Oh my god...
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it's not like all of that $437bil just evaporates into thin air. Think of how much of that is reinvested back into the economy via jobs (directly and indirectly) and commerce (buying of equipment from private business, ect)
I like us, if I didn't I'd goto a colllege in Canada.
I just beileve we could drastically change our spending.
Think of all the actual useful stuff we could do with it...
Astronomically lower taxes, better schools and no more forgien oil dependance.
Yea, but a lot of it is waste. Not only in $600.00 toilet seats, but there's a huge amount in just getting items, letting them sit unused, and then selling them pennies on the dollar, if that.
There's a word I'm searching for... to describe the resources wasted on the US war machine... what's that word again? Oh yes... madness. Delusional, psychotic, deranged, unhinged, madness.
judasmachine
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- Sep 15, 2002
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Senate committee OKs $441B defense bill
Saturday, May 14, 2005 Posted: 9:32 PM EDT (0132 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate committee has approved a $441.6 billion defense bill for fiscal 2006 that envisions spending an additional $50 billion next year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Our forces serving around the world are truly the first line of defense in the security of our homeland, and they deserve our strongest support," Sen. John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said after the authorization bill passed on Friday.
"This bill provides our men and women in uniform and their families, the resources and authorities they need to successfully carry out their missions."
The bill:
# Adds $1.4 billion over the president's budget request for force protection gear for service members.
# Authorizes $109.2 billion for military personnel, including costs of pay, allowances, bonuses, death benefits and permanent change of station moves.
# Authorizes the budget request of $3.4 billion for the Future Combat Systems program, including $231.6 million for the Non-line of Sight Launch System and $107.6 million for the Non-line of Sight Cannon.
# Authorizes $344.2 million for up-armored high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles and wheeled vehicle add-on ballistic protection to provide force protection for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
# The bill also authorizes $878.4 million for 240 Stryker vehicles. Critics of the Army's Stryker troop-carrying vehicle say it inadequately protects soldiers.
Congress had approved on Tuesday an additional $82 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to combat terror worldwide, boosting the cost of the global effort since 2001 to more than $300 billion.
The Senate approved the measure unanimously, 100-0. Earlier, the House of Representatives easily approved the measure. It now goes to President Bush for his signature, which is certain.
That bill includes sweeping immigration changes, a nearly tenfold increase in the one-time payment for families of troops killed in combat and money to build a sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq's capital.
Most of the money -- $75.9 billion -- is for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while $4.2 billion goes to foreign aid and other international relations programs.
cnn.com
Saturday, May 14, 2005 Posted: 9:32 PM EDT (0132 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate committee has approved a $441.6 billion defense bill for fiscal 2006 that envisions spending an additional $50 billion next year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Our forces serving around the world are truly the first line of defense in the security of our homeland, and they deserve our strongest support," Sen. John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said after the authorization bill passed on Friday.
"This bill provides our men and women in uniform and their families, the resources and authorities they need to successfully carry out their missions."
The bill:
# Adds $1.4 billion over the president's budget request for force protection gear for service members.
# Authorizes $109.2 billion for military personnel, including costs of pay, allowances, bonuses, death benefits and permanent change of station moves.
# Authorizes the budget request of $3.4 billion for the Future Combat Systems program, including $231.6 million for the Non-line of Sight Launch System and $107.6 million for the Non-line of Sight Cannon.
# Authorizes $344.2 million for up-armored high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles and wheeled vehicle add-on ballistic protection to provide force protection for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
# The bill also authorizes $878.4 million for 240 Stryker vehicles. Critics of the Army's Stryker troop-carrying vehicle say it inadequately protects soldiers.
Congress had approved on Tuesday an additional $82 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to combat terror worldwide, boosting the cost of the global effort since 2001 to more than $300 billion.
The Senate approved the measure unanimously, 100-0. Earlier, the House of Representatives easily approved the measure. It now goes to President Bush for his signature, which is certain.
That bill includes sweeping immigration changes, a nearly tenfold increase in the one-time payment for families of troops killed in combat and money to build a sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq's capital.
Most of the money -- $75.9 billion -- is for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while $4.2 billion goes to foreign aid and other international relations programs.
cnn.com
Right, just like pretty much all government spending. And just like all government spending, there is a point at which the money is simply changing hands, it isn't helping anything.
Let's look at the interstate highway system. It is a vital part of our country and our economy, so money has to be spent to keep it up. If you spend too little, the highway is rough, traffic slows down, there are more accidents, etc, etc. Up to a certain point, increases in highway spending can be directly related to increased utility from the highway system. But it is clearly possible to spend too much money, resurfacing every single interstate every month won't make the system any better. It will of course employ highway workers and help related industries, but the government has finite money, and it could be better spent where there is a real need. Military spending, past the point where it makes us safer, is just as wasteful.
If we spent some of that money where it was really needed, like in education, we would get all the benefits you mentioned, plus we'd have better educated kids.
Why? I don't think it's vital that we be able to totally destroy anyone we want at any time in order to be successful. After all, we're the only country set up like that, so other countries seem to make out okay.
Nothing would happen. The solution to education is not more money (as evidenced by NCLB not really working [check test scores for proof]), it's total reform our of education system.
I agree that there is a lot of room for improvement, but there are some pretty obvious ways that more money would help. Suppose we payed teachers way more than they make now, enough to really attract some of the best and brightest. Then pay for more of them to decrease class sizes. That's a lot of money that would cost, I don't think reform would do all of it.
Although I do think education wastes a lot of money...
You know that right now Administrators make three times as much as teachers. Explain that one. Upping teacher pay is not really that big of a solution. They make what, $30,000 starting out, working 5 days a week and only 8 months a year. My aunt is a teacher and makes $60,000 teaching 4th grade. Well, if they worked on a full 12 month schedule like everyone else, she's making the equivalent to $90,000. That isn't bad at all.
Reducing class size is definitely something that should be done. That being said, our college system in this country is fantastic, and our lower schools should probably be modeled around them.
"A comparison of the budgets for the world's greatest military spenders. Note that this comparison is done in US dollars and thus is not adjusted for purchasing power parity"
Translation: US labour and raw materials are more expensive than chinese ones.
Translation: US labour and raw materials are more expensive than chinese ones.
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