When Trump claims the military is depleted and that he'll rebuild it, does he not know....
- Thread starter RichardPeterJohnson
- Start date
Can you same the same regarding the voting choice of government workers? I think you get my drift....do we want to continue down this endless rabbit hole?
I guess he getting the money from the EPA, and through the many government layoffs coming soon?
Oh sure there is boom. they don't always get the exotic weapons systems they ask for...Trump killed the latest plans for a new joint strike fighter in favor of something cheaper.
No doubt just like every other Government agency there is massive waste, fraud, and abuse in the Pentagon. No doubt.
I'm for putting them under the same financial microscope the other agencies should be under. However the difference for me is I don't want to starve them, or bleed them dry. I want them getting priority when appropriations bills are carved up. then, relative to their needs, I'm willing to see what's left for other legitimate functions or needs.
But just like I usually make sure my Mortgage is paid 1st each month before I spend any more money, we as a nation need to make sure the Military is taken care of 1st before we waste any more of the taxpayer's dollars.
but I agree with you, hold ALL Federal agencies accountable and make them cost justify every penny we taxpayers send in to them.
Yes .....but has nothing to do with saying he proposed increasing the budget deficit and national debt.
I think he's for all of that boom, but also for reevaluating our spending priorities and moving funding out of or away from wasteful or needless programs in favor of doing those more pressing things and filling those more immediate needs.
The tax cuts are to get the economy moving and increase revenue to the treasury, not take money away from needed programs or services. but yes, to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Everywhere, including the Pentagon.
He is just the greatest possible President ever isn't he? Why are you sold on this man so hard? He isn't specific enough on much of anything to sell anyone really.
The federal government has been given lots of responsibilities. Of course the food stamp program (now SNAP) has been around for decades under various Republican and Democrat presidents. Many working poor depend on them but keep on hating.
I'm not sold boom. I'm waiting to see if he can deliver on his promises. I told countryroads89, if at the end of 2020 he hasn't kept us safe through peaceful strength, and more Americans aren't working with better paying jobs he's toast.
Nothing else about him is going to matter than how he performs on those two major issues. Of course there are important components behind each, but overall those two issues are what his Presidency and Leadership are riding on.
Nothing else matters. I'm at least willing to give him a chance to see if he can do it for us, and if he does, you folks on the Left will be holding an empty bag of charges against him.
But I think Obama kept us safe for 8 years, and improved the economy as well. Just too slow? But he was too weak, right? Oh come on....you hated him because he's black....admit it?
No not at all boom. I love Black people! (smile) With Obama for me at least, it was all about his rigid Leftist ideology and his false belief in an activist Government trying to "transform" the basic underpinning of our Nation's foundational structures both economically and culturally.
Don't want to get too deep in the weeds right now on it, but one very good analysis (among many) I read up on him early on was this book by Stanley Kurtz:
Again, for me at least it was all about his ideology. I disagree with you he kept us safe and secure. Many of the powder kegs we are sitting on today are of his own creation. From Isis, to Iran, and many many other hotpots. I think he was an unmitigated disastrous and dangerously ill informed Leader. I'm so glad that one Negro has moved out if you catch my drift?
But I do love Black people boom. In fact though Obama is what George Jefferson of the old T-V sitcom used to refer to as a "Zebra". He's only 'Black' for Media purposes to stir up racial tensions.
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I'm telling moe Coop you think his post was juvenile!:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
It is massive, yes, and it's WAY more than boots on the ground and planes in the sky. It's everything from research and development to janitorial services. Just think of any company that owns property and does research and development ... then multiply that by about 1000 and that's the military industrial complex. They have landscaping, security, IT, janitorial, receptionists, engineers, scientists, operators, etc. The military is no different ... only add in enhanced physical and cyber security.
Having said that ... there are ways to be more efficient with what they do. Direct military engagements are one thing ... everything that goes into everything that they use for those engagements is something entirely different.
He's more than likely referring that to an ophthalmologist that specializes in cornea...but I get your point.
Oh I have a Brother-in-Law who lives in upper Manhattan (east side) very eclectic mix of folks (Jews, Arabs, Caribbeans, Latinos, Italians, Russians, Slovics, Germans, even Americans!
Boom, sorry, been busy as hell today and haven't had time to hit this adequately.
The military is struggling right now in a number of ways as is the largest single job producing and manufacturing industry left in the country known as the military industrial complex. This is due to the pissing match between house GOP and Obama and the idiotic Sequestration and Continuing Resolution crap. It's not so easy to categorize the defense budget into the B4 (Bodies, Beans, Bullets, Bandages) as most people are quick to do. Simplification and marginalization of this situation as the OP did is akin to making the asinine analogy towards the budget that if you are required to balance a checkbook, then you should be able t balance the budget. Not sure if OP was doing his usual trolling or if he is really that simple and lacking in understanding of what the DOD budget consists of and how the procurement budget process works.
To understand where the military stands right now, in most cases, outside of a couple of select industries within the Defense world, everyone had to make a choice on how to spend the reduced funds they received. Tradeoffs were made, for instance, parts or upgrades to obsolete hardware, not to mention the extreme focus on information assurance (IA) that began just before sequestration occurred and the DOD pushed into the digital age. In a lot of cases, funds were tied up from budgets prior towards commitments that in many cases the DOD was not meeting towards their vendors (Defense Companies) in contracts they already signed up for.
You would be shocked at the sustainment costs of existing programs, ie. ECPs (Engineering Change Projects) to address obsolescence issues with hardware and gear. As we have moved into the digital age, think about the operating systems pushing a lot of these computerized systems and the speed that technology advances. There are horror stories of bugs developing within the software and hardware systems making them unreliable and there being no dollars to resolve them.
You also have spares packages required for every program which falls also in the sustainment category. The older the equipment the more it costs to upkeep. This is why you see a never ending and perpetual cycle of Tech Refresh or new equipment development. In most cases, companies don't develop on IRAD (Internal Research and Development) like they use to. ie. build a widget and then market and sale said widget. Then, once there was a buyer, the cost of that IRAD would be eaten up in the purchasing of said widget amortized over the life cycle. In the economy of today, companies have had to trade IRAD for sustainment of personnel and facilities. What now happens is that companies are relying on concept procurement. Gov't levies a requirement through the release of a TRD, companies go and say, I can build this widget for X dollars. Then the Gov't will select a couple of vendors to build a prototype through a PRTA contract or even a prototype contract. After that, they'll push into a "Fly Off" through a series of Operational style tests. Again, funded by the Gov't. After the selection of the vendor, the procurement is broken up into LRIP contracts and ultimately into FRP contracts and then into the Sustainment ICS/CLS/PBL type contracts. All the while, the Gov't is footing the bill for every phase of this development. Very costly, right? Well, all of that slowed to a crawl in the last half decade.
I could probably write for another 5 or 6 paragraphs on this and how some of the left's sacred cows (Environmental elements) drive costs up. We all own, both sides owe the behemoth of the budget for a variety of factors.
Get the point?
You honestly think these countries give an accurate accounting? Prove it, Destroyer.
Well, you surely delivered on my question. I can completely understand how costs related to equipment has skyrocketed due to hardware technology upgrades and compatibility issues, and I would have to agree that whatever the cost we must strive to ensure that our military technology is not only advancing at the highest rate in the world but also that our systems are as close to failure proof as possible. But aren't these costs offset by the adaptation of what we spend our funding on? (Less troop strength, less tanks, etc)....I mean it couldn't possibly be tit for tat, but it must at least help defer some of the cost?
As far as the procurement process, it sounds like an inefficient mess. I don't claim to know how, or even if it is in need of being fixed. I wouldn't want to compromise competition, but a more efficient military budget is needed if $600+billion isn't cutting it.
Yes. Since they have to submit numbers to NATO.
Do you think they know how much we spend?
so.........
What did obamapuppet spend $9T on ?
http://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt.asp
* At the close of the federal government’s 2016 fiscal year (September 30, 2016), the federal government had roughly:
* Combining the figures above with the national debt and subtracting the value of federal assets, the federal government had about $84.3 trillion ($84,306,000,000,000) in debts, liabilities, and unfunded obligations at the close of its 2016 fiscal year.
* This $84.3 trillion shortfall is 93% of the combined net worth of all U.S. households and nonprofit organizations, including all assets in savings, real estate, corporate stocks, private businesses, and consumer durable goods such as automobiles and furniture.
* This shortfall equates to:
* These figures are based upon current federal law and “a wide range of complex assumptions” made by federal agencies.
Regarding this:
Absent an unprecedented change in health care delivery systems and payment mechanisms, the prices paid by Medicare for health services will fall increasingly short of the costs of providing these services. … Before such an outcome would occur, lawmakers would likely intervene to prevent the withdrawal of providers from the Medicare market and the severe problems with beneficiary access to care that would result.
What did obamapuppet spend $9T on ?
http://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt.asp
* At the close of the federal government’s 2016 fiscal year (September 30, 2016), the federal government had roughly:
- $8.5 trillion ($8,542,000,000,000) in liabilities that are not accounted for in the publicly held national debt, such as federal employee retirement benefits, accounts payable, and environmental/disposal liabilities.
- $29.0 trillion ($29,038,000,000,000) in obligations for current Social Security participants above and beyond projected revenues from their payroll and benefit taxes, certain transfers from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury, and assets of the Social Security trust fund.
- $32.9 trillion ($32,900,000,000,000) in obligations for current Medicare participants above and beyond projected revenues from their payroll taxes, benefit taxes, premium payments, and assets of the Medicare trust fund.
* Combining the figures above with the national debt and subtracting the value of federal assets, the federal government had about $84.3 trillion ($84,306,000,000,000) in debts, liabilities, and unfunded obligations at the close of its 2016 fiscal year.
* This $84.3 trillion shortfall is 93% of the combined net worth of all U.S. households and nonprofit organizations, including all assets in savings, real estate, corporate stocks, private businesses, and consumer durable goods such as automobiles and furniture.
* This shortfall equates to:
- $260,382 for every person living in the U.S.
- $670,058 for every household in the U.S.
- 451% of the U.S. gross domestic product.
- 2,370% of annual federal revenues.
* These figures are based upon current federal law and “a wide range of complex assumptions” made by federal agencies.
Regarding this:
- The Board of Social Security Trustees has stated that “significant uncertainty” surrounds the “best estimates” of future circumstances.”
- The Board of Medicare Trustees has stated that the program’s financial projections “are highly uncertain, especially when looking out more than several decades.”
- The Board of Medicare Trustees has stated that the program’s long-term costs may be “substantially higher” than projected under current law. This is because current law includes the effects of the Affordable Care Act, which will cut Medicare prices for “many” healthcare services to “less than half of their level” under prior law. Per the Trustees:
Absent an unprecedented change in health care delivery systems and payment mechanisms, the prices paid by Medicare for health services will fall increasingly short of the costs of providing these services. … Before such an outcome would occur, lawmakers would likely intervene to prevent the withdrawal of providers from the Medicare market and the severe problems with beneficiary access to care that would result.
these figures ought to be the clarion call among ALL Americans (Left, right, Center, "out there") to fix this debt bomb.
I've been posting about it since Trump's election, and I'm so glad and thankful to you WVU82 for posting it.
I simply can't understand how the Left chooses to ignore this, or fight Trump over his prescription to solve it but they have no other answers for it except to go just declare this nation a pure Socialist State. (maybe that's what they do want?)
However there is no debate in my mind about the most pressing issue facing us as a Free people. We must solve this debt burden, and the only way to solve it to to stop growing Government, cut taxes so we can grow the Economy instead, and set up strict fiscal discipline to stop the deficit spending, and reform entitlement programs, and use the additional revenues being generated by economic expansion to pay down the balance of the debt.
There is no other way. Kudos to WVU82 for keeping it real.
Trump is going to get us in deeper debt. He is proposing a $54 billion increase in military spending. He can't make up the difference in cuts in other places. At the same time, he is going to offer more tax breaks and he plans to build a useless wall/fence/nonsense.
Here is a pie chart to help you understand the magnitude of the increase in military spending and the other small areas of spending to try to capture cuts to offset the increased military spending.
I'm guessing your memory will get real fuzzy after this year's budget is final and the spending increase is about 15% and we go deeper in debt.
Trump is going to get us in deeper debt. He is proposing a $54 billion increase in military spending. He can't make up the difference in cuts in other places. At the same time, he is going to offer more tax breaks and he plans to build a useless wall/fence/nonsense.
Here is a pie chart to help you understand the magnitude of the increase in military spending and the other small areas of spending to try to capture cuts to offset the increased military spending.
I'm guessing your memory will get real fuzzy after this year's budget is final and the spending increase is about 15% and we go deeper in debt.
countryroads89 what traditionally happens to Federal revenues when our economy grows?
Do tax cuts traditionally hinder or expand economic growth?
Does every penny we spend on our 3 Trillion dollar plus budget have to be spent? Think we could afford to spend at least one penny less off every program dollar huh countryroads89? One lousy penny?
Do you realize that if we cut just one penny (1 cent) from every dollar we spend, and simply maintain that level of cuts off each non entitled program each year for the next ten 10 years, we'd balance our budget? (that's doing nothing else my friend, not even including Defense!)
So if we're growing our economy through tax cuts @ let's say 3 to 3-3.5% (allowing Americans to keep more of what they earn) and we continue to cut one penny off every discretionary dollar we spend, guess what happens to our debt countryroads89?
here read...learn from a "stupid guy"
The "penny plan"
http://dailysignal.com/2016/12/12/trumps-penny-plan-could-slash-federal-spending-over-decade/
https://thedailyhatch.org/2014/01/2...an-will-balance-budget-sooner-than-you-think/
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/02/using-penny-plan-
to-get-financial-house-in-order-072618
Now, what's the Left's winning alternative to this common sense very doable economic plan to address our crushing debt countryroads89? Let's hear it from your side so we can compare and contrast.
"Stupid people" want to be informed too 'ya know?
or will I just see this from you as an answer?
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