Everything's a nail, when all you've got is a hammer
In
recent discussions of the growth in militarization, a controversial issue has
been whether the recent increase in militarization has impacted the jobs of the
American people. On the one hand, some argue that militarization has helped
create more jobs. From this perspective, the short term job increase byproduct
of militarization has created jobs for the American people. On the other hand
however, some would say that the budget increase for the U.S Defense spending
post 9/11, has led us to the debt crisis were experiencing now. In simpler
words, instead of focusing on creating jobs the U.S. Government chose to focus
the economy on strict measures.
As of
April 2001, before the war on terror, the federal budget was at a peak surplus
of 2.61 percent of the GDP, meaning that the Federal Government was actually
receiving more money than it was spending, which had not happened in decades.
Throughout this period, unemployment was low and students fresh out of grad school
were able successfully being employed into careers they felt fit for. Then came
September 11, 2001; the day multiple terrorist attacks, in New York and
Washington, were witnessed around the globe. Days later, the Authorization for
Use of Military Force against Terrorism (AUMF) was set as law. The AUMF then approved the use of the U.S.
Armed Forces against the terrorists who committed the crime of September 11th
and anyone affiliated with them. These attacks then set off the military campaign
known as the, Global War on Terrorism.
This campaign would then lead the United States of America to one of the
largest debts ever witnessed. As the end of President Clinton’s last budget
came to its end, the U.S. debt was a manageable $5.8 trillion, soon after the
nine months of probation were over; President Bush doubled the initial debt by
initiating War on Terror. Finance of
this campaign then, gave birth to the Department of Homeland Security.
According to National Priorities, The DHS has spent a total of 635.9 Billion
since 2001. Today, other countries are growing their military advisory, and
some, like china are said to be the next great thing in the international
military league. Nevertheless, as of today the U.S. military spending budget
alone doubles that of all the Asian countries combined.
The mindset of focusing
on militarization rather than focusing on stimulating the economy, has led to
the downfall of many companies, leaving them no option other than to terminate
employees otherwise risk losing their business. The militarization or act of
going to war consequently associated American business with a high sense of
risk aversion, giving investors a reason to not invest in American business. As
the months passed by, and the military budget increased exponentially in order
to support departments, such as the Home land Security Department, it became
more difficult to do business in America. For example, Anona Co. provides two
services from which it’s known for and has relied since the first day it opened
its doors, however with the economic downturn, it expects to only be able to
afford to provide one service. Anona Co. then begins to worry because the
representative of their biggest client is coming down to renew their service
contract. Anona Co. then realizes that it must find out which service will be more profitable in both the short, just long enough to improve the financial situation. After networking, Anona Co. reaches out
to an accounting consultancy firm from California that specializes in Anona's line of service. However, with the increase in regulation of the TSA, traveling
has been more difficult, which delays, postpones, and ultimately cancels Anona's decision to use the accounting firm’s expertise. Running out of time, Anona Co. makes the wrong decision and renews the least profitable service. Companies like the one mentioned above, that are struggling to survive would benefit from
stimulus packages. For example, stimulus packages that would
allow Anona Co. to deduct a percentage on new equipment and materials, that is
used in order to provide the service, would have been helpful given the
circumstance that Anona Co is in. If the Bush administration had chosen to focus on the recovery of the U.S. economy rather than the War on Terror, companies like Anona would have benefited and not have had to lay off employees. Small businesses like Anona Co. are critical
for the growth of the U.S. economy, and according to Kimberly Amadeo , who is the
current president of worldmoneywatch.com,
small businesses contribute 65% of all new jobs. Amadeo goes on to say that
without small businesses, the economy would simply not grow, and to put things
into perspective, she states that the bulk of U.S. companies are small
businesses and 96% have 50 or less employees. Small businesses like the ones
mentioned above would have benefited tremendously if more focus was brought to
help them out, and most importantly more jobs would have opened up for the
American people. Another demonstration of how the militarization of the United
States has affected businesses here in America, which consequently affected the
jobs available for the American people is, for example, say Chaparral Co. innovates a
new product to which customers felt a need for and now demand for. Chaparral Co. knows that it must capture the majority of the market before other competitors
enter and take their clients. However, in order to do so Chaparral Co. needs more
capital to grow and expand its operations. Here, Chaparral Co. has an opportunity
to increase the bottom line and create more jobs thus increasing tax revenue.
Soon after, Chaparral Co. realizes it can’t rely on a federal grant or loans due to
the unrealistic criteria it must comply with. Chaparral Co. then looks to access
the stock market to gain the capital necessary to grow, all the while knowing that it will
still go through a difficult strenuous procedures in order to issue an Initial
Public Offering (IPO). However, with investors
already uncertain about investing in American Companies, due to the terrorist
attacks on September 11, and the addition of the War on Terror, both consequently raised the risk
aversion of these American companies. Chaparral Co. ends up not getting help from
the investors and fails to accumulate enough capital to expand. Other
competitors, mostly larger corporations that already have the capital, seize
the opportunity and take over the market leaving Chaparral Co. to die a slow,
painful, merciless death. Soon after, Chaparral Co. begins the layoff process and tension
starts to build among its employees. Unsure of who was next to be let go,
anxiety begins to creep into the minds of the employees. My own view here is that
there are many events and factors for job related stress or anxiety caused by
the external environment. Though I concede that much of the stress or anxiety
in the workplace is caused directly from within the company, I still maintain that
any disruptions outside of the company such as terrorist attacks and war are
related to job stress and anxiety, especially during a period with events such
as the recession of 2001, 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the War against Terror, where losing a business like losing a job were detrimental during this period, and for
many it cursed suicide.
For the numerous companies who survived the various
events post 9/11, it did not mean it was smooth sailing afterwards. Many of the
companies who did survive had gone through many setbacks, operating at bare
minimum. The result of the cutbacks that companies went through, in order to be
able to compete, put its workers under tremendous stress. For example,
companies in the transportation industry or companies that relied on heavy
machinery were mostly affected by the price increase in oil. Naturally,
companies cut back on other expenses, such as labor while increasing the job duties
for the remaining employees. Although some might argue that the War on Terror
developed more businesses and employed many, I reply that the majority of these
businesses were military contracting companies. According to John W. Whitehead,
“Over the past few decades, America has become increasingly dependent on
military contractors in order to carry out military operations abroad.”
Whitehead goes on to say that there are also foreign military contractors under
the U.S. payroll; for example, a group of Afghan contractors known as RWA that
were chosen to build a 17.5 mile paved road in the Ghazni province. However,
the contract between the U.S. and RWA was terminated with 2/3 of a mile paved
and were still paid $4 million. Another example that Whitehead mentions is the
$300 million diesel power plant that was built even though the U.S. government
knew that it would not be used on a regular basis, since the fuel necessary to
run it was far greater that what the Afghan government could afford at the time. With
the numerous problems in the in the American workforce, such as horrible bosses,
and workplace anxiety there are other external factors that can increase job
dissatisfaction such as war and terrorism. Whenever there are events that cause
uncertainty in the economy, like terrorism and war, fewer investments are made
in the economy. Now, combining that with a focus on higher regulations, the
degree of job related stress soars to a higher scale, and for many to an
unmanageable point.
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