Posted on 05/10/2010 6:33:35 AM PDT by maddog55
President Barack Obama – who came to power with the help of government employee unions across the nation – and has lavished on them hundreds of billions in stimulus funds to keep them on federal, state and local payrolls with no strings attached – is moving to cut spending on salaries for military personnel.
This weekend the Washington Post headlined story, "Pentagon Asking Congress to Hold Back on Generous Increases in Troop Pay,”, disclosed that the Obama administration is “pleading” with Congress to give military personnel a much smaller increase in pay than proposed by lawmakers.
The Pentagon is arguing Congress has been simply too generous with troops over the last decade.
In fact, lawmakers have lavished so much money on troops, according to the Post, that service members are now better compensated than workers in the private sector with similar experience and education levels.
For example, the military brass claims that an average sergeant in the Army with four years of service and one dependent would receive $52,589 in annual compensation, according to the paper. This figure includes basic pay, housing and subsistence allowances, as well as tax benefits.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Postal letter carrier, with no supervisory or hazardous duty, makes approximately $80,000 a year when all benefits are factored in.
Critics of the Obama administration’s efforts to cut soldier’s pay say America’s security has been strengthened by higher pay rates, as qualified veterans are re-enlisting at record rates, reversing the problem the military witnessed just a few years ago.
"Any attempt to link rising military personnel costs with shrinking military readiness is total nonsense," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., who leads the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., the largest and oldest major combat veterans' organization.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Everyone who’s surprised, raise your hands.
Actually, I am sort of surprised—that it took them so long to show their true color.
Haha
Obama shows whom he likes more:
SEIU or our Troops !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fat Gay Lesbian Radicals for the Supreme Court ?????????????
Guess you’ll never see his BC or see him impeached either !!!!!!!!!!!!
Haha
Obama shows whom he likes more:
SEIU or our Troops !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fat Gay Lesbian Radicals for the Supreme Court ?????????????
Guess you’ll never see his BC or see him impeached either !!!!!!!!!!!!
And then there’s this:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-LGBT-Pride-Month/
Amazing, don’t you think???
And your taxes are paying for the web site too !!!!!!!!!!!
Mine isn’t raised. Just one more item checked off in his plan to destroy America and congress is not lifting a finger.
Actually, I’m glad that he’s taking steps which are likely to anger the military.
And didn’t congress just get their raise?
The only surprise would be that he didn’t figure out a way to only reduce whitey’s pay.
The private-sector folks aren't available for duty 24/7, and they DON'T GET SHOT AT!
Unless Obama considers gangbangers to be "private sector", and then he's wrong about the money...
Implying we are gonna save money pay cutting pay to service members is crazy.
WHOA!
Never saw that commin’!
The reason: Easy pickings. The military has no real way to protest or fight back. Even their ballots in recent elections have been cast aside or not counted. Their only recourse is to leave the military.
All I can say is, sick, sick, sick....along with shame, shame, shame! To think that members of congress voted themselves a pay raise of almost $5,000 plus enormous benefits for working less than 4 days per week on average, while our military heros are on duty 24/7, expose themselves to life threatening situations are possibly denied a pay raise.....where is the justice in this??? If there are any moral congress people left in our government they should be knocking on the WH doors, telling Obama to forget it that it is not going to happen and not to mention it again. Think this will tell us the caliber of our elected officials like nothing else will!
Some Minnesota National Guard troops recently got their promised bonus for extended service in Iraq were shocked to learn that more than 40% of their bonus was eaten up in taxes. Efforts were made in the Minnesota Legislature to rescind state income tax on this bonus pay, but the IRS would not be deprived of their whack. Why doesn’t Congress just exempt military pay received in combat from federal income tax?
OUT RAGE IS A MILD WORD to describe what I feel when I read that our Military who risk their lives to keep us FREE are being SHORTED in any way. FIXING your command structure dosn’t require CUTTING the enlisted men and women’s pay! And health care is part of paying them BELOW civilian job pay rates!
“Veterans, family’s of veterans, Israeli supporters, NASA supporters who voted for Obama should take a big bite out of the S*** Sandwich they made.”
Couldn’t agree more! So many act like Obama’s radical left agenda is a big surprise. Would have taken about 1 hour of research to find out different. For those that brought this on themselves through stupidity, I delight in their misery.
$80K a year to deliver mail? $52K a year to dodge bullets and “be all you can be”? Does anyone see anything wrong with this? Except that maybe the mail carriers belong to a union... Time for change alright. Time for the total transformation of government back to reality and fiscal responsibility.
There are dozens of SOCIAL programs that could be cut, before cutting the Military! But that is the dems MO, cut the most importat first so you will beg for tax INCREASES to pay for them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.