Tightening Government's belt.

[DanG 1]

Actually, if we cut $250 billion from defense spending, that money is not going to go back to the citizens it was taken from, it just won't get borrowed. If you cut $250 billion and then institute $250 billion in tax cuts, you haven't changed the deficit. What slashing the military budget is actually doing is taking $250 billion out of the pockets of currently living citizens, and giving in back (with interest) to their kids and grandkids, who would have had to pay for it later. To believe $250 billion in defense cuts will have a positive short term impact on the economy is 100% wrong. It will negatively affect the short term economy in order to avoid even worse pain in the long term.

Not that it's not a good idea, but you need to understand what will happen in the short term if we slash the budget, any budget. We are either going to eat an economic shit sandwich now, or have future generations eat a whole shit Happy Meal.

- Dan G

[Amazon 7]

Quote

I think this debate is absurd.
We are talking trillions here. People agonizing over cutting Johnny's Glee Club to save a few bucks or whatever is like trying to build a levee with a teaspoon. How bout we talk to the military and see of they can manage to get by on a budget of, say, ONLY 250 fucking billion instead of the 500+billion they get every year.
I'm sure we can still easily intimidate and dominate half the planet on 250 billion. And I'd bet dumping that other 250 billion back into the pockets of the citizens it was taken from to spend on food gas and housing instead of guns and 5 billion dollar stealth killer whizbangs from Raytheon would do more for the economy than all the stimulus in Washington.

But theres vested interests in keeping military budgets this big. Whole towns and regions dependent on military contracts and industries. Ain't gonna happen. So we're gonna do without decent roads and basic services so they can get a couple more carriers they don't fucking need. Welcome to America.
-B

Ask yourself who REALLLLY benefits from all the money spent on your whizzbangs.. from Boeing.. Raytheon.. and on and on and on.. Want to figure out who really runs the country... look to the preferred stocks in those companies, those who are the direct beneficiaries of the Military Industrial Complex that a certain Republican warned about back in 1961 as he was leaving office. He knew them well.

From Wiki

President of the United States (and former General of the Army) Dwight D. Eisenhower used the term in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961:

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction...
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.




Current applications

According to SIPRI, total world spending on military expenses in 2009 was $1.531 trillion US dollars. 46.5% of this total, roughly $712 billion US dollars, was spent by the United States.[18] The privatization of the production and invention of military technology also leads to a complicated relationship with significant research and development of many technologies.

The Military budget of the United States for the 2009 fiscal year was $515.4 billion. Adding emergency discretionary spending and supplemental spending brings the sum to $651.2 billion.[19] This does not include many military-related items that are outside of the Defense Department budget. Overall the United States government is spending about $1 trillion annually on defense-related purposes.[20]

The defense industry tends to contribute heavily to incumbent members of Congress.[21] Oliver Stone claims Néstor Kirchner, the former President of Argentina, told him former US President George W. Bush told Kirchner "The best way to revitalize the economy is war, and the U.S. has grown stronger with war."[22]