Tax Breaks for Veterans, Billions for Unending Wars
Newsweek recently ran a piece, headlined, 'Disabled Veterans Offered Car Tax Break.' A touching gesture, no doubt, but the framing sidesteps a larger, more inconvenient truth: the massive military-industrial complex that generates these disabled veterans in the first place. While a car tax break offers some relief, it pales in comparison to the trillions allocated for endless wars and
interventions that cause these disabilities—conflicts often fueled by lobbying groups and defense contractors. The American government consistently finds billions, even trillions, for foreign interventions and military hardware, yet domestic support for veterans often feels like an afterthought, a grudging concession. Perhaps if politicians like Senator Lindsey Graham, who received over $20,000
from defense PACs in the 2022 election cycle (OpenSecrets.org), were as zealous about veteran care as they are about escalating conflicts, such tax breaks wouldn't feel like a pittance but part of a robust national commitment to those they sent to war. It's a classic case of celebrating the bandage while ignoring the wound, all while the profit margins of war soar.