Pensions not aircraft carriers.

Editor,

Ben Bernanke testified today that looming Social Security and Medicare costs threaten to bust the American economy. No problem. Year after year the federal government spends half a trillion dollars on military hardware, software, and operations to support the inherently predatory and dishonest business practices of American corporations across the globe.

Here is a three-point program to save the American economy: (1) stop burning fossil fuels, (2) invest in developing economies to improve indigenous people's lives not to enrich international capitalists, (3) talk to people instead of shooting them to promote regional and global security. This will free half a trillion dollars a year for domestic investment in social programs, including Social Security and Medicare.