Here is an interesting example of the conservative paradox. Dwight D. Eisenhower ® warned us about the military industrial complex. So the ideas of small government and fiscal responsibility are the exact principles that ought to guard against what is happening with the Pentagon. At the same time tho, the cold war was taking up so much of America’s resources to battle communism literally everywhere, it was kind of inevitable that an enormous -and enormously complex-bureaucratic machine would develop with many many opportunities to quietly siphon off defense money with no one noticing.
These two things don’t work well together: we want lower taxes and responsible balanced budgets and avoid bureaucratic bloat, but also, we have to give everything we got to keep the commies from destroying everything that we love. We have to keep ahead of the Russian military, the KGB, and stop the domino effect happening all over the world.
Except now that the cold war was won and we know that Russia’s military is not all that, can we shut off any part of the cold war machine? We still have the Red Chinese to think about and that’s no small threat, but for those that want less taxes and sensible budgets, does defence have to be such an astonishingly fat calf that parasites can attach themselves without concern, and suck the life blood out of… -I feel like I am going too far with this analogy.
Just… it seems like whenever I bring up Eisenhower people are like “meh” but mention Reagan who blew up the deficit beyond all debt in the history of the nation and people are full of love for old Ron. What’s up with that?
First, GDP is a dumb metric to use and doesn’t actually matter when talking about government spending.
And second, for 2015, the US government chose to spend 54% of our discretionary budget on the military. It’s 16% of our overall 2015 budget (which includes discretionary and mandatory spending), but social security, Medicare, and Medicaid (all part of mandatory spending) essentially run on auto pilot as far as spending goes (because it’s determined by how many people are eligible to receive the benefits).
So the two total budget for the US in 2022 was 6.12 trillion. And the budget for the DOD was about 800 billion. So almost sixth of the budget was spent on the DOD. And that’s just the budget, things like wars don’t count against it so we likely spend way more than that on the military
My point being that US tax dollars were spent to destabilize central and south american nations, causing an influx of illegal immigration and asylum seekers, which people are furious about. They don’t want one dollar of tax money to house or feed people desperate for a better future for their families, which ok, Americans have their individual priorities and opinions and thats valid I guess.
But meanwhile the Pentagon is buying $1200 coffee cups, $600 toilet seats, the list goes on and on, check my facts here- the DoD bought a goddamn gas station in Afghanistan for 4 million dollars and people are like “oh well what are you going to do?”
What I’m curious about is how people can be concerned about out of control welfare spending and constantly complaining about taxes while the DoD is bleeding money like a Russian princess, and nobody seems to mind.
Edit: well there you have it folks: ask a straight question, no actual answer. The military can piss money into the ocean for all anyone cares, but fuck Americans in need of assistance. They want to spend 5 million to build a new golf course at Andrews AFB (which already has 2) and it’s yawns all around but the minute a trans person wants to take a leak in peace it’s call the papers and wake the neighbors.
I’m not even making the argument “well how can you spend money on bombs when Americans are going hungry”. I’m asking why doesn’t anybody care about this particular waste. It’s because nobody cares about this.
I suspect the real answer is that as long as black and brown people don’t benefit, gubment waste is perfectly fine. God bless America.
I’d fucking gladly cut the cold war “world police” bs. But apparently not wanting to dump billions into every random conflict in fuck all backwater nowhere makes me a “Russian troll” or whatever these days.
We still have the Red Chinese to think about and that’s no small threat
Lmao. Lol, even. We could sit on our asses for at least a couple decades without China even being able to touch our capabilities. Even the bare minimum of keeping up with the times makes China a total non-threat.
Here is an interesting example of the conservative paradox. Dwight D. Eisenhower ® warned us about the military industrial complex. So the ideas of small government and fiscal responsibility are the exact principles that ought to guard against what is happening with the Pentagon. At the same time tho, the cold war was taking up so much of America’s resources to battle communism literally everywhere, it was kind of inevitable that an enormous -and enormously complex-bureaucratic machine would develop with many many opportunities to quietly siphon off defense money with no one noticing.
These two things don’t work well together: we want lower taxes and responsible balanced budgets and avoid bureaucratic bloat, but also, we have to give everything we got to keep the commies from destroying everything that we love. We have to keep ahead of the Russian military, the KGB, and stop the domino effect happening all over the world.
Except now that the cold war was won and we know that Russia’s military is not all that, can we shut off any part of the cold war machine? We still have the Red Chinese to think about and that’s no small threat, but for those that want less taxes and sensible budgets, does defence have to be such an astonishingly fat calf that parasites can attach themselves without concern, and suck the life blood out of… -I feel like I am going too far with this analogy.
Just… it seems like whenever I bring up Eisenhower people are like “meh” but mention Reagan who blew up the deficit beyond all debt in the history of the nation and people are full of love for old Ron. What’s up with that?
The military is only 3% of our gdp. People act like it’s half out budget. It isn’t.
First, GDP is a dumb metric to use and doesn’t actually matter when talking about government spending.
And second, for 2015, the US government chose to spend 54% of our discretionary budget on the military. It’s 16% of our overall 2015 budget (which includes discretionary and mandatory spending), but social security, Medicare, and Medicaid (all part of mandatory spending) essentially run on auto pilot as far as spending goes (because it’s determined by how many people are eligible to receive the benefits).
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/
So when Congress is determining where to send government money, they’re choosing to allot 54% of the budget they’re able to change to the military.
So the two total budget for the US in 2022 was 6.12 trillion. And the budget for the DOD was about 800 billion. So almost sixth of the budget was spent on the DOD. And that’s just the budget, things like wars don’t count against it so we likely spend way more than that on the military
“almost a sixth”. Lmao
In what way is representing a fact laughing your ass off?
My point being that US tax dollars were spent to destabilize central and south american nations, causing an influx of illegal immigration and asylum seekers, which people are furious about. They don’t want one dollar of tax money to house or feed people desperate for a better future for their families, which ok, Americans have their individual priorities and opinions and thats valid I guess.
But meanwhile the Pentagon is buying $1200 coffee cups, $600 toilet seats, the list goes on and on, check my facts here- the DoD bought a goddamn gas station in Afghanistan for 4 million dollars and people are like “oh well what are you going to do?”
Coffee cups don’t really cost 1200 dollars.
If you’re curious, look how government accounting works. It’s actually pretty interesting as it hides the cost of things.
What I’m curious about is how people can be concerned about out of control welfare spending and constantly complaining about taxes while the DoD is bleeding money like a Russian princess, and nobody seems to mind.
Edit: well there you have it folks: ask a straight question, no actual answer. The military can piss money into the ocean for all anyone cares, but fuck Americans in need of assistance. They want to spend 5 million to build a new golf course at Andrews AFB (which already has 2) and it’s yawns all around but the minute a trans person wants to take a leak in peace it’s call the papers and wake the neighbors.
I’m not even making the argument “well how can you spend money on bombs when Americans are going hungry”. I’m asking why doesn’t anybody care about this particular waste. It’s because nobody cares about this. I suspect the real answer is that as long as black and brown people don’t benefit, gubment waste is perfectly fine. God bless America.
Welfare is literally over half of our federal spending. Yeah, I wonder why that would recieve more attention than other topics
Entitlements and welfare are the majority of our budget and for the most part don’t provide much value for their cost.
Military spending is required by the constitution.
Welfare spending is a waste of money and is not required by law.
I get a benefit from the military spending and zero benefit for the welfare spending.
I’d fucking gladly cut the cold war “world police” bs. But apparently not wanting to dump billions into every random conflict in fuck all backwater nowhere makes me a “Russian troll” or whatever these days.
Lmao. Lol, even. We could sit on our asses for at least a couple decades without China even being able to touch our capabilities. Even the bare minimum of keeping up with the times makes China a total non-threat.
China is more of a threat than you realize. They may not be able to occupy us but they can launch missiles at us.
War has changed.