The Military Budget Is Bleeding Us Dry. It's Time We Addressed That.
You know, between the crooks, the politicians and the payoffs, this issue shouldn't be a third rail anymore. Democrats need to decide which we can afford: Shoveling trillions of dollars into the military-industrial-congressional complex (and the pockets of defense donors), or rebuilding this country's economic and social infrastructure. David Sirota:
In 2000, the Pentagon admitted it has lost -- yes, lost -- $2.3 trillion. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a subsequent Department of Defense study said it was only $1 trillion. To put such numbers in perspective, contemplate what those sums could finance. $1 trillion, for instance, could pay the total cost of universal healthcare for the long haul. $2.3 trillion would cover universal healthcare plus the bank bailout plus the stimulus package.
Obviously -- obviously! -- these points are no cause for alarm and certainly no cause for defense spending reductions, right? All they must prove is that the archconservative Cato Institute, William Randolph Hearst's newspaper chain, National Journal employees and Pentagon officials are secretly America-hating liberals. And -- obviously! -- so are two of the most aggressive neoconservative hawks ever to hold government office, Sen. John McCain and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After all, they’re the ones who issued those scathing statements about wasteful defense spending in the pop quiz above. That means they’re actually terrorist-appeasing lefties, right?
Really, how could anyone other than traitorous communists see the data and then consider backing the mildest Pentagon spending cuts? I mean, come on -- in a country whose paranoid conservative movement now makes a dead-serious ideology out of Stephen Colbert wisecracks, how dare any red-blooded American even think of pondering basic budgetary facts?
Of course here's a typical conservative reaction:
Lost in all the typical liberal hyperventilating over increased defense spending during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is just how low current defense spending compared to the last 45 years.
Oh, well then! Quit yer griping!
depend on money
politicians depend on people
people depend on jobs.
what about the wheel of life don't they understand?
This Global Empire Monopoly has set in place a plan to destroy U.S. citizens from having any control over their manufacturing , jobs and economy so they can transfer it around the world at their wish..
It is plane for all to see if they would open their eyes instead of fighting one another.
Our country has been divided and being destroy for the purpose of this Global group that is now controlling just who receives what with the manufacturing , jobs and spreading of the wealth around to the different countries they wish..
That is spreading the less amount of money which they can give ,, from their gold pile..
All these series of event which have lead to the current situation is not an accident but a well planned policy which has been set in place..
You do not see Exxon , Coke , Halliburton , Blackwater , war contractors and any of the people making these decisions hurting.. NO it is the working class , seniors and poor which they do not give a d... about..
They are using every group against each other to accomplish their goal... Once they have all the wealth there is not a d... thing the average person can do to stop it...
These Global Monopolies have their feet placed in all countries and have been building their mercenary armies and war contractors to serve them....
The people control nothing anymore not even their votes....
The elected officials are now showing you that they work for these Global Empires by the trillions of dollars they are taking from them while passing their wishes and instructions.
None
The conservative comment highlighted in the post shows how conservatives love to shape reality to their own standards, as usual, and is proof that reality has a liberal bias..
I killed a guy just yesterday, but that's okay because the murder rate this year is lower than it was for the past 20 years combined.
Bigtime
here's a bone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KhHJyFtUtU
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
a 4 million dollar contract. Doesn't even come close to the salaries and bonuses of the CEOs on Wall St. and the oil companies or how aabout the ones in the health insurance companies but he is a nephew of Murtha. That is bad.
Maybe we all need a silver bullet.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Of course if it's military spending than it's also Congressional spending which is Defense Contracting spending, which is what they call the Iron Triangle.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
that the average American has NO IDEA (possibly even some members of Congress as well) how much is ACTUALLY spent every year on "defense" (killing, maiming, destruction, "nation building", global hegemony, covert ops, false flag operations etc.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPr_T7btVgA
(Thanks to Alice for the link)
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
What's really a wank is a good deal of the little we spend on foreign aid is not grain or food or farming implements, but actually armaments
Makes your pits spearmint fresh!
In Afghanistan, whether we're actually in pursuit of a pipeline or not, a great deal probably goes to keep the oil fields running
Which enriches the already rich, but doesn't put a single mouthful into poor person's belly.
Meanwhile we're attempting to destroy the one profitable crop they have, poppy, in the name of the "War on Drugs.".
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
And its all a vicious circle since quite often (Iran, Iraq) people that were our friends become our enemies and the weapons we gave them are used against us.
Cons are willing to spend trillions on killing people in other countries but not one red cent to save American lives. Then they go on and on about how they're "pro-life."
It's time to stop pointing fingers at the cons and focus exclusively on the left (the ruling party) because there's so much going on right now you'd need a Baloon Boy/WH party crash/battery powered hamster distractions pretty much on a daily basis to keep the public from the "changes" that will come and go.
Let's see:
New World Order is going down. The idea failed. A global body to rule it all? ;) The luciferian d*ck sucking crowd really got it all wrong this time. The naive, clueless wealthy elite scam and a few governments didn't see that coming, but how could they if they are not among the people but on the dark side and again on the wrong side of history? It's safe to say OPO, the Old People Order and the friendly factions of the world media/hackers/bloggers have won the battle.
The mess that has remained is another story.
Fed Audit
Global Resounding No to Medially "Forced" Vaccinations
Inconvenient Man-Made Global Warming that is no more man-made according to the stolen emails
War Bills that finally get the long overdue attention of the US public
The Middle East Peace that's closer than ever
In other words, a better world with all of the above.
And here is the best part. I don't know about you but if the people of Martin Luther King and other Black American heroes see their leader working for globalists instead of the people (his people and the rest of American people) they WILL bitch slap him and thank him for the job, so I would not take this particular electoral statistics the left is so comfortable with for granted.
Finally, I'm glad Global Warming hasn't officially become religion of the left, but still it makes many of us look f***ing foolish, doesn't it? A clue missed by everybody: it wasn't the alarmists and globalists (Al Gore among others) who started home organic gardens and conscious green lifestyle but regular people who have no idea why anybody would needs global centralized carbon taxation without representation if change is ultimately that cheap, personal and simple.
Almost makes you think who needs governments (with their anti-social, pro-corporate regulations), mainstream media and their propaganda if the Internet and human beings have such self-correcting force.
About 30 years ago, 60 Minutes did a show demonstrating the Pentagon was paying contractors about $438 for one screw (the kind you can buy at a hardware store.) I see nothing has changed.
*I can't verify the exact $ figure, but it was that outrageous.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
pay for Single Payer using our Military Budget. After all, we need healthy people to
fightbe killed in our many Wars.I think that is the right idea.
What good is all the military spending if it is to defend a nation of sick and dying?
And of course they have to have healthy carbon based bullet stoppers.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Is it just to defend a nation? That could be done for much less.
The MIC defends American interests, which are many.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
"is just how low current defense spending compared to the last 45 years."
Seriously; you quote that without any graphic about reality?
The military budget isn't low in comparison to the past 45 years at all. It's sky-high, even in relative terms.
From the Wikipedia article on the 2009 budget:
So the military budget (including the private sector, mercenaries) is actually considerably larger than we're led to believe.
Supposedly, these expenses will be budgeted in 2010. Glad they're out in the open, not so glad they'll be much more visible for Obama than for Bush. [Spin]: ". . . and he's increased the war budget, raising the deficit."[/Spin]
Cause when it's not budget, it doesn't technically increase the budget deficit. Smart, huh?
The real budget volume dedicated against external threats (I disagree on its "defense label) is roughly twice as big as the DoD budget.
The national security community extends to DHS and intelligence services - and certain veteran care and retirement budgets are outside of the DoD budget as well.
You can find some DoD critics here
http://www.cdi.org/program/index.cfm?programi...
They also wrote one of several studies about the real annual national security costs.
it will likely never see the light of day, since it's a "moderated" blog.
So, here's my comment:
It's not the percentage of GDP that matters. It's the percentage of government expense relative to government income that matters.
So, if the gov't is solvent and only spends 1% on military - no big deal. If the gov't is broke and spends 30% or more on the military (including VA and Dept. of Energy's nuclear arms section, and other mil. related expenses) which is where we really are, the answer is: you're screwed and need to wildly cut back on military expenditures, as their expense is multiplied by the interest rate on the debt sustaining it.
In short, you're wrong. Thanks for playing.
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
-George Carlin
At 5:25 pm November 28, 2009, world population surpassed the 6.8 BILLION mark.
Get ready for die-off. The military will assist.
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
Is it half that live on less than $5 a day? (maybe only a third)
UGH!
The global abstinence program is an epic fail. We should be dropping rubbers from planes all over the planet.
Mother nature will probably send us something to help find a balance.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
flipping out and panicking because the whole facade - bill of goods they were sold is falling apart.
tin foil hat stuff but bear with me.
Has anyone ever noticed that the "zombies" in movies and video games look exactly the same as the starving masses would like if they were searching for food en masse following an economic meltdown? They're dirty, sick, barely able to walk and they groan and moan like starving people would. Now, what are the players trained to do? Kill the "zombies" without hesitation. They are being desensitized to killing people who look like "zombies."
Before you pooh-pooh the idea, keep in mind, it's a well-known fact that the DOD helped create games like "Doom" because they were worried about our troops not being able to shoot people at point blank range. Is such a stretch to think they've been worried about our troops not being able to fire on their own people? Now they've addressed the problem, haven't they? The targets aren't people anymore. They're "zombies." Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.
Who knows? I could be wrong. I could just be paranoid. Or maybe I'm right. Let's hope we never find out.
I went to see "The Blind Side" with the kids yesterday here in L.A.
I hadn't been to the movies in many moons.
Imagine my shock when at LEAST a five minute propaganda piece for The National Guard came on right before the slew of trailers. Complete with all the Frank Capraish stirring music. Trying to recruit all the young men so Obama can have his 30,000 new troops for Afghanistan.... And to think that Gibbs said yesterday that we are looking at at least another EIGHT YEARS in Afghanistan!!!
Naturally I hissed, along with a few others.
Had the new "commercial" (that is supposed to be airing in theaters soon) from The Federal Reserve! aired telling me how I should be careful to pay my credit cards "on time" and that I should be also be careful to "read the fine print" on any new credit card bills, I think my freakin' head would have exploded!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Just wait for them to bring all the Drones home.
is that as children of Mother Nature, we will use our human survival mechanism of integrated thinking, vs default to mysticism, to solve problems nature presents, to protect, grow and deliver human survival values-- to everyone.
mean?
unclear? That was a reply to Handypants, not you, if that is any help.
...not everyone knows how to survive (as good as others)... because (some of those) believe in a mystical god...
Brad wants us all to give up "the mystical God" and become "children of mother nature" so we can "have the same values" as he does...
He probly wants us to use all the money we normally donate to our churches...
and pay a carbon tax to the World Bank instead...(I think)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
In this context, I'm talking about mysticism as the mind state where we defer to ANY external authority. That would include deference to the plan Mother Nature has for animals, which is death by hunger and famine, etc.
We all share the need for the same basic human values for biological survival, clean food, water, sanitation, etc., so yes, I want these available to all.
We will keep dying needlessly if we keep giving up thinking for ourselves, relying on "authorities" to nanny us.
good then! ...I'm not one for relying on "authorities" to nanny us either...!
(sorry) ...my religion detector went off...
...(had it set too sensitive) ...carry on!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=LLrTPrp-fW8
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
could be harsh. I suppose she could could give someone a heart attack, when in actuality it was margarine poisoning disrupting prostaglandin function and causing calcification of arteries, to the benefit of big agribiz and pharma.
Think of it this way, the ship the Demeter is what brought Count Dracula to Whitby Harbor.
And although I don't buy that at any one time everyone was matriarchal, Mother Goddesses, seem to be world-wide, everywhere from Catal Huyuk in Turkey, to all the regional forms of Diana of Ephesus (probably local similar figures, but the name given by clerics), the Roman Ceres and Magna Mater (at one time almost a monotheistic religion), and perhaps even Dana of the Tuatha de Danaan.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I forgot to mention Isis Inanna/Ishtar, they seem to have some of the attributes of Mother Goddesses.
But in the latter two, rather than a daughter, Persephone, Proserpina, Kore or some other, it was a male lover they were rescuing from the underworld, and seemed to personify the Spring. Dumuzi for Inanna, and Tammuz for Ishtar. Some think Tammuz was the basis for "Doubting Thomas," of the Bible. I think in both cases, they were rescuing their lover from their sister Erishkigal, Queen of the Underworld, although eventually in the Ishtar legends, Erishkigal was supplanted by her husband, Nergal, also supposedly once a human.
I should mention also the Kurgans. Little is known about their religion, but they were a Amazonian type culture whose remains were found either in the former Czecholovakia, possibly the Ukraine. Scholars have found they dressed much like the Amazons were represented, not in statuary, but in amphora paintings, and that their style of dressing is still continued to this day, on special occasions, by certain Siberian tribes. And of course according to the Doric Greeks, the Amazons worshipped Artemis, a Goddess of the Hunt, but perhaps at one time, particularly to her votaries, she was like an All-Creatrix.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I wish liberals would stop trying to place blame only on Republicans. I am a liberal, and I see little difference between the policies of the Democrats and Republicans. The answer is not to be found within either party, as they are both controlled by the same lobbyists. This is not the change I voted for.
That lost 2.3 trillion is a about 20% of the whole national debt but you won't hear anything against the MIC from the Repukes or their moran base. It only matters if it isn't one of their sacred cows. And does that include the billions that just went missing in Iraq. Oh well, Repukes only complain about the measly amounts being spent of "welfare queens", feeding the poor, adequate health care etc.
The f*&^! hypocrites.
The Pentagon and the US Intelligence agencies have shown themselves repetitively to be incapable and corrupt. I would posit that they are traitors and brigands more than patriots. It's like the fact that Ollie North is still running around proving Marines don't really mean Semper Fi it is a meaningless buzz phrase that looks good on bumper stickers. Lie to congress and then run around making millions...The Pentagon has spent a lot of money larding their own nests bending the US over for foreign interests. While they could have insisted that our military equipment had some small modicum of energy efficiency that has been given short shrift by our sterling Brain trust there in the Pentagon.
. . ?
... Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, John Ashcroft, Mike "Brownie" Brown, Wall Street, the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, ...
World bank "roundtable"...
...waiting for Obama to sign off on the Copenhagen treaty...
...waiting for the global carbon tax money to start rolling in!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
This sounds more like, lets give more money to the Civilian Incompetent Contractors. bet if these Clowns closed their mouths hitched their britches and stopped bending over the Military Spending would come into line real fast.
Cooks the Military Trains Cooks, KP, dump the civilian work force go back to the military Equivalent, Guard Duty lose the Civilian Contractors and use the Soldier (remember your General Orders), As a Combat Military Retiree I realize the importance of the Soldier for the Battle Field, however it should be noted that we are fighting a much different war then even when I was in. Where the original idea of the Civilian supporting the role of the Military to have a more capable fighting force has deteriorated to don't do anything till the IDIOT civilian who gets paid 8-10 times the salary of the SOLDIER yet has NONE of the Accountability or the GUTS of a SOLDIER.
Start attacking ALL the civilian programs to loosen up the funds and YES, the Anti American Party is going to start crying Poor Mouth and it is unfair. Tough Shit why do Civilians get 2-3times the amount for less work, better hours Family time, remember the Military DID NOT issue you a Family so You are NOT authorized a FAMILY. Proof how many Tours have OUR troops served compared to the COWARDLY CIVILIAN.
Want to REALLY cut spending get rid of the CIVILIAN Work Force and Bennies, start looking at what the SOLDIER gets compared to his FREE LOADING CIVILIAN counter part.
Want to bet the Rightie Anti American Party wi;ll attack this as garbabge, please remember these people have a Very low IQ unless a Dollar amount is involved then the IQ goes up with a very short range self serving agenda where they win and evryone else loses.
Then as a Final measure lets Tax All Incomes of $250,000 and call it the bush, cheney tax relif act to expire when the DEBT is paid off (another commentor wrote that I'm just passing it on).
They know where that money went, they just don't want to tell us, and We the Sheeple are too afraid to ask.
someone needs to drop Murtha, he has been dirty for TOO long.
...us dry...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wtAeqVVJ8g
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
...Think of it as "shearing the sheeple" in the middle of winter...
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
the imperialist bully is coming to its knees
the rest of the world watchs and smiles
everyone loves to see a bully beaten
few americans understand that they are imperialists
mc war would have bombed every man woman and child in nam to win that illegal war
we killed one million vietnamese and did not bat an eye or lose a moments sleep
oh we had protests but that was over the draft not the killing of vietnamese.
bring back the draft and watch the college age imperialists come out of the wood work.
the price of imperialism? bankruptcy of a nation
and the decline of the middle class that lined up to vote for reagan.
since obama moved into the white house racism has come alive in america.
I cannot believe how many people i know are showing their racist faces.
stick a fork in us we are done as a super power.
thank goodness finally the world will be a lot safer for our decline as an imperialist nation.
the terrorists hit us right where it hurt the most
the money towers we have been going down hill ever since
in two wars with muslim nations is a twofer for the terrorists. the hatred for america is stronger than ever in the middle east.
they knew with america's war machine america would over react to kill muslims any muslims. ie iraq muslims.
Why don'tcha gloat them?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This is the one thing that REALLY drives me mad , what this F'n country spends on " defense " and the military industrial complex . What Ike warned about has come to pass . It is madness , absolute insanity . "Losing" billions of cash in Iraq or even a trillion or two in the Pentagon , eh , no problem . Ever wonder just where and to whom this money actually went ? It's not lost in the desert or misplaced in some bank vault , someone got it ! "Losing" billions or a trillion or two no problem but we can't afford healthcare reform , social security is going broke , medicare is busted ,and gawd forbid unemployment benefits are extended , someone might be slacking , not looking for work and milking the system for whole three hundred a week or what ever ! In truth our government has NOTHING on the Kremlin , DC is every bit as corrupt . It would take a full blown revolution to change it and with our citizenry , good luck .
The "losing billions" thing is really about almost non-existing accounting. It's been known for years that the DoD accounting makes Enron's accounting look fine.
Losing a trillion or two like that doesn't necessarily mean in itself that a single dollar was wasted. It means that there's not enough oversight and accountability.
Not as much as the military personnel.
http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/ghosts/vam...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
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