Economics
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Item "Why the US is not leaving Iraq"(Counterpunch.org, 2007-01) Hossein-zadeh, IsmaelPowerful beneficiaries of war dividends, who are often indistinguishable from the policy makers who pushed for the invasion of Iraq, have been pocketing hundreds of billions of dollars by virtue of war. More than anything else, it is the pursuit and the safeguarding of those plentiful spoils of war that are keeping US troops in Iraq.Item "Islamic Fascism?"(OpEdNews.com, 2006-10-25) Hossein-zadeh, IsmaelItem "Behind the Plan to Bomb Iran"(OpEdNews.com, 2006-08-28) Hossein-zadeh, IsmaelItem "U.S. Iran Policy Irks Senior Commanders: the Military vs. Militaristic Civilian Leadership"(OpEdNews.com, 2006-07-24) Hossein-zadeh, IsmaelItem "Social vs. Military Spending: How the Pentagon Budget Crowds out Public Infrastructure and Aggravates Natural Disasters—the Case of Hurricane Katrina"(American Society of Business and Behavioral Science, 2006-02-23) Hossein-zadeh, IsmaelThis paper puts forth (and documents) an argument that the escalating military spending at the expense of non-military public spending is steadily undermining the critical national objective of public-capital formation (both physical and human) and that, if not stopped, the resulting trend will stint long term productivity and economic growth, as it erodes both physical and soft/social infrastructure. An equally high opportunity cost of the colossal Pentagon budget in terms of forgone or neglected public infrastructure (roads, bridges, mass transit, dams, levees, and the like) is vulnerability in the face of natural disasters, as evidenced, for example, by the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina.