Who is for cutting the US defense budget?

[Ragnar]

ooooh... check out this dandy little project...

Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms,’ Molecular Kill-Switch Included | Danger Room | Wired.com

Best part is, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Cold Fusion38]

How about we just OUTLAW cost-PLUS contracts?

 

[potter 58]

agent orange was enough for my era , you remember the stuff that never killed anything but plants and after 30 the gov and DOW paid off the few vets that still remained and lets not talk about depleted uranuim LOL it only pierces armor more effectively , just ask the gov

 

[slackjawed]

How about we just OUTLAW cost-PLUS contracts?

Having contracted with the US government many times, i can tell you that cost plus contracts are illegal.
Well, they are illegal, but there is this thing called a "force account" that can, and is, used to subvert the law.

It's like anything else, why have a law if it can't be enforced.
Drug laws can't be enforced successfully, yet the citizens are goaded by our pretend leaders to beg for more drug laws to solve the problem.
The shootings at columbine, and the other schools, hell all shootings, were already illegal, yet we let our so-called leaders talk us into begging for more laws "to protect the children".
Illegal Immigration is illegal, it can't, or isn't enforced. Yet our pretend leaders routinely call for more laws dealing with illegal immigration.


How about we wake up and stop our so-called leaders talk us into any more laws until they can decide how to enforce the ones we already have. If they can't figure out how to enforce them, take them off the books.
How about we start electing real leaders that will eliminate laws instead of adding more that won't be enforced?
That in itself would cut our budget. Think of it, the DEA would be gone, the ATF would be scaled way back. Do we really need the national helium board any longer?
I can go on and on, but I think I made my point.
Cut the defense budget, hell yes.
Cut it all, the less we allow the government to spend the more freedom we will all have.

 

[beowolfe]

How about we just OUTLAW cost-PLUS contracts?

I think procurement rules need to be changed. In the case of the air force, it should 'fly before we buy'; army - it should shoot or drive before we buy; navy - it should sail, shoot, and/or fly before we buy. That would kill all of the cost overruns. Once that's under control, the cost + contracting will work very well. I'm not against the MI making a reasonable profit, but they're killing us.

 

[beowolfe]

agent orange was enough for my era , you remember the stuff that never killed anything but plants and after 30 the gov and DOW paid off the few vets that still remained and lets not talk about depleted uranuim LOL it only pierces armor more effectively , just ask the gov

Iraqi veterans had DU and Afghanistan are getting sick from outdoor incenterators buring everything from hazardous chemicals to human body parts. Their respiratory problems are beginning to manifest themselves now.

 

[Cold Fusion38]

Well you are NEVER goign to get ANYTHING bulit if it has to be built before we will buy it. NEVER! Too much R&D WAYYYY TOO MUCH!

 

[potter 58]

I know beo, but do you think the wingnuts care LOL hell no

 

[Xenophon]

I'm all for it, start by closing all over seas bases, and moth balling at least 2 super carriers.

Really, the carriers?

I'm not so sure about that. Carriers are an excellent way to keep our power mobile.

No, they aern't, and we have 17 of them.

And each one has a SAG with it for escort, so mothballing 2 means you don't need the Cruisers and destroyers that sail with it, even more savings.

Can anyone name the last time the USA had more then 3 carriers in action in a battle?

With 15 you can still have 5 doing the normal SLEP (service life extention program) which keeps them modern and in fighting trim, and still have 10 battle groups ready for action.

 

[potter 58]

OMG X , can you hear the wingnuts howling yet, you want to cut the military you traitorous bastard , we will never be safe with that kind of attitude

 

[Xenophon]

OMG X , can you hear the wingnuts howling yet, you want to cut the military you traitorous bastard , we will never be safe with that kind of attitude

They said the same thing when i protested the Iraq war and the Afghan war, didn't care then and don't now.

 

[Zander]

Cut everything, across the board by 20%. Military, entitlements, every department, every agency . Cap Federal spending at no more than 20% of GDP. Require all future budgets to create a 10% surplus that will be used to retire debt.

 

[beowolfe]

Well you are NEVER goign to get ANYTHING bulit if it has to be built before we will buy it. NEVER! Too much R&D WAYYYY TOO MUCH!

Not true. The R&D is a tax write off, and there have and always will be 'players' willing to spend a billion for a chance at a trillion.

 

[beowolfe]

Cut everything, across the board by 20%. Military, entitlements, every department, every agency . Cap Federal spending at no more than 20% of GDP. Require all future budgets to create a 10% surplus that will be used to retire debt.

That sounds good in theory, but it is a very dangerous way to practice governmental budgeting. There will invariably things that need to be cut by 5%, things that will be needed to be cut 50% and things that will need to be eliminated all together.

 

[Zander]

Cut everything, across the board by 20%. Military, entitlements, every department, every agency . Cap Federal spending at no more than 20% of GDP. Require all future budgets to create a 10% surplus that will be used to retire debt.

That sounds good in theory, but it is a very dangerous way to practice governmental budgeting. There will invariably things that need to be cut by 5%, things that will be needed to be cut 50% and things that will need to be eliminated all together.

I disagree. There is not one federal dept. that cannot be cut by 20%. Not one.

 

[rightwinger]

The US spends more on defense than any nation on earth yet we are one of the few countries that are not in danger of a military attack. Our armed forces have not defended the US from foreign attack in almost 200 years.
The reason for our massive defense budget is to project power abroad.
We could easily cut our defense without impacting our security. We need to reassess the threat

 

[Douger]

Bring everyone home.That'll put some score on the unemployment card.
Abolish the military and tell the world that any attack will result in nuclear annihilation.

That'll solve the immigrant problem since the private sector doesn't have demand for brainwashed mercenaries.
Shoe shines will become much cheaper and the really smart ones can be trained to pick tomatoes.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Just a thought that the US spends more on defense than the next 10 militaries combined. With SS & Medicare going broke, and the budget deficit so large, we may need to reduce the military budget until we get a surplus.

IMHO the US should not bear the expense of a world-class military when the other countries elect to spend resources on socialist programs instead of defense. Its time to balance the military spending and social programs more evenly.

List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How about other countries start funding our social programs ,since we bear the brunt of funding the defense.

 

[slackjawed]

Just a thought that the US spends more on defense than the next 10 militaries combined. With SS & Medicare going broke, and the budget deficit so large, we may need to reduce the military budget until we get a surplus.

IMHO the US should not bear the expense of a world-class military when the other countries elect to spend resources on socialist programs instead of defense. Its time to balance the military spending and social programs more evenly.

List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How about other countries start funding our social programs ,since we bear the brunt of funding the defense.

How about we return to more self sufficiency and responsibility and simply eliminate most social programs. The less we allow our government to do, or to spend, the more freedom we will have.
It has only been since reagan fantasized about a 'star wars' missile defense program that nation defense meant invincibility. Despite calling for smaller government and less spending, he, and every president after him has increased spending, and the size of government. Based on that, it should be a no-brainer to cut defense spending.
Most current social programs have only been around in their present form since Johnson's great society. People got along prior to that, and it seems the more social programs we create, the more people there are to take advantage of them.


Maybe we need a new thread;

Who is for cutting the national entitlement budget?

 

[slackjawed]

Cut everything, across the board by 20%. Military, entitlements, every department, every agency . Cap Federal spending at no more than 20% of GDP. Require all future budgets to create a 10% surplus that will be used to retire debt.

That sounds good in theory, but it is a very dangerous way to practice governmental budgeting. There will invariably things that need to be cut by 5%, things that will be needed to be cut 50% and things that will need to be eliminated all together.

I disagree. There is not one federal dept. that cannot be cut by 20%. Not one.

I don't want this to sound like a poker game, but I don't think there is one govermnet program that cannot be cut by a third.
The majority of government programs could stand a much bigger cut, maybe even elimination.

Those here calling for defense spending to 'save' social programs are badly misguided.