Why not cut military spending?

[Paulie]

goneberzerk needs to get on his meds and out of his mommy's basement and employed

i am tired of my 5 figure tax bill paying his way

All $103.82, huh??

i almost typed "i wish"

but I dont wish, I like paying taxes, or i did until you racist pig scumsucking baggers came along

i like supporting my country and my fellow humans

^ If anyone believes this horseshit, let's hear it.

 

[GuyPinestra]

*crickets*

 

[GuyPinestra]

While the USA suffers from a second economic depression, Congressmen speak of reducing military spending. Secretary of Defense Gates disagrees, but does want to cut overhead and administrative costs. Military bases are expensive to operate, yet another domestic base closing round is unlikely. However, the President can close any foreign base without Congressional approval. Polls show the vast majority of American citizens support the closure most U.S. military bases overseas. Even Glen Beck rails against this waste. There are some unneeded bases in the Middle East, yet the future in that region is uncertain with the planned drawdowns, so none are mentioned here. Nevertheless, there are over a thousand U.S. military installations elsewhere, and half can be closed.

Closing these bases should not be viewed as anti-military. Money saved can be used for more combat forces, and more ships and transport aircraft for greater strategic mobility. There is also a need to rebalance our nation's overseas base structure to react worldwide, rather than contain communism. For example, closing outdated Cold War bases allows improvements to less developed bases in strategic locations. Our post-Cold War military has devoted small sums to improve bases in key spots like Guam, Sigonella in Sicily, Souda Bay in Crete, Thumrait in Oman, and Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti by the Red Sea, yet huge sums remain devoted to bases in England, Germany, Japan, and Korea. Potential key bases like Adak, Darwin, the nearby Cocos Islands, and the UK's Ascension Island (pictured), are ignored. Some of the billions of dollars wasted on outdated Cold War bases should be used to improve these sites with better airfields and ship piers, and larger fuel and ammunition storage facilities.

Here is a list of outdated U.S. military bases overseas that can be promptly closed to save billions of dollars each year while shifting billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into the American economy. None of these closures require the construction of replacement facilities in the USA because they are mostly base and headquarters overhead fat that serve no purpose. Proposals that require the relocation of operational units detail where vacant facilities already exist due to downsizing:

Overseas Base Closure List

I'm wondering how much money this might save...

 

[Seawytch]

In perspective...

 

[Steelplate]

Cuts can be made in any branch of government. Waste and corruption can be reduced. That does not mean that whole portions of the military system should disappear.

Awarding contracts to private sector companies to produce modern weapons, munitions, airplanes, boats, vehicles, uniforms and supply chains would boost the economy by creating private sector jobs (for which people are actually PAID WAGES and TAXED on those wages) to maintain an effective, well trained, well equipped military would benefit our economy more than anything Obama has done since he moved into the White House.

I remember when shipyards employed thousands of people, utilized U.S. steel to make big ships, little ships, big boats, little boats...all of which require fittings, furnishings, tools and material handling machinery that can be manufactured in the USA by non-shipyard companies.

Hell! Let's build some military Hospital ships and deploy them in areas of need around the world. Let's build some giant floating grocery stores with landing strips on the top deck so we can park them near starving countries and feed people in need.

ummm....who do you think makes all that shit now?

you ever hear of Boeing, Mcdonnell Douglass, Hummer, Colt, Remington? I mean, don't get me wrong....I like the idea of private sector jobs and all...but exploding the military-industrial complex is what helped to get us into this mess of overspending.
If we are going to spend...Let's spend it on shit that's going to help America. We have a crumbling infrastructure that is at the end of it's lifespan. We have roads that are in a perpetual state of disrepair, bridges, dams and levee systems that are to the point of not "if" but "when" they will fail, our electrical grid that runs on 1940's technology that wastes 60% of the energy it generates, and the water systems that carry water into and waste out of our major cities is rotting underground and is also ripe for catastrophe.

The history Channel did a special on this called "the crumbling of America" Here's a link on how our infrastructure grades out...I believe there's also a video link to the 2 hour special. I believe it's also available through streaming Netflix.

The Tireless Agorist: Our Crumbling Infrastructure

 

[Trajan]

This question is aimed more towards Republicans, as they're usually the ones crying about the multi-trillion dollar deficit, wasteful federal spending, etc.

I can not think of a bigger waste of taxpayer money then our current "defense" budget, yet the threat of significant cuts to the military magically turns GOP establishment from fiscal hawks to war hawks, warning that any reduction to military spending will jeopardize our national security. #2 ranked China has quadruple our population, yet can manage to defend themselves at a fraction of what the United States spends. At the very least, this screams of inefficiency (perhaps someone can tell the lobbyists from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to F off and reduce the bloated government contracts they get?).

Seriously, someone justify why military cuts should NOT be made?

a) cuts are being made...

b) I cannot think of one European country that is in trouble right now, oh and include japan too....which pretty much means all of them ( but Germany who also doesn't have much of a military) , that has a military budget or forces in being that is a drag on the economy, they purposefully pulled the plug on their military after the ussr fell over a decade....

you know where that money went?

go ahead, ...guess....that is their problem, not military spending. so your premise means very little.

 

[Trajan]

In perspective...

that goes perfectly with my point, doesn't it?

 

[blackhawk]

This question is aimed more towards Republicans, as they're usually the ones crying about the multi-trillion dollar deficit, wasteful federal spending, etc.

I can not think of a bigger waste of taxpayer money then our current "defense" budget, yet the threat of significant cuts to the military magically turns GOP establishment from fiscal hawks to war hawks, warning that any reduction to military spending will jeopardize our national security. #2 ranked China has quadruple our population, yet can manage to defend themselves at a fraction of what the United States spends. At the very least, this screams of inefficiency (perhaps someone can tell the lobbyists from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to F off and reduce the bloated government contracts they get?).

Seriously, someone justify why military cuts should NOT be made?

I have no problem with defense cuts as long as we understand that defense cuts alone won't solve our debt problem there will also have to be cuts in the social and entitlement programs that Democrats cherish so much as well.

 

[Steelplate]

This question is aimed more towards Republicans, as they're usually the ones crying about the multi-trillion dollar deficit, wasteful federal spending, etc.

I can not think of a bigger waste of taxpayer money then our current "defense" budget, yet the threat of significant cuts to the military magically turns GOP establishment from fiscal hawks to war hawks, warning that any reduction to military spending will jeopardize our national security. #2 ranked China has quadruple our population, yet can manage to defend themselves at a fraction of what the United States spends. At the very least, this screams of inefficiency (perhaps someone can tell the lobbyists from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to F off and reduce the bloated government contracts they get?).

Seriously, someone justify why military cuts should NOT be made?

I have no problem with defense cuts as long as we understand that defense cuts alone won't solve our debt problem there will also have to be cuts in the social and entitlement programs that Democrats cherish so much as well.

some if those things you call entitlements are programs(SS and Medicare) that we as citizens have paid into all our lives. Damn it....I've never taken Unemployment, welfare, food stamps and have paid my taxes religiously. I've worked hard all my life and never asked anyone for anything I didn't earn....I served proudly in the military and volunteer in my community. I'll be dammed if I'll agree to forgo a program that I am going to need when I get older....like MOST of us.

There is no reason to take those programs away. I get so tired of Conservatives trying to screw the people of this country. SS? Nope....Health Care? nope....infrastructure? nope....pandering to the tychoons after 30+ years of decline in the standard of living for labor? Fuck yeah!

you want to know WHY we have shitty revenue? because we have so many people make shit wages and minimal. income to tax. People who are working for others...Christ...I can't even say working class anymore without being accused of "class warfare"...talk about political correctness...anyway people who work for others make up the vast majority of our population. Since Reagan introduced trickle down, the wages have stagnated. My daughter...who's in college...just got a job fir $8/hr. When my wife was in College, she had a job working road construction....she was paid anywhere from $4/hr for low rate jobs to $15/hr for high rate jobs...she figured her average to be somewhere between $8-10/hr....that was back in the early 80's.

but...I know....it's all Gubmint's fault...the private sector is untouchable...they are beyond reproach and above any accountability....unless they break the law....of course...they pay DAMN good money to write the law...but that don't matter.

Imagine a workforce that has money in it's pockets. an actual savings....more taxable income...because that's one thing you guys are right about....the taxing the rich isn't going to help the debt problem all that much. But, having a flourishing working and middle class will. That doesn't even get into the fact that people with money in their pockets will get out and go shopping, fix up their houses...buy homes and cars, go out to eat and take vacations.

It isn't class warfare...it's common sense.

 

[ConzHateUSA]

Todays conz are the stupidest people in history, thru total ignorance they are advocating for their own destruction...you cannot get dumber than that

at least religious radical dumbshits (this is all religions) have an excuse

 

[GoneBezerk]

It's called making sure evil people in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, etc don't kill millions of people which could be Americans or not and to prevent them from harming our economy with a World War like seen in the 1940s.

People like you shouldn't be alive for the sake of mankind because you are dangerous.

Idiot, the US military has to do R&D on millions/billions of dollars projects that take 5-10 years to plan, engineer and build due to complexity and technology advances required.

The US military also has to use their budget to pay for operations in Afghanistan, operations in the Horn of Africa against terrorists, day to day operations to keep the Russians/Chinese/etc in their place, etc.

Meanwhile the US military has to also maintain and fix broken planes, tanks, trucks, etc in addition to buying more bullets, bombs and missiles used since 9/11.

You idiots are clueless how expensive it is to maintain the peace and security on this planet to ensure certain countries don't invade their neighbors which kills innocent people but also harms the world economy.

You know the world economy that is not doing well, but I guess Iran shutting off the world's main oil supply in the middle east will do wonders for the US economy, nevermind the laid off US military and contractors from gutting the DoD budget....

Cutting a couple of percent of plain old fat and waste, over the course of a decade, isn't "gutting" anything.

You neocon schmucks screech like a patchouli oiled loberoidal hippy douche losing his NEA grant.

Yeah, the military is always keen on developing technology to fight the last war. We have 50 million dollar fighters, billion dollar bombers, programs we've sunk billions of dollars into and gotten crap like the V-22 Osprey. But there isn't any waste, fraud, or abuse to be found in the defense budget.

Why does the USA need to be the world cop? Why does the USA need to maintain a global military empire? Why can't Isreal defend itself? They have a badass military themselves. China already owns us, they don't need to attack. The USA doesn't have any room to talk about other countries arming terrorists and dictators. We've done plenty of that ourselves. Many of our erstwhile allies can now use the weapons we provided them against us. We gave arms to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Contra rebels, etc, etc, etc.

 

[GoneBezerk]

China's numbers are bullshit, but of course you believe what THEY tell YOU.

Oh, the USA became the big dog on the planet when the majority of the world was ruined by World War II thus needed someone to prevent World War III.

So dumbfuck when did we have WWIII following our strategy???

In perspective...

 

[blackhawk]

This question is aimed more towards Republicans, as they're usually the ones crying about the multi-trillion dollar deficit, wasteful federal spending, etc.

I can not think of a bigger waste of taxpayer money then our current "defense" budget, yet the threat of significant cuts to the military magically turns GOP establishment from fiscal hawks to war hawks, warning that any reduction to military spending will jeopardize our national security. #2 ranked China has quadruple our population, yet can manage to defend themselves at a fraction of what the United States spends. At the very least, this screams of inefficiency (perhaps someone can tell the lobbyists from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to F off and reduce the bloated government contracts they get?).

Seriously, someone justify why military cuts should NOT be made?

I have no problem with defense cuts as long as we understand that defense cuts alone won't solve our debt problem there will also have to be cuts in the social and entitlement programs that Democrats cherish so much as well.

some if those things you call entitlements are programs(SS and Medicare) that we as citizens have paid into all our lives. Damn it....I've never taken Unemployment, welfare, food stamps and have paid my taxes religiously. I've worked hard all my life and never asked anyone for anything I didn't earn....I served proudly in the military and volunteer in my community. I'll be dammed if I'll agree to forgo a program that I am going to need when I get older....like MOST of us.

There is no reason to take those programs away. I get so tired of Conservatives trying to screw the people of this country. SS? Nope....Health Care? nope....infrastructure? nope....pandering to the tychoons after 30+ years of decline in the standard of living for labor? Fuck yeah!

you want to know WHY we have shitty revenue? because we have so many people make shit wages and minimal. income to tax. People who are working for others...Christ...I can't even say working class anymore without being accused of "class warfare"...talk about political correctness...anyway people who work for others make up the vast majority of our population. Since Reagan introduced trickle down, the wages have stagnated. My daughter...who's in college...just got a job fir $8/hr. When my wife was in College, she had a job working road construction....she was paid anywhere from $4/hr for low rate jobs to $15/hr for high rate jobs...she figured her average to be somewhere between $8-10/hr....that was back in the early 80's.

but...I know....it's all Gubmint's fault...the private sector is untouchable...they are beyond reproach and above any accountability....unless they break the law....of course...they pay DAMN good money to write the law...but that don't matter.

Imagine a workforce that has money in it's pockets. an actual savings....more taxable income...because that's one thing you guys are right about....the taxing the rich isn't going to help the debt problem all that much. But, having a flourishing working and middle class will. That doesn't even get into the fact that people with money in their pockets will get out and go shopping, fix up their houses...buy homes and cars, go out to eat and take vacations.

It isn't class warfare...it's common sense.

I never said anything about taking away any program nor did I a single out any specific program I said you will have to make cuts to other programs not just defense. If people really truly want to deal with the debt problem you can't have sacred programs that are off limits next time respond to what I actually said and leave out the over the top hysterics and talking points.

 

[Franticfrank]

Quite simply, according to statistics, the Chinese are raising their military expenditure tremendously, so the US cannot really afford to reduce theirs.

 

[Care4all]

Quite simply, according to statistics, the Chinese are raising their military expenditure tremendously, so the US cannot really afford to reduce theirs.

And do you know WHY China can increase spending in their military? Because we gave them the MONEY to afford it by buying all of their goods...free trade baby...works like a charm doesn't it?

Besides the fact that them spending 120 billion a year now compared to our TOTAL defense costs of 900 billion A YEAR is piddly poo compared to us.

there is more than enough room to cut our total defense spending by 200 billion a year...and I'm not talking about cutting people, but cutting waste....there is billions upon billions upon billions in waste each year. We are very smart people and we can do this without hurting our Defense of this nation....

 

[uscitizen]

Quite simply, according to statistics, the Chinese are raising their military expenditure tremendously, so the US cannot really afford to reduce theirs.

China will of course protect their best customer base.

 

[zeke]

I have no problem with defense cuts as long as we understand that defense cuts alone won't solve our debt problem there will also have to be cuts in the social and entitlement programs that Democrats cherish so much as well.

some if those things you call entitlements are programs(SS and Medicare) that we as citizens have paid into all our lives. Damn it....I've never taken Unemployment, welfare, food stamps and have paid my taxes religiously. I've worked hard all my life and never asked anyone for anything I didn't earn....I served proudly in the military and volunteer in my community. I'll be dammed if I'll agree to forgo a program that I am going to need when I get older....like MOST of us.

There is no reason to take those programs away. I get so tired of Conservatives trying to screw the people of this country. SS? Nope....Health Care? nope....infrastructure? nope....pandering to the tychoons after 30+ years of decline in the standard of living for labor? Fuck yeah!

you want to know WHY we have shitty revenue? because we have so many people make shit wages and minimal. income to tax. People who are working for others...Christ...I can't even say working class anymore without being accused of "class warfare"...talk about political correctness...anyway people who work for others make up the vast majority of our population. Since Reagan introduced trickle down, the wages have stagnated. My daughter...who's in college...just got a job fir $8/hr. When my wife was in College, she had a job working road construction....she was paid anywhere from $4/hr for low rate jobs to $15/hr for high rate jobs...she figured her average to be somewhere between $8-10/hr....that was back in the early 80's.

but...I know....it's all Gubmint's fault...the private sector is untouchable...they are beyond reproach and above any accountability....unless they break the law....of course...they pay DAMN good money to write the law...but that don't matter.

Imagine a workforce that has money in it's pockets. an actual savings....more taxable income...because that's one thing you guys are right about....the taxing the rich isn't going to help the debt problem all that much. But, having a flourishing working and middle class will. That doesn't even get into the fact that people with money in their pockets will get out and go shopping, fix up their houses...buy homes and cars, go out to eat and take vacations.

It isn't class warfare...it's common sense.

I never said anything about taking away any program nor did I a single out any specific program I said you will have to make cuts to other programs not just defense. If people really truly want to deal with the debt problem you can't have sacred programs that are off limits next time respond to what I actually said and leave out the over the top hysterics and talking points.

Isn't that the agreement that came about at the end of the year. You know; sequestration.
The agreement that the Repubs are doing everything they can to get out of. So just how serious do you percieve the Repubs to be about cutting the deficit?

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Weakness begets aggression. Most historians of the time, not the present day crop who seek only to rewrite the history of that time to reflect their current philosophical views, concurred that it was the Western Democracies desire to avoid war with Hitler at any cost that made WWII inevitable, the point of inflection, the point of no returning from war was Chamberlains surrender to Hitler's demands in Munich, September, 1938. The Japanese, half a world away, upon seeing how graciously accommodating the Western Democracies were, began making their own plans.

 

[Katzndogz]

Quite simply, according to statistics, the Chinese are raising their military expenditure tremendously, so the US cannot really afford to reduce theirs.

China will of course protect their best customer base.

Sure they will, but how?

If we have a government with the goal of its leaders to destroy the economy so that the customer base no longer exists, what should China do at that point?

 

[Dutch]

This question is aimed more towards Republicans, as they're usually the ones crying about the multi-trillion dollar deficit, wasteful federal spending, etc.

I can not think of a bigger waste of taxpayer money then our current "defense" budget, yet the threat of significant cuts to the military magically turns GOP establishment from fiscal hawks to war hawks, warning that any reduction to military spending will jeopardize our national security. #2 ranked China has quadruple our population, yet can manage to defend themselves at a fraction of what the United States spends. At the very least, this screams of inefficiency (perhaps someone can tell the lobbyists from Boeing and Lockheed Martin to F off and reduce the bloated government contracts they get?).

Seriously, someone justify why military cuts should NOT be made?

Because we are at war, cutting Military spending while at war is insane.

Cutting taxes during war is also insane.