Creative Loafing

09/27/2006

More ice cream, fewer guns
Atlanta can help reduce Pentagon waste and boost funds for America's critical needs

By John F. Sugg

OK, let's get the ice cream stuff out of the way so we can tackle the debate on guns and butter. I'll even tell you how our Atlanta City Council can help put more butter (and ice cream) on our tables while taking a few useless, but very expensive, death toys out of the hands of generals (and Saxby Chambliss).

Ice cream, as any sensible person knows, is the one definitive proof of the existence of a benevolent God. And the Ultimate Prophet of Divine Ice Cream is Ben Cohen, better known when his first name is attached to the first name of his former business partner, Jerry Greenfield. The combination is, or was, Ben & Jerry's.

With offbeat flavors given names such as "Chunky Monkey," "Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz" and the legendary "Cherry Garcia" (a tribute to the almost-as-legendary Jerry Garcia), Ben & Jerry's achieved that much-sought-after-but-seldom-achieved status of "the best." It was the David that challenged and defeated Goliaths such as Pillsbury, which had tried to drive Ben & Jerry's out of business. It was the Little Engine that Could when it rolled over Monsanto Corp., which detested Ben & Jerry's use of milk from cows that hadn't been fed the Frankenfood giant's artificial growth hormones.

But even prophets retire, often because of profits. After pioneering progressive business practices (example: the Big Boss couldn't earn more than seven times what was paid to the lowliest peon) as well as innovative ice cream flavors, Ben & Jerry's ran into the brick wall of American corporatism. The company went public, stockholder pressures undermined the Vermont company's culture and after a valiant try by Cohen to repurchase Ben & Jerry's, it was gobbled up by the Unilever conglomerate in 2000.

Cohen didn't do badly, however. From a $5 correspondence course in ice-cream making, and a $12,000 investment in 1978, he walked away with $46 million.

And that brings us to the guns and butter dispute. I first met Cohen 11 years ago in St. Petersburg , Fla. He was trekking about the nation talking wistfully about "corporations and social responsibility." He practiced what he preached -- Ben & Jerry's donated 7.5 percent of its profits to causes such as no nukes and saving the rain forests. But Cohen aspired to transform the whole American economic machine from a gluttonous, robotic consumer of world resources into something better. He spoke of the "spiritual dimension" of business, an idea that would cause uproarious laughter in most boardrooms. He lamented the fact that the Republicans were quite happy to slash funds that went to the poorest Americans while putting the Pentagon off limits to belt-tightening.

Some things don't change. Republicans, the Pentagon and Cohen are among them.

Last week, Cohen was in Atlanta stacking up Oreos for a demonstration to a group of civic leaders. One pile of cookies was 53 Oreos high -- that's the percentage of the federal budget consumed by the Pentagon. No other stack came close. Education and social services got nine cookies, health care got six, veterans a measly four.

"It's hard to understand," Cohen says, "how the richest country on the planet can't find enough money for health care, schools and job training."

A decade ago, Cohen founded Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, and sought out advice from military leaders, including Lawrence Korb, assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan; Adm. Stansfield Turner, former CIA director; retired Vice Adm. John Shanahan; and other brass-heavy guys. They identified $60 billion in Pentagon waste -- Cold War weapons money that could be diverted elsewhere with no impact on national security.

The poster child for gross military waste is Lockheed-Martin's F-22 Raptor, assembled right here in Marietta . "We built one plane (the F-15) to be superior to anything the Soviets had," Cohen says. "Then the Cold War ended, but despite already having the best plane on the planet, we went ahead with the F-22. We replaced a plane that costs $60 million each with one that costs almost $300 million."

Moreover, as the military men point out, in today's warfare, we're not likely to face sophisticated military aircraft. Rather, enemy forces will use cheap surface-to-air missiles. And, as the experts have long realized, the more planes you put in the air, the better -- but we'll be replacing the F-15s with far fewer of the Cadillac F-22s.

A major reason the F-22 boondoggle is still flying is because of Chambliss, the Georgia senator who never misses an opportunity to throw your money at Pentagon bottomless pits. The total cost of the F-22 program is about $65 billion -- a sum that nicely mirrors the $50 billion Chambliss has voted to cut from social programs in recent months. The plane's survival was ensured by more than $1.1 million in Lockheed congressional campaign contributions this year, and by a Chambliss amendment to a defense-spending bill that mandated a multi-year purchase plan rather than the usual year-by-year program.

Cohen's group prompted several congressmen, including Atlanta 's John Lewis, to author the "Common Sense Budget Act," which would send much of the $60 billion in Pentagon savings directly to the states for critical needs such as school construction, health insurance for children, job training and reducing dependence on foreign oil by 50 percent. Georgia would receive about $1.1 billion and Atlanta about $50 million.

The current strategy is to get cities and states to endorse the legislation -- hoping to overcome the massive clout of the War Party. "Many Democrats are as bad as Republicans in favoring unrestrained defense spending," Cohen notes. "We have to make sure citizens' voices are heard."

Cohen and state Sen.-elect Nan Orrock have met with several city council members, including Carla Smith, Joyce Sheperd and Jim Maddox. And Council President Lisa Borders has been briefed.

They're enticed but may need some encouragement to do the right thing, so write or call them, saying, "We don't need no stinkin' F-22s. We do need schools, jobs and health care."

Get Involved

Get more facts from Business Executives for Sensible Priorities, www.sensiblepriorities.org . The Atlanta City Council contact information is at http://apps.atlantaga.gov/citycoul/council.htm .