Senate Appropriators Cut 200,000 Jobs From Defense Request

Defence Professionals and Lexington Institute ^ | 16 September 2011 | Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D.

[Ben Mugged]

The $8.2 billion reduction in operations and maintenance will destroy the Military’s infrastructure by allowing it to crumble. Rot our military capability from inside.

Good job Obama!

[doosee]

I agree with some Libertarian ideas but I consider myself to be a common sense American. Where are the Europeans, Japanese, Germans, and Saudis paying for their own defense. They live under our defense umbrella while only tacitly supporting many of the US initiatives. Our leaders sit idly while OPEC continually rips us off as one example of the Saudi gratefulness.

[VTenigma]

So let me see if I have this right. We cut 29 billion from defense and kill 200,000 jobs for a net savings of about $150,000 p/job and we spend 447 billion at $5,000,000 p/job and create 200,000 jobs,OK I think I have it. Only in America/ sarc

[La Enchiladita]

Tea Party Senator Pat Toomey is on that committee.
Tea Party leaders were very vocal during the debt ceiling debate about including defense cuts in budget cuts.
The Committee is being heavily lobbied as we speak, to try to head off this disaster.
Cuts are projected to be made over a decade.

"The widely held sentiment among Tea Party Patriot members is that every item in the budget, including military spending and foreign aid, must be on the table," said Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. "It is time to get serious about preserving the country for our posterity. The mentality that certain programs are 'off the table' must be taken off the table."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/23/politics/main7274710.shtml

[blueunicorn6]

Gotta pay for that 20% pay increase for the new UAW employees.

[SkyPilot]

Yup.

[SkyPilot]

So the argument is because the butt wipe Obummer is bankrupting the country you see no harm in the defense department doing the same thing. Ok!!!!

No.

There is no argument with me, only this inescapable truth: we are no longer a nation that produces anything, or a majority nation of workers. We have half of the people in this nation paying no Federal taxes, sitting around on their arses, collecting Direct Deposit checks in one form or another (SSI, SSDI, AFDC, SNAP card, etc), or scamming Medicare/Medicaid.

DoD spending is a lifeblood of economic activity. Period.

Further, spending on Defense is one of the few things the Constitution actually authorizes the Federal government to pursue. It isn't authorized to send out Social Security or disability checks. It isn't authorized to be involved in education. And it isn't authorized to tell us how to eat, dress, flush our toilets or what kind of light bulb we can use.

Spending on Defense as a percentage of GDP is not what is bankrupting our nation.

Entitlements are bankrupting our nation.

Moreover, once we lose certain key industries in aerospace or other forms of high tech manufacturing, we don't turn them on like a switch overnight.

If our nation gets into a full scale, real war (not like Iraq, but think North Korea and China at the same time) - we will be in a world of hurt. Then, everyone will clamor about "why weren't we prepared." It will be because instead of doing what the Constitution authorizes, we were sending out entitlement checks to people.

Lastly, I am outraged that there is a lack of outrage about what President Obama and the Democrats are doing. They are crowing about needing to spend a half of a Trillion dollars to throw money at state teacher jobs (and the teachers got $40 Billion in bailout money under Pelosi Reid in August of 2010!) - but for DoD civilians and defense industry, they can get in the unemployment line.

Yes, we have to prioritize as a nation and clean up our fiscal mess.

Entitlement reform is how we accomplish it. If we gut defense, and there is another American tragedy like 911 or Pearl Harbor, expect Obama to not even show his face.