War funding receives votes in Congress because politicians are paid off by the military-industrial complex, the analyst says
© Getty Images / Michael Campanella
The American public considers wars, and the Ukraine conflict in particular, a bad investment, award-winning US economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs has said.
Since the start of Russia’s military operation in the neighboring state, Washington has approved around $113 billion in aid to Kiev, and is currently working on allocating $60 billion more. Speaking to RT’s Oksana Boyko on Worlds Apart, Sachs claimed that the persistently low approval ratings of both Congress and President Joe Biden signal that taxpayers are unhappy with foreign policy decisions made in Washington.
“The public is sick of this – the American people don’t want our government to spend money on these wars… they see that the budget deficit is huge, the debt keeps rising, they keep being told they can’t have healthcare… or child care for school because the budget is in a crisis,” he said, adding that it has been about 30 years since the US political system has been able to address basic problems on the domestic front in its drive for “world hegemony.”
“The US just wants to be the global hegemon, it wants to be the biggest power and wants to have its pieces on every place on the world chessboard… And if you’re another big country like China or Russia, the US does not want you there in the way,” according to Sachs. He added that “no politician asked the American people ‘do you really want to pay for hegemony?’”
The analyst, who is known for serving as an adviser to the Russian and Ukrainian governments following the breakup of the Soviet Union, likened US aid in the Ukraine conflict to gambling, calling it “a lousy investment” and “a waste of money, waste of time and waste of lives.”
However, the business of war is a trillion-dollar enterprise, he said, and “there’s a group that profits even if it is a disaster” – the military-industrial complex.
“The senators are by and large agents of the military-industrial complex and they do their bidding,” he continued, explaining how war funding is approved despite public opposition.
Kiev has been asking its Western backers for more financing and weaponry, as it faces severe personnel and ammunition shortages on the front lines. However, US lawmakers failed to approve additional funding for Ukraine before going on winter recess several days ago. Voting on the aid package is set to resume when Congress is back in session on February 28.
