US Military Preparing to take Gut Shot

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Published: Thursday, 24 January 2013 13:26

24 January 2013

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  • This commment is unpublished.
    TJ · 6 years ago
    I have direct experience with the Army Corps of Engineers spending great gobs of money buying unnecessary equipment just so it wouldn't be cut from the next year's budget. As an engineer myself, I expect better from my co-professionals.
  • This commment is unpublished.
    Muna · 6 years ago
    thanks for sharing...am passing along to my Army Reserve daughter....wow
  • This commment is unpublished.
    woodNfish · 6 years ago
    Our military is so blaoted and top-heavy that you could cut 25% and it will not make adifference. In fact we should do that not only to the military, but the entire federal government, and then another 25% every year for five years.
  • This commment is unpublished.
    RogerDane · 6 years ago
    Sent the PDF to many. America is slowly being eroded from within by an Administration that wishes our demise. While we "do" spend way too much in many government institutions I would rather spend it on the Military than on the NEA or PBS or the various boards of education which produce little.
    • This commment is unpublished.
      Alex · 6 years ago
      Right, what good did education ever do for anyone?

      In all seriousness though, the US spent something like $680 billion on the military in 2011. That's more than the GDP (well, GSP) of Florida, the fourth biggest state (by economy) in the union, or about 20% of the federal budget. It seems indefensible to me that any government serious about shrinking the size of the country's debt (and the size of government in general) wouldn't at least look at controlling military expenditures.
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    Barney Brenner · 6 years ago
    Two of the most important functions of our federal government are national defense preparedness and border protection & security -- and they have become two functions which have been steadfastly undermined. It's a tragedy and an almost inevitable impending disaster.
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    Sandy · 6 years ago
    Times are tough and our military spending should not be a "golden calf" in terms of cuts. DoD must become better stewards of the taxpayer money and congress must be held accountable to ensure effective cuts are made.

    Sorry Mike, I don't really see a huge issue with this. Unfortunately, these cuts will not even make a dent in our expenditures as it does not address the absurd amount of money being allocated to our current entanglements over seas.

    I say make real cuts and bring our troops home. This will allow us to focus more on defense rather than occupation and regime change.

    Spending by our federal government must re-evaluated and military spending should not be omiited from the chopping block.
    • This commment is unpublished.
      Barney Brenner · 6 years ago
      It's true that "these cuts will not even make a dent in our expenditures."
      But these overseas entanglements are an order of magnitude less than the only place we can "make real cuts" -- in the trillions we take from those that work for it in order to give it to those that don't.
      Unfortunately, the number of categories which fit that description has expanded in recent years.
      • This commment is unpublished.
        Alex · 6 years ago
        Social security costs roughly as much as the military (20% of federal expenditures, or around $700 billion a year). I don't know how old you are, but it's likely that when you retire it'll be a much larger portion due to the ageing of the population. Am I to assume you won't be accepting social security once you start taking out more than you put in? How about Medicare?
        Of course you will have paid into that system all your life by the time you retire. But that's exactly the point - those trillions of dollars are, for the most part, going to people just like you and me, not to some welfare queens that never really existed in the first place.
        • This commment is unpublished.
          Wayne · 6 years ago
          No, that money that was paid in for 50 years was stolen and dissipated through many wasteful, unrelated programs.
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            Alex · 6 years ago
            That's a great comeback, except it's not true.
            The money for Social Security comes primarily from payroll taxes and interest. It is separate from other revenue sources in the government, and hasn't been "raided" for money and never will be.
            The problem faced by the fund is demographic. To date more money has been put into social security than taken out but at a point in the near future more will be taken out than put in because of all the retiring baby boomers. People are living longer and a smaller portion of the population is working age. As a result, in order to keep social security solvent the government will eventually have to make changes, like raising retirement age or payroll taxes.

            I'm not saying there isn't waste in the government - there obviously is, including (and perhaps especially) in the military. But that's only indirectly linked to social security, which is itself fairly efficient: collect money from people when they're young and working, give it back to them when they're old and retired.
            • This commment is unpublished.
              MsTaxpayer · 6 years ago
              If the Social Security fund is not being "raided", then why does the administration constantly want to cut Social Security? Or to not send out Social Security if the debt ceiling is not raised?

              The fact of the matter is that it is not that "a smaller portion of the population is working age" but rather that a smaller portion of the population is WILLING to work. Food Stamps and TANF have become a way of life for too many, that it is "owed" to them because they had a child.

              Government assistance is not "owed" to any. I can accept Social Security paid to those who have worked their whole lives and paid into the program. Even Social Security Disability to those who have a true disability. However, paying $600+ a month to someone who says they cannot work because they are "too emotional" is irrational and illogical. It must stop.

              Lastly, why are we cutting the budget to our military? When we weaken our military we leave ourselves open for invasion and future atrocities. Where the money must truly be cut from is the Congressional and Senate budgets. Being asked to serve as a representative for either Congress or the Senate was a honor not a job, so why are we paying hundreds of thousand of dollars to people who only work for a few months an then go home on vacation for a few months. These same men and women that we pay so much salary to are not working for the good of the people, they are working for their best interest and rarely does that even include their own state!
              • This commment is unpublished.
                Alex · 6 years ago
                You have it backwards - Social Security and other government pension plans are exhausting their funds (due to demographics and poorer than expected returns on investments). The government isn't raiding pension funds, it is being expected to come and bail them out with other tax money, and because unfunded pension liabilities add up to huge amounts of money for the government, they are looking for ways to make it work economically. That means cutting benefits, increasing payroll taxes, raising retirement age etc. It is unpleasant, but necessary to avoid collapse, and it's a similar situation in most other ageing Western societies.

                Don't get me wrong, I think becoming a welfare state is a very real and dangerous trap for a society to fall into, although I think most Americans would still much rather work than rely on welfare. That's besides the point of this discussion, however, because Social Security isn't welfare, it's a pension, and it isn't floundering because of welfare but because of its own issues.
  • This commment is unpublished.
    Daniel M. Ward · 6 years ago
    Last week I saw a copy of the same kind of letter put out by the C of S and the Secretary of the Air Force. Except for the service specific jargon, you could have held both the Army's and Air Force's "risk mitigation" guidance up to the light and got a match.

    It is imperative that the Congress return/be returned back to "regular order" and start producing budgets, instead of going from crisis to crisis and smoke filled room deals by a cabal of Executive and Legislative Branch VIPs. Unless we have unlimited resources and funds, there will always be risk at a certain threshold. But now it looks like the threshold is dropping even lower due to Presidential and Congressional (Senate) mismanagement or no management at all of the budget process. This appears to be deliberate to cause reaction rather than deliberate well conceived action.
  • This commment is unpublished.
    Michael Eyles · 6 years ago
    On top of all this about budgets, the military is now ordered to intergrate women into combat positions along side of the men. If this happens the line unit's efectiveness will be reduced until an equalibrium is reached. It is certain to raise the cost in order to facilitate the special requirements of women in combat. The social problems will be enormous as well. This is madness!!
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    in_awe · 6 years ago
    The math at the federal level is pretty straightforward:

    $2.47 Trillion - Total Revenues Fiscal 2012
    $2.50 Trillion - Total Non-Discretionary spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Interest on the debt, etc.)
    $0.03 Trillion shortfall

    $1.30 Trillion - Total Discretionary spending (Defense/CIA/FBI [$840B), Justice, Education, Commerce, EPA,... all other federal government agencies and programs)

    This entire $1.3 Trillion must be borrowed to run the government. If you confiscate 100% of all taxable income from those earning $1M or more it would yield $0.6 Trillion - less than half of the annual shortfall.

    The future of the nation rests in the hands of the partisan hacks in Washington who refuse to address the principal issue: entitlements. As the boomers retire the spending in those categories will soar. We are facing an existential battle and the media is talking about Lance Armstrong, fictitious girlfriends of college athletes, lip synching and what fabulous clothes Michelle wore.

    Good Lord!

    Check out more on this topic at http://patterico.com/2013/01/22/the-budget-numbers-that-people-on-the-left-dont-seem-to-understand/comment-page-4/#comment-1151823 and be sure to watch the embedded video. For an older take on this watch Bill Whittle's video "Eat the Rich" at
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ&list=PLABCC53F051B98328&index=27

    (Sorry if this double posted - the original post never appeared)
  • This commment is unpublished.
    Patti M. · 6 years ago
    "...provide for the common defense...and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity." What could be more clear and more compelling than this?
  • This commment is unpublished.
    Paul L · 6 years ago
    I ran across this a few days ago, on how this memo is indicative of what's actually been going on. Thought it fairly pertinent with several good points on this topic, though a bit strident. Cheers,

    http://retrophoebia.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/military-funding-and-effects/
  • This commment is unpublished.
    Meghan · 6 years ago
    Having just obtained a job with the DoD in Hawaii with the army, it will be interesting to watch first hand how the money is spent inside the organization. Every supervisor I have encountered has told me how lucky I was to be hired, since it is becoming a rarity for a civilians to be hired. They think I'm the last for awhile.
  • This commment is unpublished.
    max · 6 years ago
    til I looked at the bank draft ov $9802, I didnt believe that my mother in law could truly receiving money parttime on their laptop.. there uncles cousin had bean doing this for less than twelve months and just now paid for the loans on there place and bought a top of the range Lancia. I went here, http://fly26.com :-x :-x
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