Peace Economy

A peace economy was added as a second priority of the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) in the late 1980’s, as the Cold War was winding to a close. The idea was that a major “peace dividend” could be reaped, that could be reinvested in urgent human needs at home and abroad—education, health care, the environment, job creation, housing, etc.

CFPA and many other groups and persons—including former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara—called for a 50% reduction in military spending. The rationale was that the Cold War was over, and that the estimated 60% of the military budget that had gone to defend Western Europe against a feared Soviet invasion could now be deleted from the military budget.

The remaining 50% would have still amounted to more than $150 billion, nearly four times more than the next closest nation (Russia). This would have been more than adequate for a very robust defense of the United States against any conceivable threat—except a nuclear attack. The only defense against that would be by prevention, i.e. globally abolishing nuclear weapons.

However, military spending never went down in actual dollars, though the rate of increase didn’t keep up with inflation for some years. In 2003, the US Congress approved a major increase in military spending to more than $400 billion. Over and above this was $67 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This accounted for some 53% of total federal “discretionary” spending, i.e. money that Congress could allocate for whatever purposes it chose.

The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action
December 10, 2003

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