You hear that folks! Our bloated military budget is too big to cut!

I am so sick of these hypocrites:

U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-4th, is warning that potential cuts in defense spending would inflict mass destruction on the U.S. economy.

Forbes, whose district is anchored in South Hampton Roads where military installations dominate the economy, unveiled a web ad saying the zeal to cut the nation’s debt has left U.S. defense vulnerable.

www.politifact.com...

Yea, and this guy isn't alone in making these excuses, it's being used by many to excuse the
$700 billion military budget we have currently, the highest it's been since WW2. This was the same guy that voted against the stimulus that was to be used to maintain and save jobs, in particular, public jobs. I seriously wonder where this guy stood when education cuts were put on the table in Virginia in 2009 and 2010, well thank goodness of the internet:
www.politico.com...

Randy here is just an example of those who continue to support throwing billions upon billions into the military industrial complex, at our expense, at the gains of military profiteers, and beyond the need of our defense. Are we still in the cold war? Seriously? Are we still at war in Germany? What the hell does having foreign bases in South Korea, Germany, Britain among other countries have to do with our defense? What do these middle eastern wars have to do with our defense? We spend double the amount of that of the entire European Union on their own militaries, we assume nearly half of global expenditure. I mean seriously, how does one make up such nonsense and get away with it?

We have a bloated military, it is among the fundamental issues with government spending and this debt crises. I cannot believe that this is the excuse the political hacks can come up with, do they really think we're this ignorant? Well hold on, maybe this is one they they've got right. Mr Randy is not without his supporters, we've got plenty of folks willing to parrot his excuses.

reply to post by Southern Guardian


So now the Military Industry joins the banks as being "To Big To Fail" ??

Most would suggest they at least put an end to all the ridiculous costs like $28 Styrofoam plates etc but then their buddies would lose out..

reply to post by Southern Guardian


Heres what politifact had to say........all my facts in this post came from YOUR source

Forbes, in a web ad, says 1.53 million jobs would be lost if defense cuts hit $1 trillion. The congressman is clearly presenting a worst-case scenario, basing his figures on a statement by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The actual estimate by the Department of Defense -- which Forbes does not note -- is job loss between 1 million and 1.5 million. Other experts come up with smaller estimates, although their math does not always include all potential layoffs from reduced military -- such as local businesses, active duty members and the like. We don’t want to minimize the economic impact of $1 trillion in defense cuts. Forbes’ statement on the resulting job loss is credible, but very much on the high side estimates out there. We rate his claim Mostly True.

What does this have to do with our budget being too big to cut?

What he said was that it would lead to a huge loss in jobs..........which it would and their facts at politifact found to be accurate as well......

So you guys are complaining about there not being jobs, yet you want to eliminate 1million?

Hmmmmmm

Nice spin there buddy

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask

So you guys are complaining about there not being jobs, yet you want to eliminate 1million?

Well maybe some of the money saved could be used to create more jobs rebuilding America rather than being used by the Military to destroy other countries.

We could fix this mess of a country if we brought the troops home, cut the budget, rebuilt our industry, and actually cared about our infrastructure and people.

Or we can just keep bombing six plus countries and preparing for World War 3.

I'd rather do the former, than the latter.

This is all leftover fodder from the Bush years. It will take years to draw down the military. The same thing happened after Bush Sr.. We had to elect Clinton to get our country back on track and draw down the military as well as ending the war in Iraq and bringing the troops home.

Once these politician get their hands on military funding they never relinquish their desire for more. These greedy pricks can only think about themselves and their desire to buy more hookers or take vacations in Singapore so they can buy little boys. Once they get the money rolling in from contractors and appropriations bills there is a honey pot they can draw from at any time and they get hooked.

Meanwhile the VA has to tell vets they can't help them and their hospitals get run down and are barely safe to house wounded soldiers coming back from the Middle East. Soldiers don't make enough money to save anything for when they get out and usually have a side job to cover living expenses. This leads to a lot of crooked supply guys who rip off the military to pad their pockets. Then after they leave the military they go to work for the companies they dealt with before and find new military guys to give them contracts etc.

Our economy would spring right back if Ron Paul was elected. Once he cleaned house and brought the troops home the economy would start to boom. Who really cares that a bunch of crying politicians are losing their honey pot? Why do these corrupt assclowns get away with stealing from our coffers every day? Because we allow it. We sit by and watch them do it never lifting a finger to stop them.

Now there are protesters worldwide bringing these issues and many others to light for those less aware of the real happenings in government and the business world. Corruption is out of control. Corporations run govt agencies without any worry of being found out. They openly flaunt their influence by buying judges, getting their ruling and then hiring the judge as a consultant when he quits.

If you are tired like most of us maybe it is time you joined the movement to clean house and get control back before it is too late.

Originally posted by thejlxc
We could fix this mess of a country if we brought the troops home, cut the budget, rebuilt our industry, and actually cared about our infrastructure and people.
Or we can just keep bombing six plus countries and preparing for World War 3.
I'd rather do the former, than the latter.

Or it may sound a little silly but how about using the "Defense Force" to defend the borders???

You know, what they're actually supposed to be doing..

Originally posted by backinblack

Originally posted by thejlxc
We could fix this mess of a country if we brought the troops home, cut the budget, rebuilt our industry, and actually cared about our infrastructure and people.
Or we can just keep bombing six plus countries and preparing for World War 3.
I'd rather do the former, than the latter.

Or it may sound a little silly but how about using the "Defense Force" to defend the borders???

You know, what they're actually supposed to be doing..

Now THAT I agree with.........

But you have to undersetand its not just THAT area of the troops that they are talking about.......there are many many jobs that are here on the homefront that would be effected..........

I agree with allocating it all , however, to come back stateside

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask


Personally I'd say cutting the budget and bringing home a majority of the troops would lead to "short term" pain but "long term" gain...

These scaremongers are using the short term view to instill fear into the people..

None seem to address the long term advantages..

reply to post by backinblack


Well, bringing them home would itself cut a huge amount out of that spending........how much i dont really know, might be an interesting number to find out.....

The other issue is we dont knwo where a lot of this money is going, thats not an excuse its just a simple truth........theres so much damn money allocated through different channels for black projects no body knows about, how would one even begin

Heroin: once you start buying and consuming it, it makes you feel on top of the world, powerful. You get addicted at the beginning, and you start to hook your friends to buy it from you after you've added a margin, and you both eventually steal and then sell anything you can from your neignbors, to keep the supply of your addiction substance flowing.

Military Supremacy: see above

Originally posted by backinblack

Originally posted by thejlxc
We could fix this mess of a country if we brought the troops home, cut the budget, rebuilt our industry, and actually cared about our infrastructure and people.
Or we can just keep bombing six plus countries and preparing for World War 3.
I'd rather do the former, than the latter.

Or it may sound a little silly but how about using the "Defense Force" to defend the borders???

You know, what they're actually supposed to be doing..

I may not have said that outright, but I certainly feel that way about it. bringing the troops homes implies we need them at home. Anyways...

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
What does this have to do with our budget being too big to cut?

This is exactly what Mr Forbes is implying, that cutting the $700 billion military budget would cost the economy and jobs, in otherwords, as with the bank bailouts, the military is too big to fail. It isn't hard to understand.

So you guys are complaining about there not being jobs, yet you want to eliminate 1million?

Since when was cutting the military automatically cutting jobs? What, we can't cut the military without cutting jobs? Is this your excuse? So then when we add billions more to our already bloated budget over the next a couple of years, this will be your continued excuse?

Looking at another fact to this, you want the government to maintain these soliders, some of whom will be sent to wars in anycase that have nothing to do with our defense? But these are 'jobs' to you right? And unlike the major cuts to teachers and fireman in this country, we should maintain the jobs where your life is expendable to uncle sam and the private profiteers?

There are just so many things I can point out that's wrong about the comment from Mr Forbes and yourself, but really, I am just, for the most part, speechless. I can't believe these are the excuses you people have.

'spin' you say.

reply to post by Southern Guardian


I'm under the impression that current terrorists are idiots. Here's an article I found a while back.
cracked
The articles on this site tends to be creditable, you can run individual segments through google (or respectable search engine of choice) for a good cross-reference.

Point being.....Why are we spending as much as we did on ww2 on a war that should take less fire power? Don't they do a better than average job of thinning themselves out? Angry bird logic just dosn't work in real life..''Lose 3 eggs...risk entire species in suicidal attacks.''

reply to post by PutAQuarterIn

Why are we spending as much as we did on ww2 on a war that should take less fire power?

Why risk a couple of soldiers with guns when you can send in a drone and launch a $100K missile?

After all, those wedding parties can be dangerous.

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
reply to post by Southern Guardian

 

Heres what politifact had to say........all my facts in this post came from YOUR source

Forbes, in a web ad, says 1.53 million jobs would be lost if defense cuts hit $1 trillion. The congressman is clearly presenting a worst-case scenario, basing his figures on a statement by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The actual estimate by the Department of Defense -- which Forbes does not note -- is job loss between 1 million and 1.5 million. Other experts come up with smaller estimates, although their math does not always include all potential layoffs from reduced military -- such as local businesses, active duty members and the like. We don’t want to minimize the economic impact of $1 trillion in defense cuts. Forbes’ statement on the resulting job loss is credible, but very much on the high side estimates out there. We rate his claim Mostly True.

What does this have to do with our budget being too big to cut?

What he said was that it would lead to a huge loss in jobs..........which it would and their facts at politifact found to be accurate as well......

So you guys are complaining about there not being jobs, yet you want to eliminate 1million?

Hmmmmmm

Nice spin there buddy

edit on 1-11-2011 by ManBehindTheMask because: (no reason given)

I am wholly against creating new payer funded jobs for our government to put people to work. That being said, I am 100% for cutting the military's bloated budget of murder and empire-building, and shuffling those jobs to existing departments for a net zero loss or gain in job positions. Positions in other departments is a helluva lot better than a military protecting our interests in...say...Bulgaria. Or Japan. Yeah, we're safe from Bulgaria and Japan! Don't you feel safe?

We have military installations in over 100 countries. We artificially prop up their economies, spending millions, or billions, a year just for the privilege of keeping a base there. What do we get for it? Why, we get no money at home to help our own starving families! We're more than happy to spend $350 billion or so keeping Bulgaria's families safe and well-fed, but when it comes to our own citizens? Screw 'em, I guess.

My government sickens me. Good thread, SG. You and I butt heads all the time, but on this we have a common cause.

/TOA

reply to post by Southern Guardian

Since when was cutting the military automatically cutting jobs? What, we can't cut the military without cutting jobs? Is this your excuse? So then when we add billions more to our already bloated budget over the next a couple of years, this will be your continued excuse?

How about the fact that your own article confirmed this...........i guess you didnt want to add that to your post tho did you

The reason is because America is nothing more than a war economy, and war economies must keep themselves in a state of perpetual war to thrive...any real industry you have is linked to the military industrial complex. The American people are still overwhelmingly pro war and pro military almost to the point of fanaticism , even though the American military is utterly useless against the powerful countries of the world. America could and should cut the budget by 60/70%, but that would horrify most Americans even though you would still be spending more than any other country in the world.

Cutting jobs related to the military would be no great loss as very little of what they produce actually becomes a net export. Forbes is just the latest John Warner Republican wannabe milking the usual scare tactics so he can keep his seat.
Losing defense-related jobs would only be a temporary set back but would free up capital to stimulate productive jobs that would increase our GDP rather than be a drain on it.
Sorry Tidewater, your gravy train has to end sometime and stop making the rest of the state pay for your transportation and water problems while you're at it. Forbe's district as well as Northern Virgina have long been taking the lion's share of state revenues while the rest of my state languishes.

if you take away all are gadgets and gizmos the CIA will downgrade the U.S. military from AAA+ to B-. But seriously they'll just cut some of the military to just enough to "protect" the country and privatize the rest.