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October 21, 2007 at 23:57:54
"Commonsense" and Our Two Never-Ending Wars by Timothy V. Gatto Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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Let’s say that your family spent 50% of your income on mortgage or rent. Would a financial advisor tell you that your spending was way out of line? If 50% of your take home pay was for any one thing, it wouldn’t take long for you to end up in financial trouble now, would it? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out, all it takes is a little common sense. Now, if I told you that almost 50% of the Unites States tax receipts went to military spending, would you think me a liar? Well I would be, because it’s more than 50%. Ask yourself why, when we have a friendly nation to our north and a friendly nation to our south and an ocean to our east and one to the west, and a missile system and an Air force that could knock out an invading navy without a problem, then why are we spending half of our budget on military expenditures? Would it upset you to know that China, the #2 country for military expenditures only spends 6% of its budget on the military? Russia, #3, is the same. Iran, the big boogie man of the Middle East that we are so worried about according to Dick Cheney, is #27 with a whopping $4.9 Billion Dollar budget with 1% of their budget spent on the military. It’s estimated that the United States will spend 52% of its budget, and 481.4 Billion dollars on defense this year, and that’s not counting the money for the war in Iraq which so far we have spent $130 Billion Dollars on this year and another $190 Billion that the President has requested. Isn’t this a little bit of overkill? The United States spends a little over 6% of its budget for education, and 5.6% for health. I guess if you don’t care about health and education, than the figures shouldn’t leave you breathless. I figure that if the US cut its military budget by 1/2 to where we only spent about $250 Billion dollars, we could increase the health and education budgets by 100% and still have a little over $200 Billion dollars left over. 
Why are we spending so much on defense? Remember, these figures are not including the war in Iraq. Don’t you believe that the Military Industrial Complex is a part of this? Why was everyone so surprised when former Senator Mike Gravel brought the MIC up in the first debate in South Carolina? The Democratic Candidates are quite aware of how much we spend on defense. The fact is that the United States spends 48% of the world’s total military spending. What would happen to Northrop-Grumman, Lockheed-Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon and all of the other defense contractors if we cut our budget by 50%? I guess they would have to look for other things to build.
As long as we spend half the nation’s wealth on the military, we are going to be a belligerent power in the world. When we spend 100 times more than Iran spends, I guess it’s safe to say we can push them around with impunity. Sadly, this is exactly what we are doing. The sad truth is that with all the publicity about Global Warming, we only spend 19% of our budget on science, energy and the environment. Who cares if the planet dies as long as we are the winner militarily?
I know reading the figures on what we spend isn’t glamorous and exciting, but when you look at what we are spending compared to the rest of the world you have to ask yourself two important questions. The first question is the one that Mike Gravel asked the other Democratic Candidates; “Who are you afraid of?” The second question is that if we are spending 48% of the entire world spending on the military, where is the payoff? Most of this money goes to weapons systems that are obsolete after a short time, so are we going to keep this same insane rate of spending up indefinitely? How can we possibly do this? So far, we have kept this up since the beginning of World War II.
Another question you must ask yourself is how long will this “Global War on Terror” go on? Has the world ever been terror free? Are we going down the same road as the War on Drugs? Will the world ever be drug-free?Every time you kill a terrorist, another will take his or her place. The people of Afghanistan are growing opium poppies right under our nose and we can’t even stop that. How the hell are we to eliminate terror from the world? You can’t, it’s just not possible. This war, along with the attacks on our liberties, will go on forever. There is absolutely no difference in the War on Drugs and the War on Terror. Both so-called wars are self-perpetuating and will last two lifetimes, if not forever. Every time you kill or imprison a drug-dealer, there will be someone to take their place. Eliminate the causes of terrorism, the poverty, the injustice and the fanatics that these things foster, and you will eliminate a great deal of terrorism. Bomb the hell out of these people and run them out of their homes and invade their nations, and all you do is foster more terrorism.
The same goes for the drug war. Keep drugs illegal and you create criminals. God forbid you legalize drugs, regulate and tax them and thereby keep it out of the hands of the street vendors and the international drug-runners and you can use the money from the taxes for education and rehabilitation. We didn’t create a nation of alcoholics when we stopped prohibition. The same people will become drug addicts whether it is legal or not. This is another never-ending war with no chance of victory.
Someday, this country will understand how our so-called “leaders”, and I use the term loosely, are taking us for a long expensive ride to bankruptcy. Like I said in the beginning of this piece, if this were a family budget we were talking about, instead of a national budget, the head of this family would be declared incompetent. Meanwhile, we take what our government tells us and don’t even question why we spend half our budget for the military. This, my friends, is our burden to share. Until we tell our government that we have had enough, they will spend us into bankruptcy with their never ending wars. The choice is yours and mine to make. Isn’t it time we made it?
This is how I see it.
*All figues taken from Globalissues.org
http://liberalpro.blogspot.com
Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the (more...)
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| 10 comments |
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U.S vs Estonia
Over 50 percent is a high amount, although can you say what they are doing is wrong. The U.S constitution allows the government to spend on our military. It says nothing about Education or Healthcare, no one is complaining. In Estonia they have a flat tax and a good health care system which isn't nationalized. I just saw a website about Estonia's Singing Revolution – http://singingrevolution.com; this is quite inspirational. by Tanvir T. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 1:13:07 PM  (0+)
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losing credibility
This is why liberals lose credibility. "almost 50% of the Unites States tax receipts went to military spending" is a LIE. You mean GPD? http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/index.php many.. many more links with accurate government spending. Did you honestly believe no one would call you on this inflated guess? figures straight before you attempt to make coherant posting. YOU are part of the reason this country cannot get its crap together. Don't try to weasle out of this outright LIE by convoluting figures.. use the TRUTH to spread your message. by gormly (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 3 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 1:52:21 PM (0+)
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Reply: Try this on for size
Go to GlobalIssues.org and read the figures sport. Next time read the article and you will know where I got my figures. by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 1:58:14 PM (0+)
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Reply: By the way
It's ALL revenue. by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 2:10:46 PM (0+)
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confused...
The FY 2007 numbers for total spending are about 2.7 trillion...where does the over 50% figure come from? Not saying it's wrong as a figure, but that'd mean that we're spending 213% of total tax revenue (based on 2.7 trillion spending and 644 billion on defense)...defense spending seems (including additional spending over the 644 billion) to be around 18-20% higher than that for pensions and healthcare...I agree that 50% spending in one area is bad, but I'm at a loss when it cones to reconciling the numbers. Help me understand! by drakaan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 3:07:52 PM (0+)
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Reply: Check my sources
Check out Globalissues.org, they have made a tidy pie chart and graph for defense, and all other spending. You can go to my blog at www.liberalpro.blogspot.com and click on the defense spending button on the right that weill take you right there. Notice that defense spending does NOT include the cost of the war in Iraq. Figure that we are in the RED so the fiscal figures won't jive because we are borrowing heavily, especially from China. by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 3:40:58 PM (0+)
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missed a few things
Hey, I see you found the budget problem, that is good. But here are some questions to ask: This chart: http://graphics.cursor.org/esimage4.jpg It appears that the Taliban had eliminated Opium, and thus helped the war This chart: www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1947.gif The most cynical people will claim that we went to Iraq for *cheap* oil prices. However, why would you kick a competitor out of an open market to get greater control over supply? Would this be so you can offer more competitive prices? I thought As you can see, the oil price shot up after 9.11, but then, magically started to decrease simultaneously Here is another: www.firstgoldcorp.com/img/chart_us_dollar.gif As you can see the US dollar started losing value shortly after 9.11 - when well, it's just printed and spent --- it comes from the same place as all other money, a printing press controlled by some private banks. Devaluing currency in order to cover one's ass is a time honored tradition that goes back as far as Fiat currency and William Jennings Bryant talked excessively about it in 1896. Anyway, hope this clears up any confusion. by chris mckenzie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 3:21:31 PM (0+)
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Tax Dollars
BAD IMAGE - click here (must exist and begin with http) Source: Breakdown of income taxes is based on Budget of the United States Government by Barbara Peterson (73 articles, 109 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 541 comments [98 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 3:25:31 PM (0+)
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Reply: This is the information from Globalissues.org
If you bring the money in that we spend on Iraq, it brings us OVER 50% by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 4:39:20 PM (0+)
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Reply: Thanks for the stats!
I am appalled at what we the people have allowed to happen. Thank you for your work. by Barbara Peterson (73 articles, 109 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 541 comments [98 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007 at 1:19:09 PM (0+)
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