I know we have a category labeled defense but does it include foreign aid ? all the CIA,FBI,TSA, AND OTHER acronymical departments. Does it cover the war on drugs ? I doubt it Half of our law enforcenment would be clasified as National Defense
[/quote]
No, most of the acronym agencies you are referring to are not under defense. The CIA is funded through the National Intelligence program, and things like the FBI and ATF are under the Department of Justice. The federal budget is available for all to see, so you can just look it up for yourself. Here is a link to it:
I know we have a category labeled defense but does it include foreign aid ? all the CIA,FBI,TSA, AND OTHER acronymical departments. Does it cover the war on drugs ? I doubt it Half of our law enforcenment would be clasified as National Defense
[/quote]
No, most of the acronym agencies you are referring to are not under defense. The CIA is funded through the National Intelligence program, and things like the FBI and ATF are under the Department of Justice. The federal budget is available for all to see, so you can just look it up for yourself. Here is a link to it:
I know we have a category labeled defense but does it include foreign aid ? all the CIA,FBI,TSA, AND OTHER acronymical departments. Does it cover the war on drugs ? I doubt it Half of our law enforcenment would be clasified as National Defense
[/quote]
No, most of the acronym agencies you are referring to are not under defense. The CIA is funded through the National Intelligence program, and things like the FBI and ATF are under the Department of Justice. The federal budget is available for all to see, so you can just look it up for yourself. Here is a link to it:
I know we have a category labeled defense but does it include foreign aid ? all the CIA,FBI,TSA, AND OTHER acronymical departments. Does it cover the war on drugs ? I doubt it Half of our law enforcenment would be clasified as National Defense
[/quote]
No, most of the acronym agencies you are referring to are not under defense. The CIA is funded through the National Intelligence program, and things like the FBI and ATF are under the Department of Justice. The federal budget is available for all to see, so you can just look it up for yourself. Here is a link to it:
I know we have a category labeled defense but does it include foreign aid ? all the CIA,FBI,TSA, AND OTHER acronymical departments. Does it cover the war on drugs ? I doubt it Half of our law enforcenment would be clasified as National Defense
[/quote]
No, most of the acronym agencies you are referring to are not under defense. The CIA is funded through the National Intelligence program, and things like the FBI and ATF are under the Department of Justice. The federal budget is available for all to see, so you can just look it up for yourself. Here is a link to it:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
LOL @ obamacare SAVING 140 billion by 2022… haha, apperently no one looked at HI costs in MA before prepping this.
I’ve read through these tables like a dozen times now, and find new things to laugh at each time.[/quote]
The first rule of budget-making is to assume that suddenly the economy is going to match China’s growth rate and rainbows and gold will fall from the sky and blowjobs will be given out at random.
If you want to hear some funny shit about budgeting, here in California in the early 2000’s, they budgeted the state assuming the DOW would be over 20 million by the end of the century LULZ !
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
LOL @ obamacare SAVING 140 billion by 2022… haha, apperently no one looked at HI costs in MA before prepping this.
I’ve read through these tables like a dozen times now, and find new things to laugh at each time.[/quote]
The first rule of budget-making is to assume that suddenly the economy is going to match China’s growth rate and rainbows and gold will fall from the sky and blowjobs will be given out at random.
[/quote]
Well, in his defense he pretty much batted 1000 with that call… Although he’s not been president for 15 years, so let’s leave ol’ Bill out of this eh?
[quote]UtahLama wrote:
My friends in Australia fly here for specialist treatment…because they would have to wait MONTHS there to see a doctor.
Same with Canada and England.
It sounds good in theory, but the practical application of socialized medicine is just not possible.[/quote]
My bullshit detectors are going off.
Wait times in the Australian private medical sector are close to zero even for elective surgery. And a damn sight cheaper than flying to the US and having the procedure done here.
What is much more likely is they wanted a kind of surgery only offered by a couple of doctors in Australia. But that happens when the entire country has a population of less than 25 million.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
I would also like to point out to Pitt and others who like to bring up the “unfunded wars” argument, that the total cost of war since 2001 is approximately 1.4 trillion. that’s what we’ve spent in the last 12 years.
[/quote]
That is what it has cost so far. Long term it is estimated to cost over 3 trillion. Lets not minimize the cost of the wars.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
This is why I pay zero attention to the “but bush ran two unfunded wars!!” Nonsense–the total cost of both wars over all 12 years is approximately 1 year of obama’s fantastic economic ideas. Please stop using that argument. I get it, it was a bad idea, but it pales utterly in comparison to the absolute idiocy that Obama has been pushing. So please, can everybody stop giving the tired old argument legs?[/quote]
Yep. Bush pushed federal spending through the roof and the democrats have kept it there.
[quote]NickViar wrote:
TV, computers and cell phones are not luxuries? You classify those items as necessities?
How much should Wal-Mart pay its employees? Whenever I go into Wal-Mart it seems to have plenty of workers.
Economics.[/quote]
I would classify computers and cell phones as necessities. Computers are a huge help when searching for work, when preparing for interviews and job applications, and in improving marketable skills.
Likewise having a mobile phone makes it much easier to apply for and organise to get a job and if you go with a cheap plan it does not cost much more than a home phone line.
When you are out of work you have an obligation to do your best to find work rather than live off the state. So investing small amounts of money in areas that will drastically improve your chances of landing a job is a necessity.
My point is national defense is only 18% of the budget or about 1/5th. There are several 1000 pound gorillas in the room aside from the 800 pounder you mentioned. [/quote]
Agreed. The big three are medicare+medicaid, social security, and defense. All three need serious cuts. Now who is willing to touch them?
Even on this forum how many posts are about the big three that will bankrupt the nation? For every post about one of these three there are at least 4-5 posts bitching about people on unemployment benefits. Yet cut housing subsidies, food stamps, and unemployment insurance to 0 and you aren’t doing a damn thing to fix the deficit.
Yet on these forums, and I feel in real life, this is where the “rights” anger and attention are directed (excluding the real conservatives on the forum like thunderbolt and sloth). So the “right” spends all of their time bitching about the unemployed playing xbox games and ignores the bigger problems.
Demonize food stamps but don’t want to do anything about the high levels of wasteful military spending? The moderates and center left rightly see you as assholes. So do many traditional conservatives like myself.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
I would also like to point out to Pitt and others who like to bring up the “unfunded wars” argument, that the total cost of war since 2001 is approximately 1.4 trillion.
[/quote]
One of my points was considering the size and scope of our defenses from drugs to Disabled vets are not covered by budget . The costs migrate . I am no expert in Military budget but I have looked into aspects concerning the war on drugs and that has many costs that are not classified under it’s budget.
That is what it has cost so far. Long term it is estimated to cost over 3 trillion. Lets not minimize the cost of the wars.
[/quote]
You realise that the unfunded liabilities of Medicare, SS and other entitlement programs has been calculated at $70 trillion? Defence spending over the course of an 11 year global counterinsurgency has cost $1.4 trillion. You have not established that defence spending is one of the ‘big three’ at all. You talk as if you’re living in a garrison state or something. Where’s the ‘wasteful military spending?’
I haven’t noticed that. I’ve noticed people complaining about the culture of dependency. That is the root of the problem is it not? You can see the end result in places like Greece where 50% of young people are unemployed.
That’s a loaded question. You have claimed that the ‘big three’ are medicare+medicaid, social security, and defence, that ‘wasteful military spending’ is not receiving due attention and that there is too much criticism of entitlement spending. Further you argue that the unemployed should receive a free Obama phone and Obama computer to help them find work.
Firstly, you need to establish that there is indeed wasteful military spending. How much of total military spending does it account for? What is the cause of the wastage? What can be done to alleviate it? How much should the defence budget be and how can it fulfil its functions on the budget you have assigned it? Without answering these questions any talk of defence cuts is meaningless hyperbole.
Egon von Greyerz, founder of Matterhorn Asset Management in Switzerland:
“U.S. debt is increasing by approximately $1.5 trillion per year. If you add to that the increase in unfunded liabilities, you get an increase, only in 2012, of $7 trillion.”
The $70 trillion represents the current entitlement debt and unfunded liabilities when calculated according to 'Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) Some have calculated it much higher at $130 trillion.
Egon von Greyerz, founder of Matterhorn Asset Management in Switzerland:
“U.S. debt is increasing by approximately $1.5 trillion per year. If you add to that the increase in unfunded liabilities, you get an increase, only in 2012, of $7 trillion.”
The $70 trillion represents the current entitlement debt and unfunded liabilities when calculated according to 'Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) Some have calculated it much higher at $130 trillion.[/quote]
