"Social vs. Military Spending": A Different Perspective

There are three problems with Ismael Hossein-zadeh's "Social vs. Military Spending" in the June 2009 Review of Social Economy in which he sets out to demonstrate the consequences of "escalating US military spending at the expense of non-military public spending." First, there is abundant evidence indicating that non-military public spending has not been sacrificed to satisfy the demands of the military establishment. Second, the very same tax cuts for the rich that increased income equality are associated with huge increases in taxes collected from the rich. Third, Hurricane Katrina provides little support for his hypothesis that military spending led to infrastructure neglect.