White House details ‘destructive’ spending cuts, page 4

On taxes; the wealthiest Americans enjoy the lowest "actual" tax burden inmodern US history. A look at what these same people paid in the 1950s and 60s is an eye opener as is a look at the gap between the average and the rich then and now. Guess what......that income gap has grown exponentially while tax burdens have collapsed to less than 1/3 of what they were.

On education; most loans are paid back on time. The ones that aren't usually get paid back through confiscation of tax returns. That said, as someone involved in this realm I must say we can do a lot to cut student loans without hurting those students who are most likely to turn out to be a good investment for taxpayers. First, private for profit colleges produce students with loan defaults double what non-profit schools produce. Degrees from these schools are hardly worth the paper they are printed on, yet cost as much as public university degrees.

Also, the performance requirements for students to keep their aid is rather low. The government prefers to cut how much money students get instead of how many students get aid. Mediocre students are much more likely to default than good students. It's clear why. Good students have a clear understanding of where they want to go and they work hard to get there. Mediocre students are more interested in their social lives. The government should demand a 3.0 GPA for students to get loans. This should apply to incoming students as well. A large percentage (20-30% at many universities) of freshmen never make it to their sophomore year. Their debts to us, while smaller than a graduates', default pretty much every time. 3.0 GPA in high school or no loans in college until you have earned a 3.0 GPA in college. An educated populace is crucial for our long term prosperity.

On military spending. A quick look at military spending in 2000 and today shows that even after inflation is considered our defense spending has ballooned by near 200 billion a YEAR. Surely our military can handle some cuts without it impacting our ability to defend our nation. Are we 200 billion dollars more powerful today than 12 years ago? No we are not. That extra money has been buying things like fuel, MRAPS, uparmored HUMVs, transportation through Pakistan for supplies, and so on. No significant manpower increases or primary combat systems have been gained. There are not more tanks, or APCs, or artillery pieces, or helicopters. There is a bunch of new equipment built just for these wars that wouldn't be as effective in conventional war. MRAPS and bomb disposal robots wouldn't be too useful against China in the Pacific.

Our military is slightly larger than it was before 9/11, but not significantly. Recruitment goals have largely been set to maintain our force size. Recruitment has declined because soldiers are choosing to reenlist. A bad economy and pay raises for soldiers has caused this.

"Defense spending" really means "Offensive capability to control the geopolitics of the world". It's probably stupid for a declining superpower to maintain the ability to wage war a hundred miles of Chinas coast to defend a tiny island based on defending an ideology that even we do not abide today. It costs us too much to invade little countries on the other side of the world to maintain our sway and keep oil in our corporations hands.

In the end the question arises does it even matter anymore? We are 16 trillion in debt, the FED has loaned out another 16 trillion besides that. QE is debasing our currency and destroying the middle class. The economy is in shambles with no clear path to regaining its' strength. Where will we find millions of jobs? Not in manufacturing. Not in construction either because construction isn't a primary source of job creation, but is secondary. It piggybacks on prosperity. When prosperity rises so does construction. When prosperity falls so does construction. Our economy has been gutted by failed policies over the last two decades by both democrats and republicans.

It is telling how many of you (not all) can't get outside of your ideological boxes. You have bought your party platform hook line and sinker. You have drawn lines in the sand and made compromise and progress impossible.....just like your overlords wanted. Both parties have ruined this nation and neither is our salvation. So lose the false ideologies because they are both internally inconsistent and they both serve to put us into bondage, albeit of differing flavors. When you say " I stand for personal freedom.....except when it involves this", or "The government has no business sticking its' nose into this, but it must dictate that", you have already proven yourself to be ideologically inconsistent. Both parties are guilty as hell.

edit on 16-9-2012 by Erectus because: spelling correction

edit on 16-9-2012 by Erectus because: (no reason given)