WorldNow, hosted by Jim Falk, is a webinar series that provides conversations with groundbreaking authors, influential newsmakers and thought leaders brought to you by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and Global Santa Fe.
The U.S. spends nearly a trillion dollars on its military each year, making up 40% of the world’s military spending. Is this spending really keeping America safe?
Bill Hartung, author and senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, argues that not only is this spending not keeping America safe, but it is endangering both the U.S. and the world at large.
On January 21st, Hartung joins WorldNow with Jim Falk to reveal how the American military industrial complex operates, its key players – from Hollywood and Silicon Valley to lobbyists and the Pentagon’s top contractors – and how we can secure America’s future and prosperity by re-envisioning America’s trillion-dollar war machine.
When: Wednesday, January 21st | 7:00pm-8:00pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific
Where: Zoom Webinar
Tickets: No charge | RSVP
Tickets link: https://ctwac.org/event/trillion-dollar-war-machine-worldnow/
Meet the Author
William D. Hartung is a senior fellow at the Quincy Institute, focusing on the arms industry and US military budget. He was previously the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and the co-director of the Center’s Sustainable Defense Task Force. Bill is the co-author, with Ben Freeman, of the recently released The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home.
Bill previously directed programs at the New America Foundation and the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Hartung’s articles on security issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the World Policy Journal.
He has been a featured expert on national security issues on CBS 60 Minutes, NBC Nightly News, the PBS Newshour, CNN, Fox News, and scores of local, regional, and international TV and radio outlets.
Meet the Host
Jim Falk is President Emeritus of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. Now residing in Santa Fe, NM, he is a Director of the Board of Global Santa Fe. In addition to hosting WorldNow with Jim Falk, Jim produces and hosts The Forum, a weekly talk show on KSFR-FM, Santa Fe Public Radio. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
About the Book
The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home by William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman
A hard-hitting investigation into how the Pentagon’s runaway spending embroils America in foreign wars, squanders its wealth, and enriches a privileged elite. America spends nearly a trillion dollars a year on its military. This extraordinary spending not only detracts from our ability to address pressing social problems but compels us into foreign wars to justify our vast arsenal. Sold to us in the name of “security,” our military industrial complex actually makes us far less safe.
Top policy experts William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman follow the profits of militarism from traditional Pentagon contractors, which receive more than half of the Pentagon’s budget, to the upstart high-tech firms that shamelessly promote unproven and destabilizing technologies. They unmask the enablers of the war machine—politicians, lobbyists, the media, Hollywood, think tanks, and so many more—whose work enriches a wealthy elite at the expense of everybody else, spreading conflict around the world and embroiling America in endless wars.
A damning tour de force, The Trillion Dollar War Machine shows who is pulling the strings and pushing for war, and offers a blueprint for how we can shut down the war machine and restore American security and prosperity.
-“A damning indictment of the conflicts of interest running rampant in the defense establishment.”―Publishers Weekly
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