Much of what you say is true and I have a personal stake in those local dollars from defense contractors...my son works for one but our military spending is totally overblown...just because the budget is attempting to cut all public service jobs and kill the government while the cuts trickle down to the states and cause havoc with their budgets and putting hundreds of thousands out of work, many of whom are women. It isn't hard for anyone paying attention to see how this meme that we're broke (we aren't) is used to put teachers out of work, privatize everything (more profit) including the military. This is an issue that could be discussed for a long time. Our DOD budget is HUGE and we could put our money to much better use AND help the economy without spending it on destruction and corporate empire.