Most notably from that speech, King quoted an important statistic: "We spend $500,000 to kill each enemy soldier while we spend only $53 for each person classifed as poor; and much of that $53 goes to people who are not poor. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor..."
Per Google, the costs of killing an enemy combatant in the Iraq or Afghan wars range from $50 million to $150 million depending on when you compiled the data. However, our soldiers of all colors can sit in the same classroom and live on the same block in peace. But the income inequality is the issue that remains an issue.
I believe that Dr. King would support the #Occupy movements worldwide. In "Beyond Vietnam," King speaks against the war to break down the wall between not only black and white, Jew and Gentile, but also between capitalist and communist and every variation in between. Market structure is a non-factor in King's utopia. Capitalism may very well be an engine of income inequality; but inequality anywhere is injustice everywhere. So with the growing income inequality we have experienced here, the conclusion is that the American capitalist structure must be reformed.
King explicitly addresses the "giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation..." and says that true compassion will force us to examine our values, or our normative statements. Should we spend our money on national defense or moral uplift? Today, on January 16, 2012 , we ask ourselves this question. The war in Iraq is over as the war in Afghanistan rages on. In contrast, income security, i.e., welfare spending is roughly 12% of the national budget, or $5,777.64 per poor person.
"There will be no meaningful solution until some attempt is made to know these [poor] people, and hear their broken cries."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4, 1967
prosperity,
@RogueEconomista
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