Gates Throws Down Gauntlet On Military Spending: 'The Gusher Has Been Turned Off'
This is going to inflame so many groups, I can't even imagine that anything will actually get done. It'll be good if Gates actually pulls it off, but I wonder if he can:
ABILENE, Kan. — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates challenged some sacrosanct Pentagon spending practices in a speech on Saturday, directing both military and civilian officials to find cuts in their overhead and operating costs and then transfer the savings to the fighting force.
In the speech, given on the 65th anniversary of the World War II victory in Europe, Mr. Gates said the Pentagon was wasting money it will no longer get, and he focused on targets as diverse as the cost of military health care, the large number of generals and admirals and the layers of bureaucracy involved just to send a dog team to Afghanistan.
“The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, opened a gusher of defense spending that nearly doubled the base budget over the last decade,” Mr. Gates said. “Military spending on things large and small can and should expect closer, harsher scrutiny. The gusher has been turned off, and will stay off for a good period of time.”
Mr. Gates, a carry-over cabinet member from the Bush administration, has already canceled or trimmed several dozen weapons programs, with long-term savings predicted at $330 billion. Now he is looking for complementary cuts across the Defense Department’s civilian and military bureaucracies, the overseas headquarters and their operating costs.
The goal is to convert as much as 2 percent or 3 percent of spending from “tail” to “tooth” — military slang for support services and combat forces. The money is “needed to sustain American’s combat power at a time of war and make investments to prepare for an uncertain future,” he said.
While this may not seem like a significant savings in the Pentagon’s base budget, which stands just below $550 billion for next year, cuts of any size are certain to run hard against entrenched constituencies.
Mr. Gates said the nation owed quality health care to those in uniform, their families and veterans, but pointed out that members of the military health care system have not been charged increases in premiums for 15 years — even though the program’s annual cost has risen to $50 billion from $19 billion a decade ago.
He will piss a lot of people. The type of people who will kill if they have to, because the way they see it, the Pentagon is their livelihood. BIG livelihood!
This is no joking matter!
because he is a scumwad neocon who gladly negotiated with the Iranian terrorists to hold the American hostages beyond Carter's attempts to free them so we cold witness a circus on Ronnie's inauguration.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/russia...
He has NO balls whatsoever, and no heart and no soul, and no patriotism.
but they will give the Administration license to say, well, we've cut defense, so now we have to cut social programs - and they will, but by 20% instead of 2%.
time machine....Sept.10.2001,in front of congress,Runsfeld said,paraphasing.........."....the Pentagon is unable to account for $2.3 TRILLION....." being in the military for 23 years,I can tell you that the waste factor in ANYTHING u.s. military,is grosstesk(sp?) obscene and inbread.like being grandfathered in,the bill doesn't matter to them.ever hear of 'cost plus?'
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
.
R E M EM B E R:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4GdHLUHwU
... Still missing!
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Feed Americans.
lots of that swell Rumsfelding [self-interviewing]:
"Could we have done a better job? Sure. Will we know the next time? You bet. The lesson we learned? Stuff happens."
Sickening and obvious message control, and we still don't know shite.
Completely freeze that one. We have enough already.
Completely freeze pay scales for all personnel in the officers corps.
As for health care for our returning military personnel form Iraq and Afghanistan. No price hikes.
For all veterans who served in combat. No price hikes.
For all veterans who didn't serve in combat, ok. A small one for those making more than 30k a year. Under that, no price hike/rate increase.
They can't go after the Veterans. That's just not right.
A freeze on Naval vessels. No more for the unforeseeable future.
Hell, no more for at least 5 years. No more new gadgets.
No more 100 dollar hammers. No more 200 dollar toilet seats .
You wanna fix the budget? This is where you start.
Drastic cuts.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
1.) Get out of Afghanistan.
2.) Get out of Iraq.
Get out of Okinawa.
Get out of Oklahoma...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
And if he's serious, I wouldn't be eager to get on any flights with him in the forseeable future (that's the favorite way of getting rid of people we don't like. Just look at the long list of South and Central American reform politicians who went kabloowie in the air).
But this is long overdue. We spend more on defense than the rest of the world to fight an empire, the USSR, that has been defunct for over 20 years.
We should start a program where we need to cut a fixed perentage per year. Now, much as I'd like it to be 10-20%, there are too many jobs in too many states that are involved. And that has been the genious of the Military Industrial Complex, that it has spread jobs to almost every Congressional district, so that politicians have a huge stake in the continuation of ruinous spending.
Good job, Mr Gates. Keep it up. And good luck.
Leave Okinawa. Just close up shop and leave.
Get out of Iraq.
Get out of Germany.
The list is endless.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Leave our senses...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
...so many things to say about this, muddy...First, aid to Israel doesn't go through the Pentagon....I agree on Okinawa, but as for Germany...That would put a big dent in the economy in Bavaria- not just the Germans who work on the bases, but those whose jobs are off base, at restaurants and shops frequented by Americans...Not to mention that a primary reason we're there is due to NATO obligations, and a lot of our NATO allies are still worried about that huge presence to the east.
Mainly, though, is that if we pare down the ranks of the military too quickly, we're going to see unemployment skyrocket. Same thing when we shut down the lines that are producing tanks and missiles and fighter jets and....We need a comprehensive economic plan before we can start doing anything like you're proposing.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I called the Armed Forces the biggest welfare system in America. Can anybody see that? The excuse is: Defending Democracy. In a few years McCain's son will make General or Admiral...whatever, just because he stays in...
a large part of the US forces in Germany have already been removed over the past 2 decades.
"The rationale behind the large number of closures is that the strategic functions of the bases, originally designed to serve as forward posts in any war against the Soviet Union, are no longer relevant since the end of the Cold War."
US Military Installations in Germany
I first heard about it a couple of years ago when reading an anti-war soldiers blog talking about being one of the last soldiers to leave Hanau(where I was stationed for 2 yrs back in the 80's).
...are in Iraq and Afghanistan right now.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Does the Israeli military use US military hardware?
Does the US fund Israel?
What is your conceptual, continuity?
to both.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
painting a long-warn and tolerated political disaster with a man-made cataclysmic and urgent ecological disaster being played of in the Gulf of Mexico. Every dime of the Treasury was directed to this war. Like the banks and oil companies, defense contractors were going mad on taxpayer cash. It happened while we sat by watching helplessly. The real reason Gates is putting the brakes on is Rumsfeld broke the bank.
Now, far be it for me to ever defend the indefensible Rummy, but he wanted to go to war and spend as little as possible to see how cheaply he could get our soldiers killed. Which, without proper body armour and helmets and up-armoured vehicles (this list could go on and on...), was pretty damn cheap.
The mistake he made was that he was under the impression that W and Dick were going to pull the troops out of there fast.
The question is, did W and Dick fuck that up, or was it part of their plan to bleed this country dry? My guess is the latter. If you look at things a little differently, theirs was a VERY SUCCESSFUL adminstration. If you were already rich, or a military contractor, you couldn't have had better friends, not even in Jesus.
So don't point the finger at Rummy (unless of course it's your middle finger as an f-u), the blame is on W and Dick. And I think it was mostly Dick because he's still making a profit off the occupation (it wasn't a war after 10 days).
I just hope I live long enough to find out all of the shit that Mr. Cheney did. We haven't yet scratched the surface of the evil that he's responsible for.
Oh, my bucket list? To piss on Cheney's and Bush's fucking graves. If given enough time, I'd shit on them as well.
amen
alleluia
man-size safe
Why wait until they are in their graves?
piss on them now and get some satisfaction NOW.
I'm not stupid!
Been missing in our country these last ten years along with accountability.
The goal is to convert as much as 2 percent or 3 percent of spending from “tail” to “tooth” — military slang for support services and combat forces.
He doesn't want to cut spending; he just wants to spend the money on different stuff. Why do you suppose he wants to increase spending on "support services and combat forces"? Just for funsies?
Exactly. Maybe it really is true that Carlyle Group is now out of the MIC business if "they" don't care about the big programs any more, but it's also still true that CheneyDyne is still lobbying hard for good ol' Halliburton and all their fine support services...
It's clearly going to take a powerful force to remove the suction these leeches have on the public teat. Gates ain't it.
Pulling a copy and paste from above . . "at a time of war"
It just makes me crazy that this phrase has been unquestioned as a fact or a truth since 2001. This one little phrase has been the justification for so many disastrous destructive policies, and actions taken by and for the USA.
"at a time of war" is a lie.
Permanently kill DADT while you're at it.
What a gusher that would set off!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXT1_6R9C6M
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
not going to go over to well with the " we need their resources " crowd .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
After Obama's next term, that is!
...and read this first.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
He is implicated in the story run just a couple of days ago, about the October Surprise as a Reagan op, with a lot of CIA help-- George HW Boosh, Casey, and the current Director. Gates was deeply involved back then.
"Courtesy is owed. Respect is earned. Love is given." --Unknown author, found in Guide to Texas Etiquette by Kinky Friedman
but sometimes that dependents on the type of leader you have. Obama is an honest man. I think Gates knows that by now, and he is reacting accordingly.
LOL
Honest men do not make it that far in politics. By the time you have reached the White House, you have earned your PhD in dishonesty.
He's the current director of the CIA, and I haven't seen his name mentioned at all in regard to these recent developments.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Wasn't Panetta involved in something else dirty?
Oh yea, the Clinton administration.
LOL.
chicken hawks can STUFF this one up their butts. It's about time that a military man GETS REAL!
they can start stuffing as well.
Where'd that 2+ trillion go, Pentagon?
I'll believe it when I see it but if it's true....
...holy sh*t!!
Let's hope Gates has balls of steel on this one.
Someone's bound to have steel toed boots...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I think she needs gravity boots. Those have steel toes but they can be used for something else...
Health care? That's the trade-off for very low wages for the enlisted class. Try closing just 20% of the publicly acknowledged 760 bases to save cash.
Glad he was a Bush appointee as if he anywhere near being a Lib appointed by Obama the reichwing would be foaming more than usual.
Once we close a dozen or so extraneous overseas bases, here's a scathingly brilliant idea.
Let the military personnel who are displaced work for the US in the US: patrol our southern borders, fix our bridges, upgrade our interstates, upgrade our electrical grid, help restore rural and inner city schools, set up clinics to help the working class catch up on medical help it can't afford otherwise, help prepare us for a greener economy where we aren't sending so much money to the Middle East for oil from countries who hate us, etc.
Let our US soldiers work for the US IN the US.
The right wing would complain about a Civilian Conservation Corps, but only unpatriotic traitors would complain about a Military Conservation Corps. We don't want displaced military coming back to an economy with no jobs.
went missing from the Pentagon...you know, all that moolah that Rummy held a meeting about on Sept 10, 2001...oh wait, all that got kinda lost with 9/11...(how convenient...)
Boy, they could sure 'use it' now...if they already hadn't (?)
Excellent point. That's the 13 billion in shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills that arrived on skids and pallets and are still missing, isn't it?
I suggest we turn Paul Bremer upside down and see what falls out of his pockets.
I think that was a different amount which was sent to Iraq right after we invaded...but a correction is welcome if I am confused! And that amount was about 10 B, (I think)
i remember $23 billion,big money anyway
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
The US spends $710 billion or 48 % of the total military spending in the world.
Central and South America, $79 billion or 6%
Sub-Saharan Africa spends $10 billion or 1%
Russia spends $70 billion or 5 %
The Middle East and North Africa spend $82 billion or 6%
Australasia and East Asia together spend $120 billion or 8%
China spends $122 billion or 8%
Europe spends a total of $290 billion or20%.
No problem to find saving.
"cut spending by 2-3%"?
as others have pointed out, the US makes up for nearly half of all military spending worldwide.
as a nation of 300 million, our 5% of the world's population is spending an insane and unsustainable amount of money on nothing worthwhile.
the biggest scam that ever was, and everyone in politics pisses their pants even thinking of addressing it in a sane manner, which Gates, with his ludicrous trimming of a percent or two, does not.
This is the thing that makes the whole socialism thing ring hollow to me.
The government, especially defense, is highly privatized. Most government money is going to corporations.
Yes, we should curtain the pay of military pay because their pay has risen about 10% more than civilian pay. Pay them the same as civilians
who work 40 hours a week mostly in temperature/humidity controlled environments, can shower/bathe at will, get holidays, and can go home to wife and kids, and 98% of them aren't taking incoming rounds or being blown up on the roads (the other 2% -- police/firemen excluded from incoming rounds, etc.). What kind of a war are we fighting? Did we curtail the pay of the Navy at the battle of the Coral Sea, the 8th Air Force over Germany, the Army at the Battle of the Bulge, or the Marines at Iwo Jima? We should all be ashamed. If the Pentagon can't pay the troops, where in the Hell is our war tax? We want war as long as we don't have to go to war, and we don't want to pay decently for those who do. Our country has become disgusting.
First line: Strike curtain, add curtail.
who had earned major,the army said can't do it now,stop lose time,so......$100,000 and a good kick into retirement bennies.i think it happened two times,second time,more cash.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
When I was in the miltitary, I had a sgt. tell me about a trash company
that would default on a year contract with the Air Force after two months, get fired and paid for the year. They would incorporate under a different name, paint the trucks, and get a new yearly contract.
I had friends work for a major military contractor in the 80s, and thy told me about the $10 screws, and the $100 toilet seats, etc., In both instances, the military worked in cohoots to steal from the gov't.
It is immoral to charge any kind of premium to the military for healthcare. They should not pay a single cent. Veterans and retirees, either. None of them balk when demands are made on them to risk life and limb or when they lose life or limb. when the bills come due, they need to be paid with no BS. Let them cut expenses other ways, for example: getting rid of Blackwater/Xe, getting out of wars we have no business fighting in the first place.
Imagine a country so corrupt as to have 60 million of its citizens in poverty all the while having a military budget much larger than the rest of the world combined. Martin Luther King was shot because he was starting to make the connection between poverty and out of control military spending......and that was a long time ago when a lot less was poured down a hole.
I seem to recall that SecDef Donny Rumsfeld, on 10 September 2001, announced that the Defense Department lost or somehow otherwise "misplaced" $1.2 Trillion USD. I presume that that investigation halted the very next day. The DoD treats that kind of money like loose change lost in the sofa cushions.
I've got a better idea -- don't just consider but actually plan on slashing the Defense Department budget by at least 75%, over the course of 10 years. This is not mission impossible -- it can be done. This country can longer afford to be the world's policeman, nor to use our military to boost our American Exceptionalism notions of imperialist empire. Especially to the sole benefit of our multinational corporations that don't feel the need to pay their fair share of taxes, including our munificent war profiteering MIC.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
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