David Swanson: Up Is Down – The Military Budget
If you’ve been watching the network news channels and reading the NYT/WP/AP news stories you’re probably under the impression that Obama is radically slashing military spending, right? .. The reality is that the overall military budget compared to Bush II’s last one is UP!! UP BY 21 BILLION DOLLARS!!! But how can that be, us consumers of MSM news ask ourselves? Are we being lied to?! Well, as Swanson illustrates at AfterDowningStreet, not so much lied to as corralled into Kremlin-like thought spaces that assure us.. of… something… not sure what exactly. Even folks like Rachel Maddow, Air America and True Majority are spinning this as a good thing for progressives. I myself am more baffled than ever – mab .. read more
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3 Responses to “David Swanson: Up Is Down – The Military Budget”
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There are a number of things wrong here.
First, I never once heard Obama say that he planned to cut the military budget. Find me a single reference to this in any speech he made during his campaign or after.
Second, the actual increase in the budget is from $513 billion to $535 billion; the smallest actual dollar increase in the history of the U.S.
Third, it is not “the largest military budget in the history of the world.” That honor belongs to pre-perestroika Russia, which had the largest military budgets as percentage of GNP for almost a decade.
Fourth, the writer must have missed Rachel Maddow’s show on Mon, when she clearly stated that the military budget was increasing. (Though she did this in response to certain Republicans who were claiming that it was being cut.)
Finally, what Gates is attempting is the largest – and most welcome – overhaul of the military budget in U.S. history, getting rid of wasteful pork and other unnecessary spending (failed systems, etc.), and putting the money toward personnel, necessary equipment, and even the “fringe benefits” of military personnel – an area that has suffered for over two decades.
Before all you radical lefties engage in a knee-jerk reaction to anything “military” (and particularly military spending), you really ought to read up on exactly what is occurring – and NOT just from far-left sources that support your preconceived notions.
Peace.
Posted on 09-Apr-09 at 9:30 am | PermalinkIan the military budget is ridiculously massive .. and besides the basic point is that the budget is going up not down, which isn’t really being reported
it’d be nice to live in a world where suggesting that we cut, ACTUALLY CUT, military spending that is already many times larger than what the rest of the world spends combined and devote it to more pressing human needs isn’t a “far left” position
Posted on 09-Apr-09 at 9:46 am | PermalinkI do have a ‘preconceived’ notion that the military is too high. I know it is. MB
Posted on 09-Apr-09 at 11:25 am | Permalink