Babbling

[westpark]

http://www.businessinsider.com/military-spending-budget-defense-c
uts-2011-10?op=1

We spend more than the next 15 nations COMBINED. And that's with the cuts!!

We also spend more in one day just in Afghanistan than we did to build the entire Pentagon....

Eye-opening read about where your money is being wasted.

[NaBraniel]

The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety.

The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety

[stilgar]

We're still in Iraq?

[Mjöllnir]

There's a small advisory force still in Iraq.

[stilgar]

Its funny, the article says Afghanistan not Iraq

[Mjöllnir]

I didn't even read it. I barely read westpark's links. I just go off his title or what people are saying in the thread.

[stilgar]

I was curious about the date it was published. That's the only reason I looked at it

[Mjöllnir]

We do spend a lot of money at war.  I guess always being prepared is better than getting overtaken by some other crazy country.

maybe we should cut back a little bit.  but then we're gonna get attacked and they'll say see I told you.  shoulda been vigilant.

[westpark]

---

NaBraniel wrote:

The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety.

The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety

---

Scream it brother scream it.

And they say we have 'an entitlement complex.'

They're cannibalizing our own domestic economy to keep the neocon wars going.

[fugglesss]

wow imagine how much better we'd all be living if that money went to us

i dont see why we are so paranoid, most of the rest of the world lives here anyway.. by legitmate or illegitmate reasons...

[NaBraniel]

What

[Mjöllnir]

---

NaBraniel wrote:

What

---

[neverkeepchangin11]

she quite clearly says most of the world lives here.

duh.

[Hank_Halloween]

A good deal of those facts are taken out of context, misleading, exaggerated, or outright wrong. 

However, I am a proponent that we need less a military presence in the world and more of an itelligence presence.  More information, spies, drones, ect. would do more for us than military bases do, though these are often outposts for spies and intelligence community members. 

Anyone who thinks we can turn a blind eye to the world, cut our military in half, and expect to live happily using the budget to feed the homeless is delusional.  The world is an extremely delicate power balance, and there are a whole lot of factions that would build up their military as fast as we dismantled ours.

[westpark]

---

Hank_Halloween wrote:

A good deal of those facts are taken out of context, misleading, exaggerated, or outright wrong. 

However, I am a proponent that we need less a military presence in the world and more of an itelligence presence.  More information, spies, drones, ect. would do more for us than military bases do, though these are often outposts for spies and intelligence community members. 

Anyone who thinks we can turn a blind eye to the world, cut our military in half, and expect to live happily using the budget to feed the homeless is delusional.  The world is an extremely delicate power balance, and there are a whole lot of factions that would build up their military as fast as we dismantled ours.

---

Even with the current budget cuts we STILL spend more than all 50 states do on education!!

And yet we're whining about student loans. Gut the Pentagon & lets get our books back in order.

[capt_taco]

ya i know - omg conspiracy, this countrys so screwed, etc., im totaly going to europe or canada.

also - damn GOP

[Zaphod_209]

It's not about being prepared.  It's about the priorities of our government, and how wrong they are.

Also, the military industrial complex.

[The_Pirate-King]

That is pretty darned insane.

[Mjöllnir]

---

Zaphod_209 wrote:

It's not about being prepared.  It's about the priorities of our government, and how wrong they are.

Also, the military industrial complex.

---

What priorities might those be? 

Privatized companies that manufacture weapons for the military make a lot of money.  The military also makes a lot of money turning around and selling those weapons to third world countries.

[Zaphod_209]

It's about putting your money where your mouth is.

In the case of the US, the military is more important than curing cancer, exploring space, feeding the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless, repairing our crumbling infrastructure, educating the youth, and energy R&D.

[Mjöllnir]

The military does put its money where its mouth is.  If they say they're going to kick someone's ass they usually do.  I'm actually really excited about the newer ships and jets that are being worked on.  Think of all the brown people we can bomb.

I got to admit it is sucky that we live in a world where we have to be a scary superpower in order for anybody to respect us.  but that's the way the world is.  You have to be able to squash a threat.  If we didn't have the most badass weaponry the Chinese and Russians would laugh us off the block.

[Zaphod_209]

It's not the military, it's the government that's not putting its money where it's mouth is.

With the money we spend on a few aircraft carriers, we could have a small, permant, base on the moon or maybe even a manned mission to mars.

But no, we have to buy more bombs instead of spending our money on something productive.