Congressmen call for $1 trillion dollars in US military cuts

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
Good. It's about damn time to do this, pull our troops home from ALL OVER so they can protect us here, regroup, retrain, re-equip, and let people breathe and heal.

Then develop a REAL strategy for fighting "terrorism." Quick strike forces and the like.

This perpetual war cannot continue. It's going nowhere good. Will jobs in the MIC suffer some? Yes. Maybe. But something's gotta hurt at some point, people.

I'm very sorry that some corporations and politicians bet their investments and our country on this. Too bad for them. Enough is enough.

I so agree!

reply to post by rakkasansct


I don't think that anyone, including Barney Frank or Ron Paul, is talking about cutting the pay or benefits of military personnel. It's just not in either one of these men to do that.

On the other hand, we all know that there is ample room to reduce the defense budget in other areas without jeopardizing our security and "private contractor spending" is a good place to start.

IMO, the single biggest dilemma we face with regards to government spending is the fact that we seldom get the biggest bang for our buck, regardless of which dept. of government is doing the spending.

It's as though there is some unspoken policy among government contractors that "it's ok to inflate or overcharge on government bids." Remember the $250 toilet seats? Well, Blackwater & Halliburton have made that look like nothing more than a drop in a bucket.

I think I heard someone say the other day that we could cut our defense budget in half and still spend more than the next 5 biggest militaries in the world.

Yeah, I think it's time we took a look a defense spending. For starters, I think that the 600 million that we are currently spending to secure the border should come out of defense spending, just saying.

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source

If the situation was honest, the US could have the best trained, and equiped, military with the best post service sevices in the world, while maintaining the most intelligently secured borders on the planet.
and save the required loot.
But the situation isn't honest

Ron Paul is the only actual conservative at his place of employment.
His voting record says so.
Anyone one who puts him down for wanting to fix things properly, is just gaming us peeps, and the system.
Which is a good example of why there is wasted money.

reply to post by Danbones


You're the second person, that I've noticed, to post a reply in this thread where you mention Ron Paul as if this was his initiative alone. Why is that? Will something bad happen to someone if they mention the name of Barney Frank?

reply to post by buni11687


Isn't this a moot gesture by these guys? We're out of Iraq now. Doesn't that mean we should be saving a buttload of money?



[edit on 19-8-2010 by black cat]

Barney Frank. What a tool bag. Isn't he elbow deep in the Freddie/Fannie debacle? Yeah, that's the guy I want telling another part of the government how to manage their money.

Seriously, ask any gruntski and he'll tell you that the military can save a buttload of cash by cutting one stupid program after another. No surprises there.

I support this 10000 percent.

(I believe) this is highly reminiscent of how the Vietnam War ended. Congress cut funding.

I'm not big on Barney Frank....and RP is ok....but I'll support anyone who I believe is doing the right thing.

This IS the right thing.

SAVE OUR TROOPS. SAVE OUR COUNTRY.

reply to post by buni11687


This is by far the best way to cut the budget. I cant say that amount is appropriate but "defense"(offense) spending is one of the biggest dents in the budget.

I hear people wanting smaller govt and deficits but they point at SS, healthcare, education, etc. But all of these programs represent a drop in the bucket compared to defense or most other things for that matter.

Our military budget is disgusting. And cutting some from it could pay for so many other things that will truly help this country get back on its feet.

If you cut 1 trillion from defense, you could pay for universal healthcare, SS and never have to worry about schools not having enough money. All of this without raising taxes.

reply to post by airspoon


airspoon,

What you have to understand is that a lot of people within our borders are people who have a hard time understanding what it means to grow your own food, weave your own clothing, build your own houses -- heck -- build your own vehicles! All of the basic fundamental types of work are dying out within our borders because everyone is being pushed to go "get a degree" instead of learn a real trade....

And, no, I don't think that computer technology is a trade that is extremely important... I think we could use tech people, but survival is based upon the land. We inherit the EARTH!

But the people within our borders aren't capable as of yet to take on all these tasks again...

So even if the District is looking out for our best interests, it would be difficult for them to pull out of all the places around the world because the #1 reason for being there is to ensure that we have contact with these people in some way, shape, or form so that we semi-force them into constantly trading with us. Meaning, we provide for them "security" and minor commodities and they send us BOAT LOADS of commodities that we should just learn to harvest here.

As well, the District has put itself so far in debt because of how much power it has attempted to hold over the entire world that it has spread itself so thin that it requires other empires like China to provide for us a boat load of commodities on top of giving us "loans" to keep us afloat. And the main reason China does that is because if we stopped taking commodities from China, we would kill a lot of their market...

So, basically, the District is stuck where it is at. Regardless of what we want or what they want or whatever, whereas the District once assumed the most power in this world, it has become, as all other powers eventually become, just a landmark in time.

This $1 trillion dollar cut won't happen for these reasons. I do believe Ron Paul is a good guy, but he gives Americans a lot of credit. I mean, I bet we could all do it... but I think that a bill should be passed to provide Federally funded education centers for learning skills such as mining, farming, welding, etc. In this way, America becomes much more educated and is able to provide more for itself. As well, Everyone has a chance because putting people way in debt to learn skills which are INCREDIBLY easy to learn (although not always easy to perform) is just silly in my opinion.

We got here because Americans sold themselves to the District (somewhat unknowingly) in exchange for more security and more entertainment and toys.

Oops.

Now we need to get rid of all of our petty stuffs and get back to the grind and focus more on living peacefully with eachother while vehemently fighting off all people who threaten our borders.

Of course if this ever happens, the world will demand reparations... and they will see us as weak because we chose this path and then they will taunt us and they will demand war and they will start it.

And then we will be forced to defend ourselves, bringing us back to square one economically and politically and socially... but atleast we are defending ourselves instead of pushing others around!

And if we believe in our newly found honest ways enough, we may be able to get forgiveness and win to defend ourselves and show the world how we can be incredibly imperfect but still resolve to have the accountability with eachother to push legislation intends for us to be better people instead of greedier and more selfish and more anxious people!

I don't ask for utopia - I just ask that we use our humanity more wisely. Of course there will always be problems... but atleast we held ourselves accountable so that we didn't have to worry about how the government is going to save a trillion dollars. I mean, really?

Our military has HOW many bases overseas? 176? Our military spending will have us broken and in ruins just as it broke the Soviets. Military spending won't change though, the purse strings are in the hands of the corporate elite of the military-industrial complex, and they will squeeze every last dollar out of the taxpayer.

All other spending pales in comparison, with one exception - Medicaid and Medicare - would cost a fraction if we could reign in health care costs with some sort of reform, at least get the costs in line with what's paid by the rest of the world, but even that is in the hands of the corporate elite.

The American Taxpayer has no voice left in this government.

The military could certainly make better use of the money it gets and penalize contractors for cost overruns and delays just as in the private sector.

They could also do things like buy Craftsmen Tools from Sears instead of thousand dollar screwdrivers. At Sears you get a lifetime guarantee and a whole set for fifty bucks.

No doubt much of their machinery needs specialized tools but they could speciify standardized tools when they order the equipment.

We could certainly pull out our bases in Germany. WWII is long over and the Germans aren't likely to start another one.

The discussion we really need to have in this country is do we really want to be a superpower considering the billions it has already cost us over the last 60 years or so?

Cutting a trillion out of the military now would be foolish when our troops in combat are having people send them special vests and they do not have enough trucks and other vehicles that can withstand those roadside bombs and are leaving so many men without legs or totally paralized.

Would rather see the military start cracking down on the waste and over-paying for things that they do and have them put the money in safety equipment and the VA Medical services for the veterans than to see it cut.

I too do not like knowing that so many of the young men become homeless when they return home and cannot find jobs. They should have priority in every company, especially those companies that claim they need all kinds of special Visas to bring in foreign workers. Let those companies hire veterans and train them to do the jobs.

And why aren't Franks and Paul insisting that everything the military buys be at least 75% American made? If they would do that, imagine the factories that would open to supply whatever is needed.

Ron Paul at least is consistent in his call for reduced spending for all government agencies. Franks is not. Franks would just take the trillion dollars and throw it away on some crazy entitlement program or down some black hole that no one can find. His whole thing is cut out their money and then spend it on what he wants.

Personally, I think that another good way to fix this deficit issue would be for all these political leaders coming up with these beautiful schemes to give up their retirement checks. They should work then wait till retirement and wait on Social Security like every body else.

Freaking politics. The keep getting their entire paycheck after retiring right?

You know how much money that would free up? Also, I'd bet my life that the age for you to qualify for Social Security would come down to like 50 instead of going up like they're planning on.

If I try to run for mayor in some town in Alaska like Levy (probably misspelled his name) Johnson (Palin's son in law) and won won I would get that check for the rest of my life, right? the guy hasn't even finished high school and I've been in the military for 14yrs.

I guess I'm over qualified compared to him. I bet I'd still loose due to the lack of money and CNN popularity.