Are you one of the 97 million Americans that work for or depend on the Federal Government? You are now "up a creek".

[Luckyone]

Because we'd have to change the fundamental nature of the military in order to enact significant cuts. In order for us to continue being able to project overwhelming military power rapidly around the globe, we have to have bases all over the world, and those are expensive. We have to have ordinance available to go at a moment's notice, and that's expensive. We have to have personnel ready to go anywhere at any time and that's expensive. If we changed the military to defensive only and allowed the rest of the world to duke it out amongst themselves, we could seriously cut military spending.

So, we have a choice, keep spending big bucks, be the world's police force and enforce a semblance of peace, or cut back and watch the world's enemies kill each other in mass slaughters. Naturally, those who want to cut military spending now would be horrified to watch the disasters unfold and Uncle Sam do nothing.

Cuts can be made to the military. No country should be spending half of their budget on the military, especially when we have a better military than the next top 10 countries in the world COMBINED. We could cut 10% of the spending there and it would solve 90% of the problem

 

[Orangecat]

We will find out next week when across the board resignations are accepted
Air traffic controllers, food and drug, social security, IRS, defense workers, teachers……

 

[rightwinger]

How many do you actually think are going to quit?

They are saying about 10 percent

 

[Luckyone]

Hmmm, a plea for the status quo, not because it benefits the government, not because it benefits society, not because the workers are doing an extraordinary job, but because reasons and feelz? Are we forgetting the inevitable collapse that will hit us when the debt becomes truly unsustainable, our credit rating is slashed, our currency becomes worthless, and it all falls apart? I think we are forgetting just that.

Why are we spending close to 50% of our budget on the military? That is not needed at such a high rate.

 

[hadit]

Good….do that
Identify waste first and then cut

Don’t just cut everyone and see what happens

See that plane crash the other day?
What happens to safety if you cut 20 percent of air traffic controllers
Filing your tax returns?
How long will your return take if you gut critical workers?
Serve in the military?
Who is processing your promotions, payroll, change of station requests ?

That's why DOGE is in operation, to IDENTIFY waste and inefficiency. Who is going to defend paying people to teach clowns to tie balloon animals?

There are no automatic 20% cuts in store.

 

[hadit]

They are saying about 10 percent

Who is they and tell me why it's government wide when the military is not a target?

 

[multivita-man]

How is it in a supposedly free-market, capitalistic society the Federal Government is the largest employer in the country.

This should terrify anyone with half a brain cell. This is the sort of shit that happens in Communist countries.

Plenty of free, democratic, and capitalistic countries, including ours, have large bureaucracies. There's nothing communistic about it. Inefficient? Maybe, but not communistic.

 

[Cellblock2429]

There are a total of 95 million Americans that depend on the Federal government for help. That is 1/4th of all Americans who would be affected in some way with the Federal work force being cut down.

It is a government spending-cuts thing, which is intended to solve some of the over-spending that is being done, but like everything that Trump does, it is an extreme solution that is highly likely to cause more problems that it solves. In addition, it is "My way or the highway" thinking that does not involve anyone other than Republicans for the decision being made.

Not only is it "over the top and extreme", but it is a dictator's approach to taking total power.

Our democracy is at risk of being lost.

/——/ BOO HOO HOO. Elections have consequences.

 

[rightwinger]

That's DOGE is in operation, to IDENTIFY waste and inefficiency. Who is going to defend paying people to teach clowns to tie balloon animals?

There are no automatic 20% cuts in store.

I can’t respond to such a stupid claim

 

[The Breeze]

There are a total of 95 million Americans that depend on the Federal government for help. That is 1/4th of all Americans who would be affected in some way with the Federal work force being cut down.

It is a government spending-cuts thing, which is intended to solve some of the over-spending that is being done, but like everything that Trump does, it is an extreme solution that is highly likely to cause more problems that it solves. In addition, it is "My way or the highway" thinking that does not involve anyone other than Republicans for the decision being made.

Not only is it "over the top and extreme", but it is a dictator's approach to taking total power.

Our democracy is at risk of being lost.

Have them go pick our fruit! Win, win.

 

[multivita-man]

We will find out next week when across the board resignations are accepted

Air traffic controllers, food and drug, social security, IRS, defense workers, teachers……

I think most will stay put, but the irony is that those who take the bait will end up litigating, probably win, and cost the government and taxpayer even more money than they would have paid had they/we just funded the position, paid the workers out, and then just cut the position through budget reconciliation.

This is no doubt the brain-child of DOGE-King. Yeah, we've seen his efficiency in bringing what was once the most popular social media platform to shadow of its former self.

 

[Luckyone]

That's why DOGE is in operation, to IDENTIFY waste and inefficiency. Who is going to defend paying people to teach clowns to tie balloon animals?

There are no automatic 20% cuts in store.

this is the problem

We spent $801 billion on the military in 2023 and we did not have to spend that much:

The United States accounts for about 39% of the total global military spending, which is much more than the combined spending of the rest of the world's 144 nations

Here is a comparison to our $801 billion

In 2023, Russia spent approximately 109.45 billion current U.S. dollars on its military expenses

 

[rightwinger]

Who is they and tell me why it's government wide when the military is not a target?

Close to 3 million employees government wide

Military depends on government employees to process their pay, promotions, change of station, training
The entire defense industry depends on government employees for their contracts

 

[Orangecat]

Our democracy is at risk of being lost.

Not just our democracy.

You drones need a new talking point. That one expired last November.

 

[hadit]

Why are we spending close to 50% of our budget on the military? That is not needed at such a high rate.

As I've noted, it's the nature of how we're using it. Right now, we're the world's police force and that's expensive. We can project military force around the globe rapidly, but that's expensive.

We could cut military spending significantly if we pulled everything back to our borders and went totally defensive but then most of those now calling for less spending would be horrified to see the carnage as other nations attack each other unimpeded and Uncle Sam does nothing.

 

[hadit]

Close to 3 million employees government wide

Military depends on government employees to process their pay, promotions, change of station, training
The entire defense industry depends on government employees for their contracts

Again, who is saying automatic 10% across the board job cuts?

 

[Carl in Michigan]

Our democracy is at risk of being lost

You think a bloated federal government is how we define a "democracy"

 

[hadit]

I can’t respond to such a stupid claim

Which part, the bit about teaching clowns? Did you even know we were paying for that?

 

[g5000]

Because we'd have to change the fundamental nature of the military in order to enact significant cuts. In order for us to continue being able to project overwhelming military power rapidly around the globe, we have to have bases all over the world, and those are expensive. We have to have ordinance available to go at a moment's notice, and that's expensive. We have to have personnel ready to go anywhere at any time and that's expensive. If we changed the military to defensive only and allowed the rest of the world to duke it out amongst themselves, we could seriously cut military spending.

So, we have a choice, keep spending big bucks, be the world's police force and enforce a semblance of peace, or cut back and watch the world's enemies kill each other in mass slaughters. Naturally, those who want to cut military spending now would be horrified to watch the disasters unfold and Uncle Sam do nothing.

You wanna know why defense is so expensive these days?

I saw from the inside how we active duty personnel were being replaced by highly paid government contractors.

Our military is becoming a privatized, very expensive mercenary force.

I mentioned in another topic how Raytheon uses propriety fasteners on the systems they sell to the military.

Ordinary screws? Oh hell no.

Did they provide us with the necessary propriety tool to open their cabinets so we could repair OUR gear? Oh hell no.

We had to expend taxpayer dollars to have a highly paid "tech rep" fly out and open the cabinet for us. Then he just stood around while we made the repairs. Then he closed the cabinet and flew away.

I shit you not.

This is only one of countless such example I could give you.

When I retired, I went to a job fair. Since it was near the base, it was almost exclusively defense contractors.

Raytheon was there. They had a sign up saying they need to hire someone with a very specialized skill. I walked up to them and told them I was one of only a dozen or so people on the planet who had that skill.

The guy literally followed me all around the convention center, begging me to take the six-figure job.

I told him I was aware their tech reps had big houses and fancy cars, but that they also were rarely home.

He said, "What if I told you you'd only be away from home three or four days a month?"

"I'd call you a fucking liar." That finally made him go away.

I ended up joining a civilian company way the fuck far away from any defense company.

 

[hadit]

You wanna know why defense is so expensive these days?

I saw from the inside how we active duty personnel were being replaced by highly paid government contractors.

Our military is becoming a mercenary force.

I mentioned in another topic how Raytheon uses propriety fasteners on the systems they sell to the military.

Ordinary screws? Oh hell no.

Did they provide us with the necessary propriety tool to open on of their cabinets so we could repair OUR gear? Oh hell no.

We had to expend taxpayer dollars to have a highly paid "tech rep" fly out and open the cabinet for us. Then he just stood around while we made the repairs. Then he closed the cabinet and flew away.

I shit you not.

This is only one of countless such example I could give you.

When I retired, I went to a job fair. Since it was near the base, it was almost exclusively defense contractors.

Raytheon was there. They had a sign up saying they need to hire someone with a very specialized skill. I walked up to them and told them I was one of only a dozen or so people on the planet who had that skill.

The guy literally followed me all around the convention center, begging me to take the six-figure job.

I told him I was aware their tech reps had big houses and fancy cars, but that they also were rarely home.

He said, "What if I told you you'd only be away from home three or four days a months?"

"I'd call you a fucking liar."

I ended up joining a civilian company which makes the machines which make the cutting edge chips at Intel, way the fuck far away from any defense company.

And those outrageous spends are magnified when we consider that we operate all over the globe, not just around our borders. It's expensive to maintain bombers that can take off from inside the US, fly to the other side of the world, drop their ordinance and fly back, undetected. It's expensive to maintain military bases in foreign countries.