America's Contribution to the World's Economy

There were two articles in this week’s Arizona Daily Star that caught my attention.
It seems that we as American’s can only handle one crisis at a time. The health care debacle consumes everyone. I include myself in this remark. I have written a number of letters which were shared with my House Representative and others who I felt might agree. I didn’t bother with our Senators as they have shown repeatedly that they have no interest in the subject other than handing a defeat to President Obama.
The subject of this letter is America as the number one exporter of death. Our most profitable industries are ‘defense”. Millions are employed in the only industry we have left that is protected from foreign competition. Good wages are paid to employees in, I would venture to guess, every State in the Union. It has always been my belief that this was done deliberately so that voters in all States would become irate should their cushy jobs disappear.
9/13/09- AZ overseas arms sales on rise by Enric Volante. This article starts by stating that arms sales last year boomed to more than $1 billion. Arizona deliveries rose 72% from 2006. Raytheon led the way. The biggest buyers among at least 25 countries included Egypt, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Secretary Clinton finalized an agreement to clear the way for large sales to India. Raytheon officials stated that they do business with more than 40 allied nations.
9/15/09- “The poor get poorer; leaders buying arms” an opinion piece by Andrés Oppenheimer. Overall defense spending in Latin America and the Caribbean grew 91 % over the past five years to $47.2 billion in 2008. While this is going on the World Bank estimated that the number of poor in Latin America will grow to six million this year. In Latin America the United States has competition for arms sales from Russia and France.
My opinion is firm in that America should provide assistance to any country that wants to improve the lifestyles of their people. Just a small portion of these enormous funds channeled in such a way as to minimize corruption could make a huge dent in the outrageous poverty billions of people are forced to accept today. Perhaps, just perhaps, these people might look at America in a positive light. Wouldn’t that be better than the bitterness that drives them to become “terrorists”?
Weapons flooding into the Middle East I am convinced will one day, if not already, be used against our armed forces in the area. Three nations already possess nuclear capability with others closing in. It is just a matter of time before the holocaust begins. This is where the bible tells us it will begin. We are certainly doing our part to help make this prophesy come true.
As to South and Central America, they have many problems to resolve. Buying military aircraft and missile systems will not resolve them. One false step and chaos will be the result with us and Russia taking sides. This is just what we need, another world war between us. Will we never learn? Will we never get past the macho image we like to project of being the #1 Super Power as far as weaponry is concerned?
I have no illusions that a change will occur. Those of us who voted for our current president had hoped he would back away from using our troops as our means to resolve problems. We are still in Iraq. We have increased our forces in Afghanistan. The missile system is still under construction in Poland. War appropriations continue spiraling upward.
It is amusing to me that those who claim we are a Christian nation are the most militaristic in their approach to the world. I wonder how they will react when the chickens come home to roost. Perhaps they won’t care as the chosen ones will be lifted up to heaven leaving the rest of us to pay the piper.
It probably won’t make a difference at that time if we have a health care system or not.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
September 16, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com