Defense budget time is due
Gordon Adams via Capital Gains and Games takes a look at the military side of the budget that is being sidestepped by most in the deficit spending whirlwind of claims and political negotiations happening on Capitol hill.
Gordon Adams via Capital Gains and Games takes a look at the military side of the budget that is being sidestepped by most in the deficit spending whirlwind of claims and political negotiations happening on Capitol hill.
In yesterday’s issue of the 2012 President’s budget the empire and its war machine get at least 19.27% of outlays. In Germany it is less than 4% of outlays.
Social security outlays are 20.02%.
If the empire were on paygo it would take nearly 13% tax on all income earned up to $100,000.
How about a means test to justify spending $290B on F-35 fighter aircraft? Or even better if they are late to a test, which they always are and the test is rigged score it a fail and send the thing to the poor house like any American.
The attached chart is from the 14 Feb 2011 President’s Buget Table 8-8, in constant dollars the US has been spending as much or more than during Vietnam and the Reagan star wars build up, the US should cut the war machine in half as during Carter years when there was a lot of pay down of the debt and response to oil shocks.
I would cut 66%.
ilsm,
I have also read the proposed Federal Budget. I would like to see your specific line item list of DoD cuts that would supposedly reach 66%.
It’s easy to do the talk and magically arrive at a 66% cut for a single year’s fiscal budget. It’s quite another exercise to lay it out line by line and program by program.
Good luck laying it out.
ILSM, forgot something? “The attached chart is from the 14 Feb 2011 President’s Buget Table 8-8,…”
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/obama-happy-to-cut-broad-range-of-services-to-preserve-pentagon-pork.html
http://www.cdi.org/pdfs/TPL_Essay9_2.9.11.pdf
A labryrinth of spending where lots of money is unaccounted for (1 trillion in the last decade?) and the gordian knot of loyalties, company needs, and bureacratic inertia make for a juggernaut for anyone to tackle…no one I have read about in decision making jobs seems to have succeeded…
but if the fed deficit is dangerous, where do you start?
Cut across the board and let the program specialist decides which parts should be salvaged. Then let their managers decide shich programs should be salvaged. Then review Agend/Department functions to determine which functions should be salvaged. Finally review those functions relative to their agency/department homes to determine which should be salvaged.
In the end we have a more efficient and effective, lower cost government.
Do this three times with a goal of blaancing the budget with enough excess to cover any debt interest shocks. The politics and economics will resolve themselves in that process.
The current “primary deficit” target is a smoke screen ignoring one of the critical tipping point, debt interest, of potential economic collapse. Because debt interest is the last remaining budget line item still requiring borrowing, it seems to be paying interest on one credit card by borrowing from another. The better approach should have been to lower the balances on the cards to reduce that need to borrow.
We have common borders with Canada and Mexico. Canada is America on prozac, and there fore constitutes no threat. Mexico will never be able to split the atom or get more then two chevies to the Alamo. Cut fat and sinew and America will still be safe from everybody except it’s own government.
This is a ridiculous analogy ignoring the fact that the government controls money supply.
This is a ridiculous analogy ignoring the fact that the government controls money supply.
This is a ridiculous analogy ignoring the fact that the government controls money supply.