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Military Construction ($12.5 billion):
Includes funds to modernize DoD facilities
to support U.S. military and their families.
Includes construction to support the
beddown of new weapons systems, e.g.,
the F-35, F-22, MH-60, MV-22, E-2D, and
P-8A and the recapitalization of aging
facilities (worst first), to include schools,
dorms/barracks and medical facilities.
The FY 2012 Military Construction
investment funding is significantly less than the past 4 years.
$680 billion budget, military construction $12.5 billion.....yeah that's MOST
You dont need bases in germany and japan and korea and leave IRAQ and Afghanistan etc.
Leave a few bases in the Uk and other small places and bring our troops home.
This will help with some of the debt, besides its not in the constitution to be the policemen of the world and we are broke.
If europe wants us to defend them from WW2 hitler who is DEAD we can start charging them money for every plane and bomb.
Build infustructure here and put those people to work here on projects if we are going to spend money on defense contracts. I would consider some kind of wall security on our borders would be a start. Or some kind of NASA funded miltiary Star wars program something if you talking about DEFENSE of OUR NATION. Leave the navy in the waters and the airforce ready at all times on our aircraft carriers! We can afford defense just not what we are doing now.
Before IRAQ and other wars we had plently of money for defense its not like everyone is just going to be unemployeed.
2000 1.384 million
2007 1.383 million
2011 1.3 million
Wait a minute...what?
We spent $300 billion more each year, and had fewer soldiers!
Ok, if we got our numbers back up to 2 million soldiers I may buy it.
Reagan's HIGHEST budget was $580 billion still almost $200 billion less than Bush. We had only 2.1 million soldiers.
your forgetting a main thing....inflation
when I joined the military in 1981 a private made 570 a month...today a private is making over 1400 a month....I retired as a First Sergeant in 2005/6( after getting injured in Iraq)....in 1983 an E8 made 1900 a month...today it 4900
Last edited by workingclasshero; 07-19-2011 at 12:42 PM..
Good post, I do not know what your political affiliation is but I am on board with your suggestion of cutting down to the 450 billion average. That is some real savings and in 10 years it would knock off 2.3 trillion off the deficit. Hey you {R}s that say you are conservative where you at?
We got caught flat footed in WWII because we allowed our military to become and after thought, and we had to play catch up. The only way we were able to rebuild so fast was because we demanded the entire nation get behind our rebuilding of the military, fat chance of doing that today.
I'm not saying we need to always be in a state of war, but we need to continue to modernize our military. I hate war, but we cannot know where out next enemy will come from, or what form the threat will be.
We got caught flat footed in WWII because we allowed our military to become and after thought, and we had to play catch up. The only way we were able to rebuild so fast was because we demanded the entire nation get behind our rebuilding of the military, fat chance of doing that today.
I'm not saying we need to always be in a state of war, but we need to continue to modernize our military. I hate war, but we cannot know where out next enemy will come from, or what form the threat will be.
If we adopted a non interventionist foreign policy and ended both of our occupations I think 450 billion would be more then efficient to keep us on top militarily. But I am not hard headed lets make it 500 billion which would put a huge dent in the debt.
I say $400 B would be PLENTY. Noone is even close to our power. If we want to build it up for some reason, we can RAISE TAXES. If something really goes down, we'll pay for it. We always have.
W thought he could do this while cutting taxes, and launching wars that did not have much support (Iraq).
I do agree with the guy upthread who says axing the military staff in the recession would not help, but come on, the private sector can pick them up, right?
Once US establishes a base in a country, US generally doesn't leave.
Germany, Japan, South Korea, Diego Garcia, Oman, Bahrain, Guam, plus many others. Big giant bases like Kandahar isn't just going to be left there for Talibans to take over, they are long long term projects.
Joe Biden even said US isn't leaving in 2014, Gates said US will stay in Afghanistan indefinitely.
Empire and imperialism cost money, even if it mean domestic citizens starve or die because of lack of health care.
.........What is most interesting is Reagan......... The military budget goes from 440 billion in 1980 to a high of 580 billion in 1985 and then drops back down to 523 billion.
Bush's father takes a 523 Billion budget, fights a war halfway across the world with it, and manages to leave office 4 years later with a military budget of 435 billion. .........Every Republican president has Lowered the military budget, every president that is except for one….
Little Bushy inherited a military budget of 412 billion. Clinton’s last budget allocated the least amount of money the Federal Government has ever spent on the military, since the end of WWII.
By the end of Bush’s term Bush leaves office spending the MOST amount of money ever on the military 718 billion. He defies history and his own party, and that is just in the military. He did the same thing in every major category in the budget. Before Bush, the highest the military budget had ever been was under Reagan…580 billion, and I remember everyone complaining that was too high, and Reagan even admitted it.
That is what Obama got. Obama received a military budget that was the highest ever in recorded human history on top of an economy that was already in collapse, an unemployment rate of 7.7% and a rising debt. Obama has cut the military budget down from 717 billion down to 676 billion and it is still going down but it is nowhere near earlier levels set by Reagan, Nixon and Eisenhower of an average of 450 billion.
shortend for eye sake
....
Quote:
Little Bushy inherited a military budget of 412 billion.
which would be the same as 551 billion in 2011 dollars
your little number thing is nice...but its like saying an actor in 1930 got paid only 50k...in 2011 dollars it would be 500k
bush1's 523 billion dollar budget....903 billion in todays dollars
here is a calc for you (ps you need to cut some of the zero's off for calculations)CPI Inflation Calculator
the 440 billion of 1980 (carters last year)...would be 1.2 trillion in todays' dollars
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