ElephantMcDonk
Member
- Nov 29, 2010
- 223
- 26
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This thread is only for those of you that are decent at math. Everyone else please ignore...
The Iraq War cost us $3 trillion, an unnecessary war...puts everything into context.
Don't take into account all of the other costs of that War, just note that Hans Blix and the UN Council were certain that there were no WMDs there and we went to War anyway, only to discover, what do you know, they were right.
In the meantime, it's 2010 and both sides of the aisle are worried about a few billion here, a few billion there. How about our first step be commit as a nation to no longer dictate terms to the rest of the world. If a country invades another or attacks another and we want to come to the rescue, fine, I'm not a dove. We can help. But our military is bigger than the next 25 combined. That's silly. Our special forces are fantastic. We don't need a gigantic military or to start unnecessary wars, put our soldiers in harms way and make us bankrupt. We're isolated by two oceans. Nobody's going to attack us by land or sea. A threat like what happened in 2001 or those types of threats should be dealt with directly and with pinpoint special force, not 100s of 1000s of soldiers.
We used to have a reputation as the leader of the free world. The last regime was able to fully change that to an immature, big bully that wants to boss everyone around. That's hard to undo once it's done.
But, my concern here is the cost. Add up all of the things people complain about or Congress is fighting over. They're drops in the bucket to $3 trillion. The only exceptions are Medicare and Social Security, which are the only two entitlements that really need to be addressed to fix the deficit problem.
Cut costs by extending age for Social Security and Medicare and cut military spending.
Increase taxes on wealthy and corporations when time is right. Done. Budget, balanced. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
Complaints about fiscal responsibility in other areas that win political points is absurd to me. The Republicans and Democrats have both been irresponsible for a long time, but they don't add up to much.
Earmarks, Stimulus, Healthcare, Medicaid, Unemployment Benefits, TARP, Pell Grants, Bailouts...
...none of it adds up to a hill of beans compared to Military Spending, Social Security, Medicare, and big tax cuts for millionaires.
First step, stop going into dumb wars. No one wants to cut military spending. It's totally ridiculous. That's a huge drain. I don't know why people don't want to admit it. Sure we love and appreciate our soldiers sacrifice and they deserve the best from us. Yes, we want the best military in the world with the best technology and tactics. Yes, we want to be able to stop dictators and invaders and those that do us harm, but we should be able to do it for about 1/2 the money on a yearly basis. I'm afraid the politicians come from states and districts that make money off of war-making or what's sometimes called the Military Industrial Complex. And us Americans are so proud of our soldiers and having a strong military that we become a land of confusion.
Any thoughts? I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy...
The Iraq War cost us $3 trillion, an unnecessary war...puts everything into context.
Don't take into account all of the other costs of that War, just note that Hans Blix and the UN Council were certain that there were no WMDs there and we went to War anyway, only to discover, what do you know, they were right.
In the meantime, it's 2010 and both sides of the aisle are worried about a few billion here, a few billion there. How about our first step be commit as a nation to no longer dictate terms to the rest of the world. If a country invades another or attacks another and we want to come to the rescue, fine, I'm not a dove. We can help. But our military is bigger than the next 25 combined. That's silly. Our special forces are fantastic. We don't need a gigantic military or to start unnecessary wars, put our soldiers in harms way and make us bankrupt. We're isolated by two oceans. Nobody's going to attack us by land or sea. A threat like what happened in 2001 or those types of threats should be dealt with directly and with pinpoint special force, not 100s of 1000s of soldiers.
We used to have a reputation as the leader of the free world. The last regime was able to fully change that to an immature, big bully that wants to boss everyone around. That's hard to undo once it's done.
But, my concern here is the cost. Add up all of the things people complain about or Congress is fighting over. They're drops in the bucket to $3 trillion. The only exceptions are Medicare and Social Security, which are the only two entitlements that really need to be addressed to fix the deficit problem.
Cut costs by extending age for Social Security and Medicare and cut military spending.
Increase taxes on wealthy and corporations when time is right. Done. Budget, balanced. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
Complaints about fiscal responsibility in other areas that win political points is absurd to me. The Republicans and Democrats have both been irresponsible for a long time, but they don't add up to much.
Earmarks, Stimulus, Healthcare, Medicaid, Unemployment Benefits, TARP, Pell Grants, Bailouts...
...none of it adds up to a hill of beans compared to Military Spending, Social Security, Medicare, and big tax cuts for millionaires.
First step, stop going into dumb wars. No one wants to cut military spending. It's totally ridiculous. That's a huge drain. I don't know why people don't want to admit it. Sure we love and appreciate our soldiers sacrifice and they deserve the best from us. Yes, we want the best military in the world with the best technology and tactics. Yes, we want to be able to stop dictators and invaders and those that do us harm, but we should be able to do it for about 1/2 the money on a yearly basis. I'm afraid the politicians come from states and districts that make money off of war-making or what's sometimes called the Military Industrial Complex. And us Americans are so proud of our soldiers and having a strong military that we become a land of confusion.
Any thoughts? I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy...