Cheney on the relationship of Defense spending to the debt
I’m in the middle of Dick Cheney’s book “In My Time” that he discusses with US News in this link sent to us by ROS. He sets the example for future interviewees who think that trashing defense spending will ingratiate them with the media;
Are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributing to the deficit problem?
No, the debt problem that we’ve got is driven much more by entitlement programs than it is by defense spending. Now, you can occasionally find that savings in the defense budget, but it’s not going to be the kind of savings that are going to let you deal with a long-term debt problem.
See, that’s the problem…politicians and the retired generals who are eager to be popular with the media won’t dare mention entitlement spending by the government because the welfare queens and their defenders will spill out into the streets to protect their right to suckle the government teat.
That’s why I’m thinking a Bonus March on November 11th is looking good to me.
Category: Politics
Jefferson said that we should make the unemployed uncomfortable in their survival. If they are uncomfortable, then they will be more apt to look for work. He is probably rolling in his grave because of the “breeder bonus” that welfare gives women for having more children, among other programs.
SSI needs to be broken up, I can agree with a retirement fund you pay into, I can agree with a tax meant to help those that can not work due to injury, but they should not be together, and that money most certainly should not be treated as “revenue”
I don’t give a fat rat monkey’s ass what anyone says about Cheney, that man is walking around with a full chandelier of brass ones.
John,
Surely you don’t mean Dick “Deficits Don’t Matter” Cheney?
I’m inclined to agree with you that the deficit shouldn’t be balanced on the backs of veterans, or defense. And while Barack Obama has been a disaster in terms of the deficit — we’ve seen it quadruple since his election — at least we knew we’d see fiscal irresponsibility when we elected him. Bush and Cheney may not have been as bad in terms of raw dollars, but they were worse in the sense that they betrayed every notion of what it means to be a fiscal conservative when they were in office.
If Cheney and Bush hadn’t created their prescription drug entitlement during their administration, maybe we wouldn’t have so much pressure today to cut veterans programs in order to pay for it.
— Uber Pig
He’s absolutely correct, a point I’ve constantly made. I don’t have his book, since I have a few I haven’t gotten to yet. Maybe I’ll pick it up with Steyn’s new one next time I see it.