Congress Spends More on Military than on Domestic Needs - WTF is Wrong With Them.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

It's not the amount of money that stuns me. It's the fact that more money is spent on "defense" than on "non-defense", during peace-time!

The bill will draw from the $1.66 trillion Schumer and Johnson agreed to as the top-line spending level.

Defense spending will jump 3% to $886 billion and non-defense spending will stay essentially flat relative to fiscal 2023 at nearly $773 billion.

Source: www.govexec.com...

The above "Continuing Resolution" was Approved by the Senate and the House tonight. President Biden will sign it after he wakes up at some point tomorrow. It will keep the government open until early March.

Source: rollcall.com...

WHY Aren't our elected officials spending more money on YOU and ME...our DOMESTIC NEEDS, than they are spending on Military-related items, when we're not even at war with anyone?!?!

Are Americans OK with elected members of Congress spending our tax dollars in this configuration?

-WeMustCare

a reply to: WeMustCare

Are Americans OK with elected members of Congress spending our tax dollars in this configuration?

No one told you that it's our duty as Americans to subsidize the defense of European countries and others so they can have universal healthcare and all that?

a reply to: WeMustCare

So your guy Johnson is in camp with Biden?
Didn't see that coming...

If I was MAGA-AF I would be super pissed at that backstabbing act.
Time to demand his removal if ya ask me.

originally posted by: Allaroundya4k
a reply to: WeMustCare

So your guy Johnson is in camp with Biden?
Didn't see that coming...

If I was MAGA-AF I would be super pissed at that backstabbing act.
Time to demand his removal if ya ask me.

Johnson says it's God's Will for Joe Biden to be President at this time.

www.businessinsider.com...

😇

a reply to: WeMustCare

Johnson says it's God's Will for Joe Biden to be President at this time.

Aren't all things that happen supposed to be God's will?

originally posted by: WeMustCare


WHY Aren't our elected officials spending more money on YOU and ME...our DOMESTIC NEEDS, than they are spending on Military-related items, when we're not even at war with anyone?!?!

Are Americans OK with elected members of Congress spending our tax dollars in this configuration?

-WeMustCare

Speaking for myself: yes, I have no problem with the federal government spending more on the military than on domestic needs.

For one thing, the Federal Government is the only government in the US that is authorized to spend money on "the common defense" in addition to "the general welfare". That means that states and local governments spend almost nothing on the military except for very minor amounts for their national guard. Almost all of the State and local budgets go for domestic needs, including public welfare, education, hospitals and healthcare, roads, police, prisons, and housing. Together, the states spend as much or more on domestic needs as the federal government.

And then there's the fact that basically all of your after tax income can go for your domestic needs, if you want it to.

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: WeMustCare

Johnson says it's God's Will for Joe Biden to be President at this time.

Aren't all things that happen supposed to be God's will?

If God is in full control of our existence, all that happens is his will. Otherwise, we'd have to admit that there's another "Big Guy" on the block who is just as powerful as God, or intimidates God.

a reply to: Boomer1947

GOOD POINT! I wasn't taking into account the state/local expenditure on domestic needs.

It's just that every time I see a huge amount spent on "defense", it conjures of images of the the Pentagon NOT being able to account for 61% of it's assets during last year's audit. That's 61% of 3.5 TRILLION dollars!

Terrible Waste and Lost Assets: www.sanders.senate.gov... g/

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: WeMustCare

Are Americans OK with elected members of Congress spending our tax dollars in this configuration?

No one told you that it's our duty as Americans to subsidize the defense of European countries and others so they can have universal healthcare and all that?

It's not necessarily our duty, but it makes a lot of sense.

At the end of WWII it was clear that the only two powers that could come to dominate the world in the immediate future were the US and USSR. It was also clear that the USSR was a very aggressive, expansionist power that certainly WOULD try to make the world over in their image if someone didn't stop them from doing it. It was also clear to US and European decision makers that the USSR would quickly develop nuclear weapons and that would make direct military confrontation with them extraordinarily dangerous for us.

As a practical matter, we were the only nation that could stop them for a variety of reasons. So, we decided it would be better to make the world more in our image (a democratic Republic) than to let the USSR make the world more in their image. That decision was made in our selfish national interests, but I think it also benefitted a large number of other countries. And I don't know about you, but strictly as a value judgment I'm glad we did that and I'm glad we were mostly successful.

So the challenge was to stop the USSR from taking over the world while preventing a nuclear war.

Basically, that requires being militarily superior to them in almost every regard. You have to be able to beat them, or at least prevent them from being able to prevail, in conventional wars in a large number of locations around the world. You also have to be able to convince them that they could not win a nuclear exchange. To achieve these goals you have to have a multifaceted strategy. First, you need to discourage nuclear weapons proliferation, so that the total number of nuclear weapons floating around in the world is as small as it can practically be. This is why the US has engaged in a strategy of entering into alliances in locations around the world where we have friendly allies and where we agree to provide a nuclear umbrella for those allies in exchange for them agreeing to not develop their own nuclear weapons. That's how it works for the most part in NATO, Japan, South Korea, Australia, etc. They provide bases for us and we agree to provide the nuclear "big stick".

Nuclear non-proliferation is also why we agreed to assure Ukraine that we would help them defend their 1991 boundaries in exchange for them decommissioning thousands of their nuclear warheads.

Having military basing privileges all over the world is what allows us to have aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, Marine Expeditionary Units and USAF air superiority fighters almost every place they need to be. Literally no other nation or collection of nations on the planet has that capability and it is what has allowed us to keep other expansionist nations (North Korea, Iran) in their cages.

Freedom of navigation on the sea assured by the US Navy is also what has allowed the greatest period of expansion of human economic welfare probably in the planet's history without a major multinational war.

It doesn't come cheap. We need to have not just good fighter jets, we need to have air dominance fighters that our enemies don't want to go up against and our friends want to own. We need more and bigger aircraft carriers than anyone else. We need stealth bombers that others can't see and can't shoot down. We need black projects that would give us the unfair advantage if we ever had to use them. And we've got all that like no one else. And the other interesting thing is that even though this doesn't come cheap, we've done all this while still creating the biggest most envied economy on the planet.

Populists and isolationists think these are all frivolous extravagancies that we should get rid of to save a few tax dollars. In fact, they are the best example of putting America first.

God put Joe Biden in office. So, all this must be for the good.

Go with it. God's will and all.

And I sure do hope Biden gets that Presidential immunity Trump is asking for.

I can't wait to write a letter to Biden asking if Seal Team Six can relieve us of the orange pain. And guess what, no one could prosecute him. Then I'd ask Biden, if he loses the next election, to not leave and just arrest the winner. And he could do that. NO PROBLEM. SO PLEASE SUPREME COURT, give Trump this win so we all can win. And I hope Republicans start that Civil War they have been threatening. I'D LOVE TO SEE DEMOCRACY DIE and Biden become the first American dictator. It's what America deserves for being so ignorant and hate-filled lately.

And we could cut the military budget by two thirds, and we'd be fine. So yes, Republicans and Democrats think more of their donors than you and I. But if you didn't already know that, where have you been lately?

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: WeMustCare

Johnson says it's God's Will for Joe Biden to be President at this time.

Aren't all things that happen supposed to be God's will?

Only the " Bad Things " . God says it Builds Character ........*)

The defence spending is about 15% of the federal budget.

Not more than half as this thread makes it sound.

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: WeMustCare

Are Americans OK with elected members of Congress spending our tax dollars in this configuration?

No one told you that it's our duty as Americans to subsidize the defense of European countries and others so they can have universal healthcare and all that?

The US government spends more on health per capita than most European countries.

Not having universal healthcare is a choice, not a budget constraint.

a reply to: WeMustCare

It's the state's job to wipe your butt for you, not the feds. Defense is really the only thing the feds should be paying for.... but wait until you see the SSA budget lol. You a fan of paying junkies not to work?

How many YOU and MEs does the US military employ?

How many YOU and MEs do US military contractors employ?

How much of the USs dwindling manufacturing base is military manufacturing?

a reply to: Dandandat3

AS of 2022, the US had roughly 1.4 million active service members between all branches

In a 2021 report, the US military had roughly 250,000 contractors

Per the Global Times, as of 2021, roughly 60% of US manufacturing was military.

a reply to: tamusan

Aren't all things that happen supposed to be God's will?

no God gave man free will. if everything was Gods will, no one would have any choices at all whether to commit acts of terror or start wars. God does have a purpose for all things that happen and uses the choices made by men to fulfill that purpose.

We also know that his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not are ways.

as far as we know all the stuff happening in the Ukrane, and middle east he wants a stop put to it, and the intervention by others in those areas are indeed his purpose.

originally posted by: PorkChop96
a reply to: Dandandat3

AS of 2022, the US had roughly 1.4 million active service members between all branches

In a 2021 report, the US military had roughly 250,000 contractors

Per the Global Times, as of 2021, roughly 60% of US manufacturing was military.

Military as part of overall manufacturing is no where near 60%. Not sure how the Global Times gets that figure.

and after the 6 trillion dollar spending spree we are now spending more on interest payments than dod.

*shrugs* people are so used to huge numbers they dont care, I remember when we passed 1 trillion in debt and people freaked out.

a reply to: BedevereTheWise

Do you have data to counter their number?