Valguarnera | Thu 19-Jul-07 11:22 AM |
Member since 04th Mar 2003
6904 posts
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#1183, "RE: Defense spending: Ayup"
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They really are a very, very small percentage of the tax money that gets spent, if you ignore healthcare (which is a huge, nebulous topic that warrants its own discussion irrespective of this discussion).
But I'm not willing to ignore health care in a discussion of poverty in the US. Social Security is also a safety net program with an enormous impact.
But yes, defense is the big one. The FY2008 request is calling for $440B for DoD, $36B for Veterans' Affairs, $31B for DHS, and a number of agencies (intel, etc.) spend part of their budget on national defense. Total budget request is $871B in discretionary spending, so the above is nearly 60% of that.
Education? $54B. NSF? $6B. HUD? $33B. DOT? $13B. State, including diplomacy? $34B.
A reasonable reduction in defense spending would be enough to make huge changes in those fields. Honestly, from the moment the Berlin Wall came down, we should have been thinking of only two facets:
1) Prepare for asymmetric warfare. Reduce the purchase of fighter planes, submarines, and other expensive items which are only useful against conventional militaries. No conventional military in the world wants to fight us. We outspend the next 10 combined. Prepare for the kinds of fighting we saw in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan-- large numbers of low-tech guerillas operating in decentralized units. Lots of those people want to fight us. Focus on rapid force projection, intelligence, and counterinsurgency work. Minimize how much we actually fight by only intervening when necessary, and involving other powers wherever practical. Diplomacy is cheaper than fighting anyway-- enough of this cowboy ####, and knock off the "Axis of Evil"-type rhetoric. Even if you do want to swat someone, running your mouth only makes you look unnecessarily aggressive and threatening, and if you don't swat them you've just made extra enemies for free.
2) Maintain enough of the nuclear deterrent. We don't need quite so many missiles as we have, but there is a political utility to having the ability to obliterate any state actor who posed a real threat to America, even if we don't intend to use it.
I'd bet you could do both of the above, cut the defense budget 25% in the short term, 50% in the long term, and still maintain global military dominance.
I suspect some reduction will happen during the next administration, which is why I made it a point in my recent job negotiations to switch some of my portfolio towards supervising energy-related projects (solar/PV, most likely) instead of purely defense-related stuff.
valguarnera@carrionfields.com
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Freedom in the USA.
[View all] , Eskelian, Tue 17-Jul-07 06:42 PM
Great Discussion,
Kastellyn,
23-Jul-07 01:02 PM, #60
RE: Great Discussion,
Eskelian,
27-Jul-07 04:19 PM, #62
RE: Quitting your job:,
Valguarnera,
18-Jul-07 01:25 PM, #10
RE: Quitting your job:,
Tac,
18-Jul-07 02:02 PM, #12
RE: Quitting your job:,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:35 AM, #26
RE: Quitting your job:,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:33 AM, #25
RE: Quitting your job:,
Zesam,
20-Jul-07 07:12 AM, #47
RE: Quitting your job:,
Eskelian,
20-Jul-07 10:22 AM, #48
Your major omission is:,
Valguarnera,
20-Jul-07 11:03 AM, #49
RE: Your major omission is:,
Eskelian,
21-Jul-07 02:35 AM, #53
RE: Your major omission is:,
Daevryn,
21-Jul-07 08:24 AM, #56
Taxes are fungible in practice.,
Valguarnera,
21-Jul-07 09:15 AM, #57
RE: US Citizen and their government,
Zesam,
20-Jul-07 07:10 PM, #50
RE: US Citizen and their government,
Eskelian,
21-Jul-07 02:37 AM, #54
There is no freedom in US,
Dwoggurd,
17-Jul-07 10:19 PM, #2
RE: There is no freedom in US,
Isildur,
18-Jul-07 06:13 PM, #16
Can't you get one at any point?,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 08:10 AM, #20
RE: Can't you get one at any point?,
Isildur,
19-Jul-07 10:14 AM, #33
RE: Can't you get one at any point?,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 10:20 AM, #34
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Khasotholas,
17-Jul-07 08:47 PM, #1
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Eskelian,
17-Jul-07 10:47 PM, #3
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Khasotholas,
18-Jul-07 06:36 AM, #4
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Eskelian,
18-Jul-07 08:26 AM, #5
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Tac,
18-Jul-07 09:00 AM, #6
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Khasotholas,
18-Jul-07 10:12 AM, #7
RE: Freedom in the USA.,
Eskelian,
18-Jul-07 11:20 AM, #8
Taxes pay for things you use.,
Valguarnera,
18-Jul-07 01:05 PM, #9
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
Tac,
18-Jul-07 01:59 PM, #11
RE: Collective responsibility,
Valguarnera,
18-Jul-07 03:17 PM, #13
RE: Collective responsibility,
ORB,
18-Jul-07 04:48 PM, #14
Wachowski logic.,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:53 AM, #30
I liked Clinton.,
GinGa,
18-Jul-07 06:50 PM, #17
RE: I liked Clinton.,
Trilo,
21-Jul-07 06:59 PM, #58
Are you not satisfied with the America he left you?,
DurNominator,
22-Jul-07 03:25 AM, #59
You prefer the dyslexic idiot?,
GinGa,
23-Jul-07 07:13 PM, #61
RE: Collective responsibility,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 08:42 AM, #21
RE: Law Enforcement,
Valguarnera,
19-Jul-07 10:12 AM, #32
RE: Collective responsibility,
Daevryn,
20-Jul-07 08:55 PM, #52
RE: Collective responsibility,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:45 AM, #29
RE: Collective responsibility,
Valguarnera,
19-Jul-07 10:22 AM, #35
RE: Collective responsibility,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 10:41 AM, #36
RE: Defense spending: Ayup,
Valguarnera,
19-Jul-07 11:22 AM #37
If we're going to talk about spending....,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 01:43 PM, #41
RE: Defense spending: Ayup,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 08:37 PM, #46
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
vargal,
18-Jul-07 05:56 PM, #15
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 09:00 AM, #24
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
Daevryn,
19-Jul-07 07:43 AM, #19
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 08:53 AM, #23
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:39 AM, #27
RE: Taxes pay for things you use.,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:40 AM, #28
Ron Paul,
Khasotholas,
18-Jul-07 08:51 PM, #18
RE: Ron Paul,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 08:50 AM, #22
RE: Ron Paul,
Khasotholas,
19-Jul-07 11:54 AM, #39
RE: Ron Paul,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 01:32 PM, #40
Okay, one more,
Khasotholas,
19-Jul-07 01:57 PM, #42
RE: Okay, one more,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 02:41 PM, #43
Oh dear. You're serious?,
Valguarnera,
19-Jul-07 03:47 PM, #44
I don't...,
Tac,
19-Jul-07 03:59 PM, #45
RE: Ron Paul,
Eskelian,
19-Jul-07 09:56 AM, #31
RE: Ron Paul,
Khasotholas,
19-Jul-07 11:43 AM, #38
RE: Ron Paul,
Daevryn,
20-Jul-07 08:49 PM, #51
RE: Ron Paul,
Eskelian,
21-Jul-07 02:39 AM, #55
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