Posted on 12/14/2011 5:36:17 AM PST by Libloather
Defense cuts could cost 1.5 million jobs: lawmaker
By David Alexander | Reuters – 12 hrs ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense cuts that begin in the 2012 budget will ultimately cost up to 800,000 jobs, and additional spending reductions could push that figure to 1.5 million over the next decade, a top Republican lawmaker testified on Tuesday.
Representative Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said his panel estimated the initial $489 billion in defense cuts approved by Congress would cost 100,000 military jobs, mostly Army and Marines, as well as 200,000 civilian defense jobs and 500,000 defense industry positions.
"We're looking at ... between 700,000 and 800,000 jobs," McKeon told the House of Representatives Rules Committee during testimony about the compromise National Defense Authorization Act approved on Monday by House and Senate negotiators.
If a second tranche of about $600 billion in defense cuts takes place under legislation passed in August, he added, "that would take those jobs up to about 1.5 million."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The way this Administration counts they’ll spin as a good thing.
Its just the beginning. Over the next few decades, the cost of entitlements will crowd out any meaningful defense spending. Actually, this has been the trend since 1987.
we need to cut defense along with everything else...if you’ve ever done business with the DOD you know that 30% or more is just waste
This is what liberals do best - decimate the military. What is sad is that you see a few of these “pro-gut the military” folks on FR. It’s time for a purge.
But they’ll receive unemployment compensation so that’s a job stimulus, right?
Are these actual cuts or just a decrease in the increase?
There are probably a lot of bloat in the military departments.
Many positions could probably be eliminated through proper use of technology.
Defense cuts that begin in the 2012 budget will ultimately cost up to 800,000 jobs...Of course, so the proper Demwit response is to double down -- cancel that Keystone pipeline for example.
I work defense and it’s not looking good at all in 2013.
And still probably one of the most efficient uses of our money compared to other government agencies...
So what, they can join the OWS and protest. The dims love that.
Those government agencies will still use the same arguments - if you cut 10,000 jobs in this department, it means that 150,000 people will lose their jobs overall, etc., etc.
“”2012 budget””
That’s cute - we didn’t even have a FY2010, FY2011 budget - where did the FY2012 budget come from?
We all knew the debt commission didn’t know what they were doing by putting the automatic triggers in there. If anyone in DC is paying attention, they’re going to have to pull some gimmick to forestall those triggers - UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION, of course!
You got that right. I guess my point was proven as I have already seen a “let’s gut the military” post on this thread. Can’t these fools see that the military is not the problem. The President is the problem!
The latter.
The arguments against military spending are the same as local governments' claiming that ambulances and police will be cut if their budgets are trimmed. There's plenty to cut in the military without affecting combat readiness: we could start by closing our bases in Germany.
.if you’ve ever done business with the DOD you know that 30% or more is just waste
I would lean on the "or more" side of that statement.
I had a seven figure DOD project where my part was on time and way under budget and actually suitable for the task - so I was punished. Another office blew through their budget, so mine was plump fruit for the picking and if I wanted to keep my gig I would have to move. I declined the "favor".
Doing KT with the new party who were no where near as capable of doing the job, I overheard a conversation from the office manager that they were getting more business. Within days, calls were being put out to "spread the wealth around", and people who heard on the street that a contract was coming were dropping in to see if they could get in on the money.
In short, much DOD work is nothing but a jobs program. If an actual product comes forth from the effort then that is a bonus.
Cutting defense is not the same thing as eliminating waste.
There’s a lot of waste that can be cut without affecting jobs. Prime example is in the logistics chain.. the $800 toilet seats may have gone away but there’s thousands of parts that have replaced them.
>>And still probably one of the most efficient uses of our money compared to other government agencies...
Wonder what you are basing that on?...the military is good at going to far off places and killing people, no doubt about it, but they are also notorious for wasting very large sums of money...can’t quite understand how anyone believes there are not very substantial savings to be had EVERYWHERE in government, and that includes the military.
We are not taking about rationing bullets here, or cutting soldiers meals to once a day, but for every guy with a gun in their hand, there are probably 5 or more bureaucrats getting paid 3X as much for shuffling paper.
I think you meant to reply to me. I am not saying that the DoD is efficient, just more efficient than other agencies. Also, at least the DoD existence is justified under the Constitution. We would be better served if the unconstitutional agencies were eliminated first.
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