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These articles reflect the opinion of the author and are not endorsed by the Greater Milwaukee Green Party.

The View From Latino Milwaukee: Latinos in Wisconsin Will Feel Pinch of War Debt
By Robert Miranda

Opposition towards President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq has grown in the Latino community. While right-wing political pundits would argue that this opposition means not supporting our troops, the patriotic swagger of the political right would be out of line with such an assertion.

Indeed, 8.7 percent of the total U.S. military force is comprised of Latinos, according to a recent Reuters article. Considering that the Latino population in the U.S. is 13 percent, Latinos are well represented in the ranks of our armed forces, which indicates we're very supportive of "our troops," and hope they come home safe.

Disagreement with Bush and this war evolves from the devastation many Latinos have witnessed, via the media, upon the Iraqi people. The task of rebuilding of this nation has caused Latinos to question the fiscal burden this nation must endure to cover the costs of this war.

Concerns among Latino grassroots leaders have begun to surface regarding the future of domestic social services programs and public education, both designed to help the poor in our community. As Wisconsin continues to cut its budget, federal support for state programs designed to help needy families also continues to experience cuts.

Don't expect relief to come by way of the administration of Gov. Jim Doyle. Wisconsin is in a sinkhole of debt, and this administration is already cutting revenue from public education. To further complicate matters, Doyle will be unable to get substantial federal relief.

The passage of an $80 billion federal aid package to pay for the war and the possibility that billions of dollars more will be needed to stabilize the situation in the Middle East is becoming a cause for reflection and debate. Milwaukee County, with a Latino unemployment rate of 9 percent, according to the state Department of Workforce Development(DWD), continues to cut human services programs, and is now moving to downsize its representatives on the board of supervisors, further restricting representation for Latinos at the local level.

Questions as to how the urban poor and those living check to check will be able to find relief need to be asked and vigorously pursued. Indeed, relief will not come by way of the private-sector labor market, either. Big business in Milwaukee County continues to push smoke-and-mirror plans to hire Latinos and Blacks with development initiatives like the Park East, but as is illustrated by the unemployment figures prepared by the state DWD, the unemployment rate for communities of color in Milwaukee County is three times more than that of the Anglo population. The development of Milwaukee is yet to benefit these communities.

The Bush administration and his corporate allies, i.e., Halliburton, are waging an economic war inside U.S. borders. The war at home includes attacks on our social programs and public education. His policies help further dismantle domestic welfare programs, public housing and public education. They shift government away from the needy in order to further cultivate corporate welfare initiatives, which do not benefit the working poor in Wisconsin.

For Latinos, who make up about 3.6 percent of Wisconsin's population, this war will add to the rise in the unemployment rate. The Latino population is considered to be the fastest growing population in Wisconsin; it will be the fastest growing unemployed population as well.

The Bush administration's effort to cut about $6 billion from K-12 public education is wrong and insensitive to the needs of the American people. At a time when our nation's military budget has grown to over $430 billion, Bush must now rebuild a nation he attacked, and estimates to rebuild Iraq range in the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five to 10 years.

Indeed, Bush's remedy to hold down domestic costs includes the further privatization of public services such as the Social Security Administration and public education. Bush believes that corporatizing our public institutions would reduce labor costs. But he is wrong. What he will effectively reduce is the middle class and union representation in the labor pool.

The nation's need to feel safe has brought upon a new chaotic crisis in the globe fueled by the pernicious actions of an administration that took advantage of this nation's fears. By having America focus on terrorism, Bush was able to ignore our domestic economic crisis.

Wisconsin's children will feel the Bush administration's destructive policies on public education and when they become elderly, they will feel the crushing burden of privatization of Medicare and all other government health care services, as they inherit the bill to pay for this war.

The Latino community must rethink its domestic economic infrastructure in order to deal with the looming Bush-initiated economic calamity. The domestic economic policies Bush intends to follow are a continuation of the attack against the poor under the banner of homeland security. His domestic economic polices only serve the corporate elite. The Latino community will feel the pinch of Bush's domestic economic failures and as unemployment continues to rise, the poor will be without adequate social services and support because state and local government will have no capacity to provide them. This is the true cost of war.

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