Is there a war going on?
Defense News reports that the Office of Management and Budget and the White have ordered the Department of Defense to cut $78 billion dollars from it’s annual budget over the next 5 years, including $12 million from this year’s budget.
Has anyone ever heard of a nation that cuts it’s defense spending while it’s fighting a war?
It remains unclear how that $78 billion will break down over those five years.
OMB and Pentagon officials late last week were using a defense top-line figure for 2011 that was included in a since-nixed Senate omnibus appropriations bill to plan a 2012 spending level.
That massive spending measure would have provided the Pentagon with $667.7 billion for 2011, including war funding – some $10 billion below the Pentagon’s request.
The now-nixed omnibus bill’s defense section called included $157.8 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, leaving $509.9 billion for most other U.S. military expenditures, but excluding things like nuclear weapons, military construction and other military initiatives funded by other budget bills.
Yeah, well, I have a pretty good idea where those cuts will happen. They always target personnel costs, mostly retirees and health care. Congress always avoids cutting aircraft manufacturing or ship building because of the impact that would have on local unemployment. It’s always easier to cut off retirees and jack up our “free medical” costs.
I hope the VSOs are paying attention.
Category: Veterans Issues
Yea, Congress cut off all funding for the Vietnam war thus selling out the South Vietnamese. Couldn’t handle the heat from the hippies who are now running this country. Its all about votes don’t you know and their Marxist buddies.
Merry F-ing Christmas to us I guess….
Let’s see, they extend unemployment benefits, again, spend an untold extra amount for FLOTUS to leave for their vacation ahead of Bobo, etc., but we need to concentrate on cutting the military budget in the middle of a war……………yeah, that makes sense.
What has the removal of combat troops from Iraq done to the costs we were incurring daily with that theatre of operation? I mean, I know we still have 50k troops that are stationed in that area, but what did supporting the mission require?
U.S. SPENDING IN IRAQ
Spent & Approved War-Spending – About $900 billion of US taxpayers’ funds spent or approved for spending through November 2010.
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq – $9 billion of US taxpayers’ money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors.
Missing – $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)
Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq – $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported – $1.4 billion
Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items – $20 billion
Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem “questionable or supportable” – $3.2 billion
U.S. 2009 Monthly Spending in Iraq – $7.3 billion as of Oct 2009
U.S. 2008 Monthly Spending in Iraq – $12 billion
So if we remove Iraq, thats 7 BILLION a month. Looks like we could reduce that 78 billion in a year?
Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq – $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)
So while you all jump at the first sign of a reduction in spending, you dont look at ways that are in the pipeline already to do so.
In the same breath, yes, we need to reduce the social support structure that so many millions of Americans are reliant on, but we’ll get to that in time, someone had to get hit first.
http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm
It is a tried and true measure that the Dems follow, when there’s no money for all their handout programs they take that money from the evil nasty military which of course wastes that money on nasty war.
here’s a thought, How about instead of taking funds from the DoD, we take money from the Department of Education, Department of Energy, hell while were at it why don’t we cut ALL foreign aide. I know a couple of billion that goes to the UN that is being wasted. we could cut a couple of programs that are nanny state bs. But I guess it doesn’t matter.
Look at all the ridiculous and unnecessary crap they’ve pissed away our money on in the last 2 years, and these idiots decide to make a huge cut in the very LAST place they should be making cuts! I swear it’s like we’re in a parallel backwards opposite universe!
It is my firm belief that they will slash money from the DOD budgets to make it unattractive for recruits to enlist as living conditions decline. Thus, when the services can’t meet their recruiting goals, the Liberal Left will be able to thump their chests righteously and shout, “See? See? The war is unpopular!” They will claim that they did their best by repealing DADT and replacing inept commanders with people who have succeeded. They will claim that the best potential troops have shied away from service and the recruits the services are getting are simply trying to escape lousy social and home lives.
They can than claim that we need to spend more on those BS social programs that created a couch-potato entitlement generation while lives are being needlessly lost in the rocks and hills of Afghanistan or the deserts of Iraq and use that as an excuse to abandon yet more of our allies (i.e. South Korea).
This is all conjecture on my part but add up their past actions and you can see where my concerns come from.
Thanks BMore, for pointing out that it was the evil Darth Cheney and Halliburton who ran the war, and profited from it. I would have not even guessed that Darth, as I call him, would be involved in the war, unless the liberals told me it was so.
Here’s just a hint for ya, quoting as “fact”, something from a site like usliberals isn’t doing a whole lot to advance your point, whatever it is. Especially when they quote such impeccable sources as CBS News, and a dem controlled congress and the morons who chaired the committees and sub-committees.
Personally, Doc Bailey has a great idea, eliminate the Dept’s of Education, Commerce, Energy, Agriculture, the EPA, and our subsidy to the UN, and foreign aid, and pretty soon we’d be saving lots of money, and Bmore’s wet dream of a president wouldn’t have to go after the military and it’s retirees.
Personally, Doc Bailey has a great idea, eliminate the Dept’s of Education, Commerce, Energy, Agriculture, the EPA, and our subsidy to the UN, and foreign aid, and pretty soon we’d be saving lots of money,… ========== Exactly. Remove all the unnecessary waste and government overreach and we could actually have money available for necessities. But that’s what the Left (the Democrat Party, RINOs and DIABLOs) does. They spend all this money on pork projects and f–k up good programs with waste and corruption, that they then have little left over for necessary projects. They then turn around and play the “you want to let children go hungry and homeless and the elderly die (by not funding these projects)!?” And the Republicans are put in a bind. It would be like a family spending 75% of their budget on unnecessary items like HD TVs, expensive shoes and clothes, etc and then turning around and complaining, poor them, they don’t have enough money left over for food and to pay the rent and heating bills, etc. If one replies that they’re not going to give them money for their house, food and heat, because the family DID have enough money, but wasted it, it comes across as cold and heartless. And that is the exact situation the Left sets up for itself. It wastes billions of dollars on unnecessary items, then comes back and demands money for necessary items and dares fiscal conservatives to deny the funding. If we took away the pork from the Left, we’d actually be able to have a mature, intellectual discussion about how to spend taxpayer money properly. But the Left will never allow that to happen. The only recourse we have is to kick every last Democrat, RINO and DIABLO out of office and get responsible elected officials in office. But that depends on the general public actually understanding that it needs to be done. The Left has done their best over the last few decades to make sure to indoctrinate and dumb-down the general public through schools, universities, Hollywood, MF-ing media, etc so that the… Read more »
And keep in mind that the VFW PAC was supporting the very people who want to eviscerate said benefits for veterans and retirees. I know August is a long way away, but we also need to make the VSOs know (especially the VFW) that the support they’ve thrown to liberal politicians has come back to bite them squarely in the ass.
…but we also need to make the VSOs know…
I think the first order of business should be to find out whether or not the national VSOs have turned into national DSOs (Democrat Service Organizations). In other words, find out if the behavior of the national VFW this past year was simply a mistake or was deliberate, based on the national organization being led by liberal Democrat supporters, instead of those looking out for the best interests of Veterans.
The sad fact is that Liberal democrats will never support the military. If they had their way we would remain just like their primary voting bloc, poor and stupid. Its a really bad idea because this day in age the Private almost has to be an instant expert in so many tasks that its unreal. It’s not just “go and kill X” or “Take and hold objective” now its nebulous political commands like “improve relations” or “increase confidence in local populace”. I’d need a god damned PHD to figure those out.
Also, just a thought, Bernie Madoff went to Jail for a Ponzi Scheme. SS (Social Security, not to be confused with Shultzshtiffel, though it feels like it sometimes) is perhaps the longest running Ponzi scheme I’ve ever heard of. FDR’s dead so would that mean anyone who voted for SS should go to Jail?
I got a great idea, CUT EVERY department BUT the DoD and VA, then see just how much money you suddenly find that’s being wasted.
FDR’s dead so would that mean anyone who voted for SS should go to Jail?
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How about this “compromise” (since the Left is always talking about how great “compromise” is these days)…
Go back to find the video of one of President Bush’s speeches where he talked about his failure to get SS reformed. After he made that comment, I think all the Democrats stood up and uproariously cheered their accomplishment of blocking reform.
Identify every member who stood up to cheer and arrest them immediately and throw them in the same prison as Madoff.