When the talk turns to saving domestic programs and members of Congress start criticizing the president's budget, two questions should be asked. Will you vote to repeal the president's tax cuts and which defense program in your district would you eliminate to save LIHEAP, Head Start or other domestic priorities?
This is not a question of guns or butter. It's question about who we are as a nation and whether we think it's more important to waste money on unproductive and unneeded military spending or to steer as much of that money as possible toward things that will make a difference in the lives of average Americans.
Randolph T. Holhut has been a journalist in New England for more than 25 years. He edited "The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached at randyholhut@yahoo.com.
US Military budget- $460 billion
Russia- $70 billion
China- $40 billion
The axis of evil- less than $10 billion
How much is wasted, a good example is the republicans touting that they have cut gov't costs by privatizing some gov't jobs. The gov't jobs averaged, say, $40 an hour including benefits. The private company now charges $105+/hour. WTF
How about the guy who won the body armor contract (900,000 vests) and then proceeded to provide an inferior and defective product. Then, for shits and giggles, because he was making some serious coin, he throws his daughter a $10,000,000 Bat Mitzva.
Just by eliminating the mercenaries that we are hiring (i.e. Blackwater) we could save billions and give our military boys a significant raise. Thats got to be a slap in the face of our military men and women fighting next to ex-military making 5X what they are making, while doing the nastier chores.
We need a massive audit on the pentagon. We are almost spending more than every country on earth combined!!!
by
denvan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 28 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 6:30:41 PM
For a couple years I've been blaming it on lack of sleep, not enough
sunshine, too much pressure from my job, earwax buildup, poor blood or anything else I
could think of.
But now I found out the real reason:
I'm tired because I'm overworked.
Here's why:. . .
The population of this country is 273 million.
140 million are retired.
That leaves 133 million to do the work.
There are 85 million in school.
Which leaves 48 million to do the work.
Of this there are 29 million employed by the federal government.
Leaving 19 million to do the work.
2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with killing Osama Bin-Laden.
Which leaves 16.2 million to do the work.
Take from that total the 14.8 million people who work for state and city
governments.
And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.
At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals.
Le aving 1,212,000 to do the work.
Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons.
That leaves just two people to do the work.
You and me.
And there you are, sitting at your computer, reading jokes.
Nice. Real nice.
by
Fred F (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 363 comments)
on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 9:55:15 PM
We live in a country currently governed by white-collar criminals who devise laws specifically designed to serve and protect white-collar criminals. That's called laissez-faire Capitalism, but surely Cannibalism is closer to the mark.
Capitalism is a system devised by and for those who control capital, and they use their economic and political power to increase their wealth by robbing the masses. This occurs every moment of every day on an individual level in the private sector, but the real money is stolen from taxpayers en masse at the government level by politicians and political appointees who currently govern our country.
In theory, government is the pump that disperses wealth like water to the masses.
Republicans exclusively serve the wealthiest two or three per cent of the population, and they promise but never deliver any trickle down. Democrats spread the loot in a wider swath to the wealthiest twenty or thirty per cent of the population, delivering moderate trickle down to the middleclass and basic subsistence to the poor. Democrats call it egalitarianism. Republicans call it socialism.
That's the primary difference between Republicans and Democrats, but they are still kissing cousins.
.
by
rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments)
on Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 4:11:36 AM