One thing I find disingenuous about people complaining about the size of the military budget is the pure fact that it contains dollars that aren't spent blowing things up and killing people. Lots of dollars, actually.
In both Iraq and Afghanistan, we've rebuilt infrastructure in areas (probably not all, but a lot). Military members, generally coordinated by the Chaplains, help local areas rebuild schools, roads, wells and other outreach services. When natural disasters strike, our military is poised to provide direct assistance rapidly. When I was in the Navy, every base has large numbers of non-military employees, working in the Exchanges, commissaries, guest housing, MWR facilities, etc. In fact in many areas in the US rely heavily on their bases for income with businesses built up around the gates relying on income from members. I know most of that remains true. Also, looking at the subject line, "US Spends $2T in Iraq" is somewhat misleading. The most recent incursion in Iraq lasted from 2003-2011, or 9 years. That averages out to $222 billion/yr if you assume straight spending. Unfortunately that headline wouldn't sell as well as the one used. You can stop reading here unless you want to deal with my numbers, I'm working on my MBA and currently in a Financial Analysis course so I took things a bit further. My point is that, much like the "so what" comment, there's a LOT more behind the Defense line in the Federal budget and behind the numbers spent in any particular theater of operations. I probably missed non-blowing-things-up-and-killing-people items that are included in the spending, it's early ;) The rest of my analysis is looking at the defense budget compared to other items, especially in light of sequestration. That process required, "50% military cuts and 50% discretionary spending cuts" across the board if my understanding of the language is right. Hatton Looking at http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/05/14/152671813/50-years-of-government-spending-in-1-graphit shows the "defense" budget at 22% and includes the following statement: "Defense spending has shrunk significantly as a percentage of total government spending. But it remains the largest single category of federal spending. The figures in the graph include veterans' benefits as well as funding for current operations." Even that statement is somewhat skewed when looking at "defense compared to everything else." Social programs combined make up 56.8% of the spending, combining Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Safety Net Programs and International Affairs. Those are percentages per year based on NPR's analysis. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_2011USbf_11bs1n#usgs302shows the estimated breakdown in spending dollars, specifically: Pensions - $780.8 billion (20.37%) - Including Social Security and the Federal Pension Program Health Care - $898 billion (23.43%) - Including Medicare, Medicaid, Gov't funding to R&D Education - $140.9 billion (3.68%) Defense - $928.5 billion (24.22%) Welfare - $471.5 billion (12.3%) - Including Social Safety Net programs Protection - $57.3 billion (1.5%) - Grants and Loans to State & Local agencies Transportation - $104.2 billion (2.72%) General Government - $29 billion (0.76%) Other Spending - $173.1 billion (4.52%) Interest - $250.7 billion (6.54%) Adding those together, Defense lags social programs 24% to 56% (Pensions, Health Care, Welfare). Until Later! C. Hatton Humphrey http://www.eastcoastconservative.com Every cloud does have a silver lining. Sometimes you just have to do some smelting to find it. On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 8:36 AM, Bruce Sorge <[email protected]> wrote: > > No Angel, you are right actually and I should be the one to apologize. I > guess I am just so frustrated with the way things are going in America that > I lose sight of the fact that yes, what happens to us does have an effect > on other countries. So please accept my apology and I'll be more mindful of > what I say. > > Bruce > > > > >> > >> Bruce, you're right. I apologise. > >> Non Americans have no right to discuss America and its policies. > >> The US economy doesn't affect any other country. > >> > >> > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:361869 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
