White House downplays CNN poll showing majority of Americans oppose more US aid for Ukraine | CNN Politics
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The White House on Wednesday downplayed CNN polling showing most Americans oppose Congress providing additional funding to support Ukraine in its war with Russia ahead of a reported administration request for more aid.

Mitch McConell says the quiet part out loud.

Exact full quote from CNN:

“People think, increasingly it appears, that we shouldn’t be doing this. Well, let me start by saying we haven’t lost a single American in this war,” McConnell said. “Most of the money that we spend related to Ukraine is actually spent in the US, replenishing weapons, more modern weapons. So it’s actually employing people here and improving our own military for what may lie ahead.”

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/4085063

  • bobman@unilem.org
    0·
    11 months ago

    Funding the MIC doesn’t improve the lives of others. It exacerbates the disparity in wealth.

    • sab@kbin.social
      1·
      11 months ago

      Well, investing in any kind of infrastructure creates jobs. Lockheed Martin employs more than a hundred thousand people; Raytheon Technologies almost two hundred thousand. Another hundred thousand are employed in General Dynamics. That’s not even scratching the surface. In addition, the US military has well over a million active personnel; a lot of those jobs are probably less attractive though. I have no idea how many million Americans are supported by the MIC, but it’s more than a few.

      The people in good jobs building engines for bomber airplanes or whatever will spend their paycheck, giving jobs to hairdressers and carpenters.

      That’s just the logic of Keynesian economics, and it has historically proven to work quite well. So yes, funding the MIC does help others.

      The problem is that these people could have been employed doing something that benefits society more. They could be building infrastructure, or be employed in a public healthcare sector. You could get similar results by prioritizing teachers. That way you’d get a double benefit: Good American jobs and some sort of benefit for society. Instead they are wasting an insane amount of money building an absurdly overpowered military.

      Don’t get me wrong, I think the US MIC is completely absurd, and a symptom of the rot that goes to the core of US politics. I just also happen to be a fan of Keynesian economics, the logics of which still applies to the MIC.