Posted on 11/07/2010 2:06:31 PM PST by fabrizio
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen.-elect Rand Paul says GOP lawmakers must be open to cutting military spending as Congress tries to reduce government spending.
The tea party favorite from Kentucky says compromise with Democrats over where to cut spending must include the military as well as social programs. Paul says all government spending must be “on the table.”
Paul tells ABC’s “This Week” that he supports a constitutional amendment calling for a balanced budget.
Paul isn’t the problem. Sacred cows in the defense budget are. There is waste, fraud, and abuse in the Defense Dept, and none of that is protecting the US or American interests.
He is right, but *only* if the cuts are done intelligently.
1) The “big three” of federal spending are Defense (23%), Social Security (20%), and Medicaid and Medicare (19%). That is 62% of the federal budget.
2) Social Security can be intelligently and quickly curtailed, with a minimum of harm to people, with a simple process.
a) SS was originally designed as a retirement system for minimum wage workers with no other form of retirement. To return to this is the end goal. Nobody else should pay for, or get benefits from, SS. So stop accepting new people in the system, unless they are minimum wage workers.
b) Direct “means testing” is off the table, because it has ferocious opposition. So instead of restoring the Bush tax cuts, offer those in the means testing zone a deal: slightly *more* (relative) money in tax deductions than they would get by accepting a SS check. This would leave enough money in the SS system to make it much more solvent.
c) Pay back those only in the system for several years a tax deductions deal as well, to pay them back for their contributions and move them out of the system.
2) Medicaid needs to be paid in lump sum to the 3,140 counties in the US, based on their population. A fixed amount, outside of disasters. Any more money than that, and they have to pay for it. How it is spent is up to them, with some auditing.
Medicare needs to be substantially privatized, with the idea of getting the federal government out of the health care provision business. It won’t be easy, but it will be better for everyone in the long run.
3) Defense needs intelligent cutbacks. To start with, US military personnel are in some 100 countries around the world, though they only need to be in a dozen. Unless they are actively fighting, they need to come home, as this is expensive without achieving much of anything.
Both the Air Force and Navy are obsessed with having just a few, extremely high quality planes and ships. They must rediscover the idea that quantity, low maintenance, low cost and durability are just as important as the latest technical gizmo. While having advanced bombers is good, most bombing runs are made with antique B-52s.
And finally, the military not fighting, in a sour economy, still want high pay, but we cannot afford high pay. We don’t need to pay for married junior NCOs with children, and we don’t need for them to travel to other countries. Sad facts of life.
It is ludicrous to presume that the none defense part of the budget is filed with waste fraud and inefficiency but that the Defense budge is a model of efficiency with nothing in it that does not fulfill its mission. There must be something in the defense budget that can and should be cut.
Sounds like Rand Paul is just another
dope-smoking anarchist like his dad.Nuts do not fall far from their tree
The military is mandated by the Constitution.
You spew nothing but the same ol crap over and over and over then don't understand why you childish diatribes are rejected.
Can't believe you haven't met the Kitties yet, you don't like FReepers then go some where else.
I think that's the way to go. Granted, there are programs that need to be eliminated completely - but wrangling over those will take forever. We are in an emergency situation, and I think across the board cuts are the first step. THEN, you can take more time in deciding which programs to completely abolish.
I’d scrap the UN before touching anything else. Then I’d sell off parcels of land that the UN building occupies and make some more money.
Actually, defense is around 20% of the budget, and is one of the 3 largest pieces (SSI and Medicare/caid the other two.)
There are probably places in defense where government largesse wins out that could be trimmed back without hindering our ability to fight.
US Constitution, Amendment 27: "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."
Nice idea, but no effect for two years.
There’s no doubt that there is plenty of waste and mismanagement at the Pentagon. When the Navy has more admirals than ships, something, and somebody, has to go. The military budget should not be above scrutiny. A lot of waste could be cut and funding increased in areas that need it, like caring for military families when the member is deployed.
Exactly, we spend $663 billion with 700,000 civilian employees in the Dept of Defense. There bound to be a few billion dollars in redundancy there.
I’m sure there’s a ton of fat that can be cut from the military. EVERYTHING...EVERYTHING has to be put on the chopping block..NO SACRED COWS.
Logistics and keep Russia and China in check..
He didnt say the military wasnt vital. He just said we could cut parts of it and still be fine.
Hiya Hildy!!
I agree...didn't the bamster say he was going to pay for his HCR by trimming 500 billion in Medicare fraud???
Hmmmm, wonder what happened to that idea, seems that could be a start, I wonder how it was forgotten so quickly....no inference meant in the comment, just a thought.
The idea that the government does any better with efficiency when it comes to the military (as opposed to any other function)is silly. Yes the military is a legitimate function of government, but I assure you there’s bureaucracy/fat there.
Indeed it is, but I'm sure it has it's share of fraud and waste....that I would like to see trimmed.
OTOH, I too share your concerns with the analogy you presented but will give Rand the benefit of the doubt.....for now.
Folks need to stop and think about why Rand Paul announced his candidacy on Rachel Maddow’s show, and why it was such a love-fest.
Until there is a bill to cut military spending and we have had a chance to read it, this whole argument is pure leftard gibberish designed to take the heat off their illegal activity and chip away at the weak sisters.
We need to stay focused on ending the dreams of the regime. I do hope to see legislation to defund the Department of Education and the EPA along with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
There need to be no sacred cows, but there are Constitutional Mandates that must be funded and socialist crap that has to be excised. The limitation on the Constitutional mandates needs to be based on what we can pay for not what we want.
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