Military Budget

[KartMan 58]

Why does cutting the Military Budget come down to an issue of jobs in some Congressman’s district? If the program is a waste of money and/or the military doesn’t need it, then it should be scrapped. The success or failure of a military project should never be tied to the jobs in an area or in a particular industry. That is exactly the sort of mentally that perpetuates a military culture and perpetual military spending.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Why does cutting the Military Budget come down to an issue of jobs in some Congressman’s district? If the program is a waste of money and/or the military doesn’t need it, then it should be scrapped. The success or failure of a military project should never be tied to the jobs in an area or in a particular industry. That is exactly the sort of mentally that perpetuates a military culture and perpetual military spending.

Because when those congressmen run for re-election they want to be able to say how many jobs they created for their district. They like to show up at the ribbon-cuttings for these defense projects for photo-ops.

I just heard one congressman wants to add $14 billion to the defense budget for more nuclear weapons. How many do we need? Add to this another republican who wants to eliminate the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum tax - and you have nearly a trillion dollars here in costs and lost revenue. Where do you think that money will come from and what does it have to do with creating jobs?

[KartMan 58]

Ok, how about we transition away from defense spending for some other spending in the district that actually benefits the community? Let's say there is fighter program that would bring $15B to the state but the military no longer needs the fighter. Drop the fighter program and build a high speed rail, wind farm, Water project, school, you name it. What good is that $15B fighter project going to do for the community other than the jobs it creates while it's being built?

I read somewhere the other day that between the overall Defense Budget plus the two wars, we spend 25 times more than the next 25 countries combined. WTF? How can we expect to spend 25 times more than the rest of the world and survive? Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Nuclear weapons? Can you ever really have enough nuclear weapons?

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Ok, how about we transition away from defense spending for some other spending in the district that actually benefits the community? Let's say there is fighter program that would bring $15B to the state but the military no longer needs the fighter. Drop the fighter program and build a high speed rail, wind farm, Water project, school, you name it. What good is that $15B fighter project going to do for the community other than the jobs it creates while it's being built?

I read somewhere the other day that between the overall Defense Budget plus the two wars, we spend 25 times more than the next 25 countries combined. WTF? How can we expect to spend 25 times more than the rest of the world and survive? Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Nuclear weapons? Can you ever really have enough nuclear weapons?

Our entire middle class is going to collapse. It has been sinking for the last 30 years due to republican and Wall Street values. We are going to become a two class country - the very rich and the poor. Those who aren't poor enough for the few crumbs thrown to them will have to come under the republican banner: " You're on your own." Lost your job? You're on your own. Lost your health insurance? You're on your own. Lost your home? You're on your own. Lost your retirement savings/investments? You're on your own. Sick? You're on your own.

Other countries like China, India and Brazil will be surpassing us because they are making investments in their future, while the republicans will be figuring out how to make cuts in everything (except military and tax cuts for the rich).

How are we going to be a leader in the 21st century if we are not willing to invest in clean energy, better rail and transportation, infrastructure, education, research and development and get back to manufacturing things? We're sure not going to do that with the republican agenda of cutting spending and tax cuts.

[lauragshsu 6]

The thing with military cutbacks is that when they try and cutback military spending, they hardly ever cutback on the stupid things that they are wasting money on. The first thing they cut back on instead is military pay and benefits.

[KartMan 58]

I agree, they shouldn’t cut back pay and benefits. They should get out of these two wars (and not start anymore stupid wars - like with Iran) and cut back on most of the cold war military projects. Why are we still spending money on military hardware designed to fight a war with the Soviet Union? Another way to save money would be to let soldiers do all the things they used to do in the past. Now so many jobs and services are done by contractors rather than the military which ends up costing a lot more in the long run. The reason they do this is because for political reasons they can get away with saying there are X number of troops deployed rather than the real number that includes troops plus support staff.