Blueprint for a Better Planet
(Page 9 of 10)
We havethe wealth to achieve
these goals. What we do not yet have is the
leadership. And if the past is any guide to the future,
that leadership can only come from the United States. By
far the wealthiest society that has ever existed, the
United States has the resources to lead this effort.
Economist Jeffrey Sachs sums it up well: "The tragic irony
of this moment is that the rich countries are so rich and
the poor so poor that a few added tenths of 1 percent of
GNP from the rich ones camped up over the coming decades
could do what was never before possible in human
history—ensure that the basic needs of health and
education are met for all impoverished children in this
world." How many more tragedies will we suffer in this
country before we wake up to our capacity to help make the
world a safer and more prosperous place not through
military might, but through the gift of life itself?
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Unfortunately, the United States continues to focus on
building a stronger military, as though that were the key
to addressing these threats. The $343-billion U.S. defense
budget for 2002 (which does not include the most recent
appropriation of $87 billion for Iraq) dwarfs those of
other countries—allies and others alike (see chap on
Page 96). U.S. allies, most of them NATO members, spend
$205 billion a year on the military; Russia spends $60
billion; China, $42 billion; and Iran, Iraq, and North
Korea combined spend $12 billion. The United States
is spending more militarily than all its allies and
possible adversaries combined . As retired admiral
Eugene Carroll, Jr., observed, "For 45 years of the Cold
War, we were in an arms race with the Soviet Union. Now it
appears we are in an arms race with ourselves."
The World Bank conservatively estimates the additional
external funding needed to achieve universal primary
education in the 88 developing countries that require help
at $15 billion per year. Funding for an adult literacy
program based largely on volunteers is estimated at $4
billion. The World Health Organization estimates that
providing for basic health care would cost $21 billion. The
additional funding needed to provide reproductive health
and family planning services to all women in developing
countries is $10 billion a year.
Closing the condom gap and providing the additional condoms
needed to control the spread of HIV in the developing world
and Eastern Europe requires $2.2 billion—$270 million
for condoms and $1.9 billion for AIDS prevention education
and condom distribution. The cost per year of extending
school lunch programs to the 44 poorest countries is $6
billion per year. An additional $4 billion per year would
cover the cost of assistance to preschool children and
pregnant women in these countries.
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