>> At the risk of drawing fire—why are cuts to veteran COLAs so offensive?
I agree that — being as we’re dead, flat broke — government spending must be cut. Across the board.
What offends me (deeply) is that our veterans’ benefits were cut, but there was no meat axe taken to the rest of the budget.
In fact, there was scarcely any trimming of FAT around the EDGES of our bloated government.
And tax hikes to boot. (Yes, “fee increases” ARE!!! tax hikes.)
I agree with the notion that we need across the board cuts. I’m very disappointed that sequester cuts are being undone, and on the basis of a completely unrealistic set of future cuts that will never actually happen. I’m just questioning why people give this unchallengable “military heroes” status. Is the guy who spends 20 years changing the oil on an F-16 really entitled to the COLA more than a police officer who spends those years on a beat? Sure, some military suffer serious injuries in their duties. But, when the visceral reaction to touching veteran benefits is so hysterical, it makes it hard to have a reasonable conversation. To sum up, I support cuts to every aspect of government, to reign in deficit spending. Every aspect.