, including 2.7 million children, live in these homes.—USDA

* Seven percent of U.S. households are at risk of hunger: they have lower quality diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. Twenty-three million people, including 9.4 million children, live in these homes.—USDA

* People facing hunger increasingly do not receive assistance from the Food Stamp Program. The program has experienced steep drops in participation, beyond what the strong economy would warrant. The number of people who received food stamps in 2001 decreased by over 10 million since 1994, a drop of over one-third in program participation.—USDA

* The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that only 40 percent of the drop is due to a stronger economy, other sources report that about 50 percent of the decline is due to problems implementing the 1996 welfare law, and as much as 8 percent is due to limits on eligibility established in the welfare law. (Bread for the World)

Military not-so-fun facts

* More than 100 countries have military budgets of less than $1 billion—what the Pentagon spends in one day.

* Over 50 countries have military budgets of less than $100 million. If the proposed budget is approved, the Pentagon would spend that much in just over two hours

* If you converted the proposed $396 billion Pentagon budget in to silver dollars and stacked them one on top of another, it would make a stack 690 miles high. That's roughly three times the distance to the Moon and enough to return to the Earth 27.5 times.

* At $396 billion, the U.S. military budget for FY03 is more than 26 times as large as the combined spending of the seven countries traditionally identified by the Pentagon as our most likely adversaries (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria).

* The U.S. military budget is more than the combined spending of the next 25 nations.

* The United States and its close allies spend more than the rest of the world's militaries combined, accounting for more than two-thirds of all military spending. Together they spend over 39 times more than seven rogue states.

8th Day's Suggested Action
Write the President, your senators and congressmembers demanding that the upcoming military budget be reduced, not increased, in order to care for our own people.

Visit http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm to find your Senators' e-mail addresses, and visit http://congress.org/ and enter your zip code to find you Congress member's e-mail address.

Sample letter
(cut and paste this letter and edit it as appropriate for your use)

Dear (President Bush/Senator/Congressperson)

I am calling upon you to reduce the military budget and spend more money to provide food for the hungry in the United States. In S. Korea (you/President Bush) called North Korea evil because its government spends money on weapons while its people starve. Clearly, this is an apt description of the United States as the following facts indicate (include the statistical information above). True security resides in a healthy society where all have the minimum requirements. Conversely, the seed bed of attacks such as those of September 11 can be found in hungry bellies.

Sincerely,

E-mail bulletins@claret.org to be placed on the 8th Day's Bulletins' list.

Please direct all other correspondence to
8thday@claret.org
8th Day Center for Justice
205 W. Monroe St., Suite 2-W
Chicago, Illinois 60606-5013
Phone: (312) 641-5151
FAX: (312) 641-1250

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