Budget Director Blames Defense Cuts on Rich Not Paying ?Fair Share?

[NVRBDR]

Some days, it?s harder than others to take the Obama Administration seriously.
The administration?s senior budget official, Office of Management and Budget acting Director Jeffrey Zients, decided a little partisan one-upmanship was more important than having a serious discussion about impending military cuts during a House Armed Services Committee hearing this week.
When asked about how the administration plans to prevent nearly $500 billion in mandatory military cuts, called sequestration, Zients said, ?What is holding us up right now is the Republican refusal to have the top two percent pay their fair share.?
The cuts will be triggered if there?s no budget deal with Congress by Jan. 2.
?Zeints? comments are pretty brazen in light of the $800 billion in wasted taxpayer dollars that was supposed to (but didn?t) stimulate the economy and which were, in effect, paid for by $800 billion in defense cuts,? said Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute.

 

[heckler7]

russia is putting a base in cuba and we are cutting our budget, brilliant

 

[LAM]

American Enterprise Institute is a neo-con think tank. so of course they don't think any cuts to the military is a good thing, major US defense contractors are pseudo-governent agency's. US imperialism is the #1 goal of the neo-cons.

in 2009 both Krugman and Stiglitz stated the stimulus was to small and to heavily weighted in tax cuts. historically tax cuts are one of the least effective means of fiscal stimulus (see page. 5 of the EPI report).

Breakdown of Funding

a 800B stimulus spread out over 3 years plus is roughly 266B a year on a 14T economy for the paltry stimulus of 1.9% annually.

the personal savings rate is still higher than it was pre-recession which would be expected when US homeowners lost 40% of their total wealth and the babyboomers which are about 28% of the total US population are entering retirement and are trying to compensate for as much of those losses as possible while in general the private sector is still in the process of de-leveraging.

Debt Outstanding Domestic Nonfinancial Sectors - Household, Consumer Credit Sector (HCCSDODNS)
Debt Outstanding Domestic Nonfinancial Sectors - Household, Consumer Credit Sector (HCCSDODNS) - FRED - St. Louis Fed

and from page. 3 of Chapter 3 from the IMF report on Household Debt:

"Housing busts preceded by larger run-ups in gross household debt are associated with significantly larger contractions in economic activity. The declines in household consumption and real GDP are substantially larger, unemployment rises more,
and the reduction in economic activity persists for at least five years. A similar pattern holds for recessions more generally: recessions preceded by larger increases in household debt are more severe.

The larger declines in economic activity are not simply a reflection of the larger drops in house prices and the associated destruction of household wealth. It seems to be the combination of house price declines and prebust leverage that explains
the severity of the contraction. In particular, household consumption falls by more than four times the amount that can be explained by the fall in house prices in high-debt economies. Nor is the larger contraction simply driven by financial
crises. The relationship between household debt and the contraction in consumption also holds for economies that did not experience a banking crisis around the time of the housing bust."

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/pdf/c3.pdf

 

[heckler7]

^^^ dude cant you ever sum it up, you copy and post novels. I end up scrolling past them. just sayn

 

[Big Pimpin]

I'm libertarian/conservative and I'm all for cutting the defense budget 40-50% from its peak. I don't see how we can't cut it that much if we're out of Iraq and leaving Shitstan. Plus, we could pull out of Germany and South Korea and save even more cheese.

 

[Zaphod]

I'm not 100% certain but it seems like since Vietnam there hasn't been a time that we haven't been in an armed conflict of one sort or another.

We're going to give you democracy even if it fucking kills you!

 

[troubador]

I'm libertarian/conservative and I'm all for cutting the defense budget 40-50% from its peak.

You clearly hate America and our troops.

 

[heckler7]

not blaming Clinton, but he cut the shit out of the military, when he did they cut the middle ranks which is your most hands on experienced group. lower ranks had to move up and didnt have the years of experience to complete tasks.
Then we ended up engaing in multiple wars and having to build our ranks up again. I lived it so its not some BS I copied off the internet. The rate things are going around the world I would think its wise to sustain our troops, or even fortify them.

 

[heckler7]

I'm libertarian/conservative and I'm all for cutting the defense budget 40-50% from its peak. I don't see how we can't cut it that much if we're out of Iraq and leaving Shitstan. Plus, we could pull out of Germany and South Korea and save even more cheese.

closing bases puts a huge hit on local economies. Its not just military who work on bases a good amount of civilians work there too. All the businesses directly outside the bases typically cater to military and would close if a base closed.

 

[Swiper]

to save money maybe we should close some of our 900 bases in over 120 countries around the world. that would be a good start.

 

[NVRBDR]

I'm libertarian/conservative and I'm all for cutting the defense budget 40-50% from its peak. I don't see how we can't cut it that much if we're out of Iraq and leaving Shitstan. Plus, we could pull out of Germany and South Korea and save even more cheese.

I agree with almost all libertarian policy, when it comes to defense, I disagree. Let me explain:

If we were living pre WW2, I believe libertarian defense policy could work, in theory. However, we are already the epicenter of almost every shitstorm on the planet, I think we're just too late to live under "you mind your business, I'll mind mine" but it does sound good, just 70 years too late, give or take a few

 

[LAM]

^^^ dude cant you ever sum it up, you copy and post novels. I end up scrolling past them. just sayn

anything not quoted with a source listed is from memory, I only copy and paste links. I've been studying this stuff for 2+ decades.

 

[LAM]

many of the problems in the US economy started decades ago back in the 60's when the "rest of the world" caught up to the US in terms of industrialization and manufacturing. there's nothing that other country's need that they can't manufacture themselves or obtain from a close trading partner. the wealthy country's of the west and OECD no longer have a advantage over the developing nations. we have been slowing down and they have been speeding up. the majority of the increase in GDP of the US since the 80's is fictitious, manufactured wealth from financial innovation like derivatives and the increase in the monetary base provided by the central bank. with only 20% of US GDP coming from trade there's not much that other country's need that they can't make themselves or obtain from a close trading partner. the US is the 3rd largest country in the world by population and our current economy can not support the number of people that desire to be employed.

fiscal stimulus out of the FED such as QE is nothing except money printing but that money is only given to capitalist at the top and it's the workers at the bottom that feel the effects of inflation on fuel, food and the reduction of purchasing power of wages.

instead of using that 16T to bail out the banks and large firms that were a big part in causing the problem they should have bailed out the entire country from the bottom up. there's no magic bean to fix decades of systemic economic problems. there was a shortage of jobs in the 70's so there's definitely a major shortage of them now, along with the consumption that those wages allow.

 

[ALBOB]

to save money maybe we should close some of our 900 bases in over 120 countries around the world. that would be a good start.

Gee, I wonder where you got those numbers?

Ron Paul’s strange claim about bases and troops overseas - The Washington Post

 

[Dale Mabry]

However, we are already the epicenter of almost every shitstorm on the planet,

Gee, I wonder why that is? Maybe it's because we shove our noses in to every shitstorm on the planet.

 

[hoyle21]

You clearly hate America and our troops.

I know you're being sarcastic, but that made me chuckle.

I 100% agree with him. Cut defense by 50% bring all our boys back to this country and set them on the Mexican boarder.

 

[troubador]

I know you're being sarcastic, but that made me chuckle.

I 100% agree with him. Cut defense by 50% bring all our boys back to this country and set them on the Mexican boarder.

We just fought two wars and are now 14 trillion in debt. Some people won't even consider cuts; they pull out the 'No true Scotsman' card or say we'll be annihilated. I think some people would oppose cuts no matter how crippling military spending was.

For those who oppose cuts, at what point are we spending too much on military? Where does it stop? 40%? 75%? 100%?

 

[oufinny]

I know you're being sarcastic, but that made me chuckle.

I 100% agree with him. Cut defense by 50% bring all our boys back to this country and set them on the Mexican boarder.

Yep. Let those places collapse where we were and focus on our own problems for once; like forcing out the old guard in Washington and putting some damn people in that will do things like actually fix problems.

 

[Zaphod]

We just fought two wars and are now 14 trillion in debt. Some people won't even consider cuts; they pull out the 'No true Scotsman' card or say we'll be annihilated. I think some people would oppose cuts no matter how crippling military spending was.

For those who oppose cuts, at what point are we spending too much on military? Where does it stop? 40%? 75%? 100%?

There are just too many in government that will not, under no circumstances, allow military budget cuts. Congress doesn't listen to what the military wants/needs. They just spend and buy whatever over-priced white elephant brings money to their district.

 

[Dale Mabry]

Yep. Let those places collapse where we were and focus on our own problems for once; like forcing out the old guard in Washington and putting some damn people in that will do things like actually fix problems.

Yup, and while we're at it start developing a better energy policy. How do you think places like Iran are going to fund their nuclear programs without the money from oil?

 

[Little Wing]

Homeless children at record high in US. Can the trend be reversed? - CSMonitor.com

I'm sure the imaginary money saved will be wisely spent on some asshole politicians retirement package or some bailout.

 

[Little Wing]

How about we just shoot Budget Directors until one starts turning shit around?

 

[Little Wing]

The Surprising Face of Hunger also Wears Military Fatigues Capital Area Food Bank of Texas Blog Capital Area Food Bank of Texas Blog

Close your eyes, and think of the first image of what a hungry person in Central Texas looks like. Is it a homeless man holding a sign on the side of the highway? Is it a woman standing in line at a food pantry? Is it a child in an after school program?
All of those images are correct. But let?s add one more image to that scene that probably doesn?t come to mind ? a soldier...

 

[Little Wing]

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public...&File_id=b69a6ebd-7ebe-41b7-bb03-c25a5e194365
? $75,000 to promote awareness about the role Michigan plays in producing Christmas trees & poinsettias.
? $15.3 million for one of the infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska.
? $113,227 for video game preservation center in New York.
? $550,000 for a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
? $48,700 for 2nd annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival, to promote Hawaii's chocolate industry.
? $350,000 to support an International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy.
? $10 million for a remake of "Sesame Street" for Pakistan.
? $35 million allocated for political party conventions in 2012.
? $765,828 to subsidize "pancakes for yuppies" in the nation's capital.
? $764,825 to study how college students use mobile devices for social networking.

7) Dead Federal Employees Continue to Get Benefits Checks ? (U.S. Office
of Personnel Management) $120 Million
The federal government sent an average of $120 million in retirement and disability payments to
deceased former federal employees every year for at least the past five years. 41
In a September 2011 report, the Inspector General (IG) for the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management found that ―the amount of post-death improper payments is consistently $100-
$150 million annually, totaling over $601 million in the last five years.‖42
In one example the IG found, an annuitant?s son cashed his dead father?s checks for 37 years.
The son?s scheme, which cost taxpayers more than $500,000, was discovered in 2008, when he
himself died. ―The improper payment was not recovered,‖ the IG reported.

and so on and so on.


Children, Prisoners, and Others Who Don?t Own Homes Awarded
Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credits (Internal Revenue
Service) ? $1 Billion
As much as $1 billion or more in tax credits for energy efficient residential improvements109 are
being claimed by individuals with no record of owning a home, including prisoners and
underage children.
The total amount improperly claimed this year or previously is unknown. But based upon a
review of a statistically valid sample by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
(TIGTA), 30 percent of the individuals who claimed the credit ―had no record of owning a
home.‖110 Nearly a half-a-million dollars of tax credits were being claimed by hundreds of
prisoners and children within the TIGTA sample.




Read more: Blog: Coburn releases list of most wasteful government spending



We need to get some tough assed bitch that has been feeding 7 kids on one income for 18 years to do the job of budgeting.

 

[NVRBDR]

this is shocking each and every time I see reports like this. This should be on every news channel all day every day until it's fixed, but will never happen.

Americans can't change anything in this convoluted government. This beast of a system is going to continue growing until there is nothing left to consume...

 

[LAM]

There are just too many in government that will not, under no circumstances, allow military budget cuts. Congress doesn't listen to what the military wants/needs. They just spend and buy whatever over-priced white elephant brings money to their district.

the fed gov is a big consumer of various goods and services from the private sector. of the roughly 75% of US GDP that is from consumption almost 25% of that is from the fed gov. there are lots of small and large firms that cater specifically to the needs of the fed gov. everybody thinks that there is "one magic bean" that can turn the US economy around, not even close. there are dozens of systemic problems that reach back decades and decades.

unfortunately the US constitution as written is extremely vague as many legal documents are and many parts of it are extremely subjective. lobbying as allowed in the US has frankly destroyed democracy and ultimately nothing changes until that which is one of the root causes has been changed. if not then we simply end up with another bunch of politicians that are another new group of puppets doing what is best for their family, etc.

 

[hoyle21]

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
Tou tell me that it’s evolution,
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
But when you talk about destruction,
Don’t you know that you can count me out.
Don’t you know it’s going to be alright,
Alright, alright.
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan.
You ask me for a contribution,
Well, you know
We’re doing what we can.
But if you want money for people with minds that hate,
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait.
Don’t you know it’s going to be alright,
Alright, alright.
You say you’ll change a constitution
Well, you know
We all want ot change your head.
You tell me it’s the institution,
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead.
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao,
You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.
Don’t you know it’s going to be alright,
Alright, alright