Iraq and Afghanistan ‘are making you poor’

HR 5353 is a bill that ought to be enacted right now, but probably won’t even get a hearing. Introduced by Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, it’s called “The War Is Making You Poor Act.” Its purpose, says Grayson, is “to show people in a real and concrete way the cost of these endless wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Grayson points out that next year’s budget allocates $159 billion to perpetuate the occupations of those two countries. Grayson’s bill would eliminate the $159 billion for war and use those billions instead to eliminate income taxes for everybody’s first $35,000 of income -- $70,000 for couples. And there’d be $15 billion left over to help pay down the national debt.

“The costs of the war have been rendered invisible,” Grayson says. “There’s no draft. Instead, we take the most vulnerable elements of our population and give them a choice between unemployment and missile fodder… We don’t even put these wars on budget; they're still passed using ‘emergency supplemental.’

“Tell Congress that you like ‘The War Is Making You Poor Act.’ No, tell Congress you love it,” Grayson urged.