Time to close military bases?

[5stringJeff]

Originally posted by insein
Deh took er jooobs!! Sorry had to add that in there.

Businesses and factories close all the time. Towns find ways to survive. It doesn't mean that the town just dies. If they can't survive then they move to a town that can. These people will get by.

I agree insein. People are free to move. Besides, if you are a DoD employee and your base closes, you have a slight advantage in getting another job within DoD. Yes, they will probably have to move; yes, that means the toen's population might shrink. But the mobilities that Americans have will pretty much guarantee that people will not starve to death if a base closes.

 

[MtnBiker]

I thought the military exsisted to provide security for the country, not to provide jobs for the country.

 

[dmp]

It's not the Army's job to make sure local communities have strong economies.

If people need jobs, and are younger than 35, they can enlist

:-/

BRAC sucks for some, but overall it's probably best for the Military.

 

[5stringJeff]

Originally posted by -=d=-
It's not the Army's job to make sure local communities have strong economies.

 

[st8_o_mind]

Originally posted by gop_jeff

I don't want to minimize the impact of base closings on some communities. Some will get hurt. In some cases, base closing have stimulated private sector growth, such as the Presidio (spelling) in San Francisco.

Local communities faced with BRAC in many cases work to develop a viable economic conversion plan, to utilize the resources for commercial development. With mixed success.

Ultimately, the private sector is far better at creating jobs and stimulating economic growth than the military, or any other federal program.

Sound economic planning in partnership with federal, state and local government can help displaced business, but it is still going to be a crappy deal for the family that owns the tavern or gas station next to a base being closed.

Nonetheless, BRAC is necessary, both for the military and the taxpayer who is, indirectly, subsidizing these towns by spending a lot of tax money for programs and bases no longer necessary.

A footnote, there is currently an amendment awaiting consideration to the defense authorization bill (S 2400) in the Senate. It would limit this round of base closures to overseas instillations, and spare US bases until the 2007 round of BRAC. I believe that status is pending on that.

If you are interested, you can get the bill status at http://thomas.loc.gov (note, there is no www in the address).

 

[dilloduck]

The land and the facilities are often simply given to the local economy. When Bergstom AFB closed here in Austin we got a really really cheap airport !!!!

 

[Lefty Wilbury]

theres been talk about closing the base here in town. doing that might kill the economy because it's a "high tech" base. they design a lot of the equipment that get used today. raytheon is just one company that has it headquaters in the area not to mention other compaines who are here. everyone from millipore to mitre to lexicon(yes the music equipment maker) to dupont to basf. even MIT is on base. their all connected with the base. most have r and d facilities within the base perimiter for extra security as well as their off base buildings. local liberals got them to stop basing fighter wings here back in the 60's now they don't want any planes private or military to fly out of the base. kind of stupid to have an air base with no planes huh? but we got nukes! so shutting it down might force the compaines to relocate doing so would cost tens of thousands of extremly high paying jobs to go somewhere else. but to be fair all it really is is a military base in name only that basically proviedes extra security for the compaines in the area.