Want to cut taxes??

[shintao]

Why should anyone want to cut the U.S. military budget? Because conservatives are squealing like stuck pigs on Brokenback Mountain to lower taxes,.........it's trendy. Secondly, it takes over half of the budget as the pie chart below explains.


One reason is that -- with $549 billion requested for basic military expenditures and another $159 billion requested for U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the record $708 billion military spending called for by the Obama administration for fiscal 2011 will be nearly equivalent to the military spending of all other nations in the world combined. When it comes to military appropriations, the U.S. government already spends about seven times as much as China, thirteen times as much as Russia, and seventy-three times as much as Iran.

Is this really necessary? During the Cold War, the United States confronted far more dangerous and numerous military adversaries, including the Soviet Union. And the U.S. government certainly possessed an enormous and devastating military arsenal, as well as the armed forces that used it. But in those years, U.S. military spending accounted for only 26 percent of the world total. Today, as U.S. Congressman Barney Frank has observed, "we have fewer enemies and we're spending more money."

Where does this vast outlay of U.S. tax dollars -- the greatest military appropriations in U.S. history -- go? One place is to overseas U.S. military bases. According to Chalmers Johnson, a political scientist and former CIA consultant, as much as $250 billion per year is used to maintain some 865 U.S. military facilities in more than forty countries and overseas U.S. territories.

The money also goes to fund vast legions of private military contractors. A recent Pentagon report estimated that the Defense Department relies on 766,000 contractors at an annual cost of about $155 billion, and this figure does not include private intelligence organizations. A Washington Post study, which included all categories, estimated that the Defense Department employs 1.2 million private contractors.

How Much Is Enough? America's Runaway Military Spending | World | AlterNet

 

[Oddball]

While national offense is certainly bloated beyond belief, I see a whole pile in that green part of the pie that isn't any of the feds' business to start with.

Housing? - Nope.
Health? - Nope.
Edumacation? - Nope.
Community Development? - Hardly.
Agriculture? - Nuh-uh.
Environment? - Not even.
Science and Energy? - Negative.

Like I keep saying and the chart backs up...It's not the taxes, it's the spending.

 

[shintao]

While national offense is certainly bloated beyond belief, I see a whole pile in that green part of the pie that isn't any of the feds' business to start with.

Housing? - Nope.
Health? - Nope.
Edumacation? - Nope.
Community Development? - Hardly.
Agriculture? - Nuh-uh.
Environment? - Not even.
Science and Energy? - Negative.

Like I keep saying and the chart backs up...It's not the taxes, it's the spending.

Of course you have to spend to have a need to tax, and the chart also indicates that spending on military is a number one place to cut, an area out of control, and consuming far more than any other programs for the US citizens. If you want to stop a charging bull, you don't clip his toe nails. You have to take the head and horns.

I am for cutting everything on the list, but lets take out military spending first. A complete non-necessity item. Or you might like my idea to take the ability to fund legislation away from Congress & the President, and eliminate the IRS and federal taxes all together.

 

[Mad Scientist]

I am for cutting everything on the list, but lets take out military spending first. A complete non-necessity item. Or you might like my idea to take the ability to fund legislation away from Congress & the President, and eliminate the IRS and federal taxes all together.

"Provide for the common defense" is in the Constitution so good luck with eliminating that.

The idea of eliminating the IRS is a great idea but just remember that the last government person to move against large government entities was assassinated for it. No politician has the balls to do it and until the people march on DC with guns, pitchforks and torches it aint gonna' happen.

 

[WillowTree]

Why should anyone want to cut the U.S. military budget? Because conservatives are squealing like stuck pigs on Brokenback Mountain to lower taxes,.........it's trendy. Secondly, it takes over half of the budget as the pie chart below explains.


One reason is that -- with $549 billion requested for basic military expenditures and another $159 billion requested for U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the record $708 billion military spending called for by the Obama administration for fiscal 2011 will be nearly equivalent to the military spending of all other nations in the world combined. When it comes to military appropriations, the U.S. government already spends about seven times as much as China, thirteen times as much as Russia, and seventy-three times as much as Iran.

Is this really necessary? During the Cold War, the United States confronted far more dangerous and numerous military adversaries, including the Soviet Union. And the U.S. government certainly possessed an enormous and devastating military arsenal, as well as the armed forces that used it. But in those years, U.S. military spending accounted for only 26 percent of the world total. Today, as U.S. Congressman Barney Frank has observed, "we have fewer enemies and we're spending more money."

Where does this vast outlay of U.S. tax dollars -- the greatest military appropriations in U.S. history -- go? One place is to overseas U.S. military bases. According to Chalmers Johnson, a political scientist and former CIA consultant, as much as $250 billion per year is used to maintain some 865 U.S. military facilities in more than forty countries and overseas U.S. territories.

The money also goes to fund vast legions of private military contractors. A recent Pentagon report estimated that the Defense Department relies on 766,000 contractors at an annual cost of about $155 billion, and this figure does not include private intelligence organizations. A Washington Post study, which included all categories, estimated that the Defense Department employs 1.2 million private contractors.

How Much Is Enough? America's Runaway Military Spending | World | AlterNet

no asswipe we don't want to cut taxes, we just want the leeching 50% of youse who don't pay any federal income tax to pay some. that's what we want we are tired of carrying your dead weight asses around.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Just like I say about raising taxes, the first issue for our government is not to address revenue - but to address expenditures.
I am 110% confident that the Federal Budget could be dramatically improved without raising taxes by 1 red cent - if only either party would take an ounce of responsibility over how to SPEND the money.

 

[editec]

EMPIRES cost money.

A lot of money.

If we're willing to give up the US empire we can then afford to cut back on our military spending.

But don't count on us doing that anytime soon.

If somebody else was paying a couple million soliders to work on your behalf so you could get control the world's resources and economy, would you like that?

Of course you would.

Well, those somebodies else who are paying for the EMPIRE are the US taxpayers, and the people getting the benefits of EMPIRE are the same people who control the government which controls the spending.

And who are those lucky people?

Well, who is demanding that every OTHER kind of spending our government does -- spending that actually does help the American people -- ought to be cut, INSTEAD of military spending?

Those would be the people benefitting from this costly Empire.

I'll leave it to ya'll to figure out who those somebodies really are.

He's a few hints though.

It isn't tree huggers and it isn't welfare mothers, and it isn't gun nuts or NASCAR fans, or red necks, or hippies and it isn't conservatives or liberals or rank and file libertarians.

And finally, it isn't your neighbors that you don't like because you disapprove of their lifestyle choices either.

So while you morons are squabbling with each other, while you're voting out of nothing but pure spite, not FOR SOMETHING but AGAINST the people you think you hate, the masters are fleecing you and your children of their birthright.

A house divided cannot stand, folks.

Enjoy your hate and your pathetic senses of superiority over "the others" while you can because the masters are about the business of ending your American dreams and they really don't give a fig what happens to you and yours.

They got theirs, kids, get yours.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I think we could save a lot of money on taxes if the President would just stop taking so many vacations.

 

[rightwinger]

Why should anyone want to cut the U.S. military budget? Because conservatives are squealing like stuck pigs on Brokenback Mountain to lower taxes,.........it's trendy. Secondly, it takes over half of the budget as the pie chart below explains.


One reason is that -- with $549 billion requested for basic military expenditures and another $159 billion requested for U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the record $708 billion military spending called for by the Obama administration for fiscal 2011 will be nearly equivalent to the military spending of all other nations in the world combined. When it comes to military appropriations, the U.S. government already spends about seven times as much as China, thirteen times as much as Russia, and seventy-three times as much as Iran.

Is this really necessary? During the Cold War, the United States confronted far more dangerous and numerous military adversaries, including the Soviet Union. And the U.S. government certainly possessed an enormous and devastating military arsenal, as well as the armed forces that used it. But in those years, U.S. military spending accounted for only 26 percent of the world total. Today, as U.S. Congressman Barney Frank has observed, "we have fewer enemies and we're spending more money."

Where does this vast outlay of U.S. tax dollars -- the greatest military appropriations in U.S. history -- go? One place is to overseas U.S. military bases. According to Chalmers Johnson, a political scientist and former CIA consultant, as much as $250 billion per year is used to maintain some 865 U.S. military facilities in more than forty countries and overseas U.S. territories.

The money also goes to fund vast legions of private military contractors. A recent Pentagon report estimated that the Defense Department relies on 766,000 contractors at an annual cost of about $155 billion, and this figure does not include private intelligence organizations. A Washington Post study, which included all categories, estimated that the Defense Department employs 1.2 million private contractors.

How Much Is Enough? America's Runaway Military Spending | World | AlterNet

no asswipe we don't want to cut taxes, we just want the leeching 50% of youse who don't pay any federal income tax to pay some. that's what we want we are tired of carrying your dead weight asses around. [/QUOTE]

You still can't get blood from a stone. The money is not there. People with families struggling to pay the rent, feed their children, pay medical bills, heat their homes in the winter....do not have much extra money to tax

However, if you want to look at the 1% of Americans who control 34% of the wealth, they have plenty of money left over after they have paid for food, housing and healthcare

 

[Douger]

Because the Great Satan is preparing for battle with God............so the story goes.
The story is a script, scribbled by scribes. They follow their own script. You pay for it.
Dearly, in the end.

 

[loosecannon]

it takes over half of the budget as the pie chart below explains.


One reason is that -- with $549 billion requested for basic military expenditures and another $159 billion requested for U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

The military budget is the largest single item in the budget. But it isn't over half the budget, it is over half of the discretionary budget.

The military budget is actually about 20% of the total budget for 2010:

2010 United States federal budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[WillowTree]

Why should anyone want to cut the U.S. military budget? Because conservatives are squealing like stuck pigs on Brokenback Mountain to lower taxes,.........it's trendy. Secondly, it takes over half of the budget as the pie chart below explains.


One reason is that -- with $549 billion requested for basic military expenditures and another $159 billion requested for U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the record $708 billion military spending called for by the Obama administration for fiscal 2011 will be nearly equivalent to the military spending of all other nations in the world combined. When it comes to military appropriations, the U.S. government already spends about seven times as much as China, thirteen times as much as Russia, and seventy-three times as much as Iran.

Is this really necessary? During the Cold War, the United States confronted far more dangerous and numerous military adversaries, including the Soviet Union. And the U.S. government certainly possessed an enormous and devastating military arsenal, as well as the armed forces that used it. But in those years, U.S. military spending accounted for only 26 percent of the world total. Today, as U.S. Congressman Barney Frank has observed, "we have fewer enemies and we're spending more money."

Where does this vast outlay of U.S. tax dollars -- the greatest military appropriations in U.S. history -- go? One place is to overseas U.S. military bases. According to Chalmers Johnson, a political scientist and former CIA consultant, as much as $250 billion per year is used to maintain some 865 U.S. military facilities in more than forty countries and overseas U.S. territories.

The money also goes to fund vast legions of private military contractors. A recent Pentagon report estimated that the Defense Department relies on 766,000 contractors at an annual cost of about $155 billion, and this figure does not include private intelligence organizations. A Washington Post study, which included all categories, estimated that the Defense Department employs 1.2 million private contractors.

How Much Is Enough? America's Runaway Military Spending | World | AlterNet

no asswipe we don't want to cut taxes, we just want the leeching 50% of youse who don't pay any federal income tax to pay some. that's what we want we are tired of carrying your dead weight asses around. [/QUOTE]

You still can't get blood from a stone. The money is not there. People with families struggling to pay the rent, feed their children, pay medical bills, heat their homes in the winter....do not have much extra money to tax

However, if you want to look at the 1% of Americans who control 34% of the wealth, they have plenty of money left over after they have paid for food, housing and healthcare

bullshit, they all smoke cigarettes, drink beer, buy 100 dollar a pair tennis shoes and have a 400 inch HD tv in the livingroom.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

"Provide for the common defense" is in the Constitution so good luck with eliminating that.

He didn't say it had to be eliminated; he said there is no reason for us to spend that much money on the military and he is exactly correct. We can't afford to have the military largess we have and we can't afford all that other stuff in green as well. Cuts need to be made across the board and there is no reason why the military should be exempt from it.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

no asswipe we don't want to cut taxes, we just want the leeching 50% of youse who don't pay any federal income tax to pay some. that's what we want we are tired of carrying your dead weight asses around.

How do you know he doesn't pay taxes?

 

[Wry Catcher]

IKE almost nailed it, when he warned us to beware of the military industrial complex. Of course as a General he knew first hand the dangers inherent in this "complex". Yet, he might have warned us to beware of Big Pharma, Big Farma, and the oil, tire, battery complex which in his time conspired to kill inter-urban rail and build huge freeways.
In today's San Francisco Chronicle there is an interesting article on our tax structure, unfortunately, the article will not be avialable until Aug. 31 for those who are not subscribers. The front page article begins: By Carolyn Lochhead

CHRONICLE WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — Washington could nearly eliminate its entire $1.3 trillion federal deficit this year simply by closing loopholes in the tax code. Deficit-plagued California could produce a surplus the same way.

From middle-class handouts such as the child tax credit, to ethanol giveaways and aid to the poor, “tax expenditures” have become the biggest single spending item in the federal budget, reaching $1.1 trillion this year.

That’s bigger than the defense budget, bigger than all domestic appropriations, bigger than Medicare and bigger than Social Security, the nation’s largest entitlement program. Tax breaks cost California $41 billion a year, twice the size of its deficit.

Check it out on Tuesday, go to: San Francisco Bay Area — News, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Classifieds: SFGate

Of course the willfully ignorant haven't read this far on this post; those interested in an article which makes sense may want to check it out.

 

[skookerasbil]

Just to be clear here for the sake of the newest forum members checking in on things political................

Liberals on this board will be happy when and only when The Pentagon no longer exists!!! Why? Because their answer to evil in the world is to send finger sandwich platters and Cokes to all the bad guys, thus enabling us to spend zero $ on defense!!! In other owrds, lick the asses of our enemies enough and they'll come to embrace us!!!

Of course, over 2,000 years of recorded history tells us that is a prescription for getting your balls kicked in


Simply google "history" and "war" and do some reading..........the limpwristed ALWAYS, ALWAYS get decimated!!!! Its called human psychology.......observe almost any family at home and you'll see the same dynamic: the weak minded person is getting their balls kicked in!!!

 

[rightwinger]

no asswipe we don't want to cut taxes, we just want the leeching 50% of youse who don't pay any federal income tax to pay some. that's what we want we are tired of carrying your dead weight asses around. [/QUOTE]

You still can't get blood from a stone. The money is not there. People with families struggling to pay the rent, feed their children, pay medical bills, heat their homes in the winter....do not have much extra money to tax

However, if you want to look at the 1% of Americans who control 34% of the wealth, they have plenty of money left over after they have paid for food, housing and healthcare

bullshit, they all smoke cigarettes, drink beer, buy 100 dollar a pair tennis shoes and have a 400 inch HD tv in the livingroom.

LOL....Thanks Willow

I always enjoy your childish views on national issues

 

[skookerasbil]

Just to be clear here for the sake of the newest forum members checking in on things political................

Liberals on this board will be happy when and only when The Pentagon no longer exists!!! Why? Because their answer to evil in the world is to send finger sandwich platters and Cokes to all the bad guys, thus enabling us to spend zero $ on defense!!! In other owrds, lick the asses of our enemies enough and they'll come to embrace us!!!

Of course, over 2,000 years of recorded history tells us that is a prescription for getting your balls kicked in


Simply google "history" and "war" and do some reading..........the limpwristed ALWAYS, ALWAYS get decimated!!!! Its called human psychology.......observe almost any family at home and you'll see the same dynamic: the weak minded person is getting their balls kicked in!!!

 

[editec]

Just to be clear here for the sake of the newest forum members checking in on things political................

Liberals on this board will be happy when and only when The Pentagon no longer exists!!! Why? Because their answer to evil in the world is to send finger sandwich platters and Cokes to all the bad guys, thus enabling us to spend zero $ on defense!!! In other owrds, lick the asses of our enemies enough and they'll come to embrace us!!!

Of course, over 2,000 years of recorded history tells us that is a prescription for getting your balls kicked in


Simply google "history" and "war" and do some reading..........the limpwristed ALWAYS, ALWAYS get decimated!!!! Its called human psychology.......observe almost any family at home and you'll see the same dynamic: the weak minded person is getting their balls kicked in!!!

Ah yes, lacking a rational response, cling to a cherished myth.

I remember back when the Republicans were the peace party, of course, and I can only suppose that you cannot.

But there was a time, in my lifetime, when rhe Republicans actually thought that the only time the USA should go to war was to actually defend our nation against a REAL threat.



If the Republican Party of the late 50s and early 60's still existed, I'd be a member of it.

Hell if the Democratic Party of the 50's and 60's still existed, I might be supportive of much of their positions, as well.

Those days are gone, folks.

This nation is going down because those who we made wealthy and defended from the communists no longer need us.

Get used to it.

I know god damned well your kids are going to know nothing else.

 

[rightwinger]

"Provide for the common defense" is in the Constitution so good luck with eliminating that.

He didn't say it had to be eliminated; he said there is no reason for us to spend that much money on the military and he is exactly correct. We can't afford to have the military largess we have and we can't afford all that other stuff in green as well. Cuts need to be made across the board and there is no reason why the military should be exempt from it.

The United States has not had to defend itself from foreign invasion since 1815. Our "defense" is actually extending our power globally to maintain a certain level of global stability. The degree of Military power to execute that mission is subject to debate.
We need to start insisting that other industrialized nations that benefit from our global military projection start to provide their own support.
There is no reason the EU can't protect its area of the globe or Japan and South Korea protect their area.