Warfare Kings Working to Keep Fear Alive

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Timshel

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http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/10/military_spending

ARE they worried? When the presidents of DC's two most powerful conservative think tanks team up with America's most prominent cheerleader for war to jointly author a Wall Street Journal op-ed defending the United States' unfathomably colossal military budget, one suspects a bit of anxiety.

The folks of the tea-party movement are clearly upset at what they see as out-of-control spending, and frequently express a desire to slash the size of government. A quick glance at the federal budget is enough to see that military spending is far and away the largest expense after Medicare and Social Security. That fact combined with the observation that America's titanic military budget is larger than the military budgets of China, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Saudia Arabia, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, and Australia combined is more than enough to suggest to common sense that there's room here to cut a bit of fat.
 
Recognizing that the military budget could be dramatically cut and electing people to do it are two very different things. Hell, last time around Congress gave the Pentagon more money than Gates requested.

And while I'm more than happy to have tea baggers supporting military cuts, I can't think of a single tea party supported candidate for Congress that actually supports cutting military funding. Do you know of one?
 
Money can get you anything & everything in America. And who gets the most money? The military & anyone associated with it. So, they can keep buying more & more influence, votes & elections.

It's disheartening. Leonard Cohen wrote a great tune called "Everybody Knows", and it's very true in this case. Everybody knows that the military budget is bloated & outdated, and needs to be slashed. Everybody knows that it's a sure way to cut the deficit and reduce unneeded spending.

But, it can't & won't happen, because the military & its contractors own our government (well, partial ownership; they split it w/ the corps).
 
i think the military budget needs to be cut, but i'm not so sure it needs as much as the liberals above believe...

we are in two "wars" (quote/unquote)...i know, you will claim combat ops are over, total horsepucky if you read the news...obama is expanding ops in afghanistan....and it would unwise to cut military spending right now

that military spending has helped keep us safe...further...military spending as a percent of our gdp is not that high...figures i found have it at around 5%
 
does anyone have a more authoritative figure on what we spend on our national debt interest? wiki has it at $260 billion per year...if that is true....how about we cut that...
 
Onceler said:
You can always count on Yurt to defend the right of the military & corporations to own our gov't...
Click to expand...

unfortunately for you, the truth is instead that we can always count on onceler to LIE about other people's positions that he politically disagrees with

way to really counter my points, nice generalizations....6/10 on the ad hom scale, 0/10 on an actual debate scale....per your usual of course

apparently to onceler, my believing the military budget should be cut is me "always" DEFENDING the military and corporations....what a tool
 
Cutting the military is the only realistic path to anything close to a balanced budget I see in the near future. What are we supposed to do? We can easily get one or two billion out of it, or even just keep it frozen for about a decade.
 
Yurt said:
does anyone have a more authoritative figure on what we spend on our national debt interest? wiki has it at $260 billion per year...if that is true....how about we cut that...
Click to expand...

You can't cut the amount you spend on your national debt interest without defaulting. The only way to lower it in the long term is to lower the amount of debt we're accruing. We're going to have to cut something else, like the military, to do that.
 
Yurt said:
i think the military budget needs to be cut, but i'm not so sure it needs as much as the liberals above believe...

we are in two "wars" (quote/unquote)...i know, you will claim combat ops are over, total horsepucky if you read the news...obama is expanding ops in afghanistan....and it would unwise to cut military spending right now
Click to expand...

Summing up, you think military spending needs to be cut, but just not right now. OK, when do you want to do it?

I would also note that the Defense Secretary disagrees with your assessment and has recommended Pentagon budget cuts right now. I don't think he goes far enough, but Congress won't even pass the modest cuts Gates is proposing.

The only legitimate reason for not cutting defense spending right now is the economy. And that's not a very good reason. The money otherwise wasted on the bloated Pentagon budget could be allocated to useful things.

Yurt said:
that military spending has helped keep us safe...further...military spending as a percent of our gdp is not that high...figures i found have it at around 5%
Click to expand...


Safe from whom? The Chinese? The Canadians? And why is spending as a percentage of GDP the relevant metric?
 
Yurt said:
unfortunately for you, the truth is instead that we can always count on onceler to LIE about other people's positions that he politically disagrees with

way to really counter my points, nice generalizations....6/10 on the ad hom scale, 0/10 on an actual debate scale....per your usual of course

apparently to onceler, my believing the military budget should be cut is me "always" DEFENDING the military and corporations....what a tool
Click to expand...

What "points"? "Uh, I think it should be cut, but I'm not sure"...great argument.

We can slash the military budget. Outdated systems, continued protection for areas of the world (like Europe) that simply don't need it, bloated bureaucracy. As for the 2 wars, end 'em.

There. Solved.

Don't you ever get that "you must spread rep around" message from Damo? Or do you neg rep everyone?
 
Onceler said:
What "points"? "Uh, I think it should be cut, but I'm not sure"...great argument.

We can slash the military budget. Outdated systems, continued protection for areas of the world (like Europe) that simply don't need it, bloated bureaucracy. As for the 2 wars, end 'em.

There. Solved.

Don't you ever get that "you must spread rep around" message from Damo? Or do you neg rep everyone?
Click to expand...

I hate that. Leave it to someone to the right of Ghengis Kahn (Damo, his "who me?" act aside) to promote promiscuity and insist that everyone "spread it around" even if they only want to rep one or two people.
 
I kinda find the proposition that the teaparty is for cutting the military budge suspect. If that is so, why are the candidates who were nominated with teaparty support not running on that but rather running on slashing social safety programs, the new deal programs, and the great society programs?

I have seen a lot of "Obama = Hitler" signs at tea party rallies, but none demanding cuts in military spending. Maybe there have been one or two, but generally? Come on.
 
RStringfield said:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/10/military_spending

ARE they worried? When the presidents of DC's two most powerful conservative think tanks team up with America's most prominent cheerleader for war to jointly author a Wall Street Journal op-ed defending the United States' unfathomably colossal military budget, one suspects a bit of anxiety.

The folks of the tea-party movement are clearly upset at what they see as out-of-control spending, and frequently express a desire to slash the size of government. A quick glance at the federal budget is enough to see that military spending is far and away the largest expense after Medicare and Social Security. That fact combined with the observation that America's titanic military budget is larger than the military budgets of China, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Saudia Arabia, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, and Australia combined is more than enough to suggest to common sense that there's room here to cut a bit of fat.
Click to expand...

Now all we need are politicians willing to actually cut spending. Like the ones way way way way back in 1965 (the last Congress to actually decrease overall spending fiscal year over year). I don't think I will hold my breath waiting for them to do so. There isn't one collective spine in DC. There is no integrity. All any of them care about is re-election and power for their respective party.

That said, there is a ton of spending that could be cut from defense. Like the DOE, the administrative staffing alone would be a good start. Add in all the weapons programs and bases we don't need in defense and you have a very good start to slashing the budget.
 
Darla said:
I kinda find the proposition that the teaparty is for cutting the military budge suspect. If that is so, why are the candidates who were nominated with teaparty support not running on that but rather running on slashing social safety programs, the new deal programs, and the great society programs?

I have seen a lot of "Obama = Hitler" signs at tea party rallies, but none demanding cuts in military spending. Maybe there have been one or two, but generally? Come on.
Click to expand...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38182.html
 
This is hopelessly utopian, but I have long felt that a good piece of compromise legislation would be one that slashed the military budget & privatized SS. In one fell swoop, you save the U.S. economy, revolutionize spending and get everyone onboard for it.

Wouldn't happen, because in reality, both parties are afraid on both issues...
 
Yurt said:
why does my little stalker obsess over what i do at work?

but i do like the fact that his post clearly indicates he is a jobless tool living in his mom's basement....

too bad for my little stalker that i am the boss....:clink:
Click to expand...

Too bad for lil' Yurtsie that he calls exposing his lies "stalking".

He claimed to be a lawyer, claimed his firm "is OK with" his 24/7 posting on the interwebs, accused others of exposing his place of employment in an effort to "have him fired", now he claims to be "the boss", and has admitted to Toppy that he has no law degree.

If he is "the boss", his income must be as small as his brain, since he spends all day and night posting lies on the interwebs.

Hard to keep the lies straight when you lie all the time, Yurtsie?

Especially when you're stupid to boot. You can't even remember how many people you've accused of being 'legion' and called 'hack' and 'troll', can you?

Yurtsie!
 
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