'Job Creation' Is a Bad Reason to Support a War

Even if you set aside concerns about fueling an unwinnable war, the economic benefit for the U.S. is paltry.

Joel Mathis chides the Biden administration for its latest sales pitch on arming Ukraine:

The White House is failing to make its case, though. And so it’s turning to an alternative. It’s encouraging Americans to see support of Ukraine as a good for profiteering reasons.

Maybe that will work.

But it makes me less — not more — inclined to support the war effort.

It doesn’t bode well for the Biden administration or its policy that this is the same line of argument that the Trump administration tried and failed to use to counter criticism of its ongoing arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for use in their war on Yemen. It seems that “job creation” is the last defense for backing foreign wars when everything else seems to be falling flat with a large part of the public. Mathis objects to the new pitch because it is gross and cynical, as well he should, but I will add that weapons manufacturing doesn’t create all that many jobs anyway. Even if you set aside concerns about fueling an unwinnable war, the economic benefit for the U.S. is paltry.