Tim Engstrom’s opening sentence in his excellent column, “A simple explanation of the U.S. economy,” states that “An economy is not the collection of wealth. It is the circulation of wealth.” But what if the largest portion of the nations’ wealth is circumvented? This is exactly what is happening by the Pentagon.

Insane amounts of money are being spent on “defense” projects that bear no relationship to the national security of the United States. We really should compare this staggering expense to a dam. Upstream the Pentagon confiscates trillions, leaving midstream for the rich, while the remainder of us flounder in shallow pools of money that are fast drying up.

Just how much money is being confiscated from American taxpayers? Shrouded in secrecy and blatantly censored by the president, secretary of defense, the military-industrial complex and members of Congress who profit enormously from pork-barrel projects in their districts, we may never know.

In 1996, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act required all federal agencies to hire outside auditors to review their books and release the results to the public. Both the Department of Defense and the Homeland Security continue thumbing their noses at this law, and have even resorted to budgetary sleight-of-hand hiding obscene amounts of money in other departments. For example, $23.4 billion is hidden in the Department of Energy, $25.3 billion for the Department of State (that is actually spent on foreign military assistance) and so on.

To get just an inkling of what is currently being spent on our military budget Chalmers Johnson in his book, “The Last Days of the American Republic,” a must-read for all Americans, listed the world’s top 10 military spenders and the approximate amounts. Each country currently budgets for its military establishment. They are:

1. United States: $623 billion

2. China: $65 billion

3. Russia: $50 billion

4. France: $45 billion

5. United Kingdom: $43 billion

6. Japan: $42 billion

7. Germany: $35 billion

8. Italy: $28 billion

9. South Korea: $21 billion

10. India: $19 billion

Chalmers Johnson states that, “Over time, a commitment to both guns and butter has proven an unstable configuration. Military industries crowd out the civilian economy and lead to severe economic weaknesses. Devotion to military Keynesianism is, in fact, a form of slow economic suicide.” He also wrote, “There is today no sane use for them (stockpiled weapons). The trillions spent on them could have been used to solve the problems of Social Security and health care, quality education and access to higher education for all, not to speak of the retention of highly skilled jobs within the American economy.”

And yet, Pentagon’s response is never to cut back, but always to expand, always to demand more.

Both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have promised not only to vote for the over trillion dollar 2009 military budget but also to increase it. Speak up and say No!

Mary Milliron

Hollandale