Timbo

You don't have to go all the way back to the 70's. Look at what happened in 1992. 20 years ago this year.

Rembember the Gramm-Rudman act? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E...ced_Budget_Act


Congress cut the military budget and closed a whole bunch of active duty bases. I was at Pease AFB (NH) when they closed it. Shortly thereafter two malls and 5 car dealerships located near the front gate went bankrupt, the local housing market crashed. Sound familiar?

All that wasted "Military Spending" money was actually being recycled, going from the tax payers, to Uncle Sam, on to our Airmen, and right back into the local economy, which was going right back to those same tax payers, who were complaing about the Miltary Budget.

So, what really happens when they cut Defense Spending?

Amercans become unemployed.

Unemployed Americans don't buy Airline tickets, at any price.

Anyone remember when Delta did it's first ever furlough?

1993, right after all the base closures.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Turns out War is good for American Business. Ask anyone at Haliburton.

But where would you rather have your tax dollars go? To support the education of, and employment of, a rather large miltary complex, which in turn creates millions of civilian jobs?

Or directly to Welfare Recipients, the same people who were laid off by the budget cuts...

I'd rather my tax dollars were spent on their pay checks, than their welfare checks.

KC10 FATboy

The scary part of the unemployment numbers is the long term unemployment rate (unemployed longer than 27 weeks) is unchanged and they account for nearly half of the total unemployment. Once the unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, the 8.5% will be revised and it usually revises higher (probably 8.6%).

What we should really be focusing on is the U-6 Total Employed number ... which is defined total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force..

and the current unrevised U-6 number is 15.2%.

forgot to bid

Yes and no.

Yes it will increase but no it won't be counted because come hell or high water unemployment must drop to below 8% by November. So change the numerator or denominator as necessary to achieve that goal so that you can get headlines that read "unemployment rate decreasing, turned the corner, don't change horses midstream..."

Because nobody will report that the U6 sits at around 16% last I heard and real unemployment is around 10.9 to maybe 11.5 and all of that includes a lot of Christmas season part time workers.

dragon

Good point! I didn't cite that one because it didn't have a catchy phrase associated with it, but it is a much better example. I had numerous friends get cut from the squadron because they didn't go to the academy or have a four year ROTC scholarship - in other words they had an R at the end of their commission.

War has unfortunately made more fortunes throughout history than peace ever did. WWTB (T for Tebow).

Timbo

Tebow was never in the military, so I'm guessing he would cry...

Here is one of my favorite writers, very funny and satyrical. If you want to read two funny books, one about Politicians, and the other about the Military, check them out, they have been out for a long time so they are both available in paperback now: Give war a Chance and Parliment of *****s:

http://www.amazon.com/Give-War-Chanc.../dp/0679742018

http://www.amazon.com/Parliament-***...5952523&sr=1-1

KC10 FATboy

The problem now is that our total debt is to high ... way to high. They must cut government spending and balance the budget, paying down the debt.

We aren't out of the woods yet. The pain hasn't even started.

scambo1

Start with ALL unearned entitlements. Remove the "addicts" from the disability roles. 2 year maximum on welfare. Sign up for welfare, get neutered. Tell the populous that they have the "right" to starve to death by their own hand. Bulldoze all "projects". Bulldoze all inner city wastelands.

Start a CCC type system to clean up, learn trades, work for what they get.

No I'm not a nazi and I have a heart. Tough love is still love.

If you get a goobermint check, you have to work for it. Charity is for charities to administer, not goobermints.

Carl Spackler

You're a little too soft for me, but it's a good start.

Carl

scambo1

Perspective from one of those chain emails:

* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

Let's now remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:

* Annual family income: $21,700
* Money the family spent: $38,200
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts: $385

orvil

Decline the x-rays unless you have a complaint. You don't need dental x-rays every six months. Every two years is sufficient. They are a ripoff.

Brush, floss and use a dental rinse. However, once you get past childhood cavities, issues usually show up in your late 40's or 50's.

Yes, we should have all been dentists.