Friday, July 22, 2011

Congress slashes military spending; increases Pentagon budget by $17 billion

“Who knows where the needle will end up?” said Thomas Donnelly, director of the Center for Defense Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “Nobody has defense as a high priority. It’s increasingly looking like everybody wants to toss the military overboard.”

-- "Pentagon braces for much deeper military spending cuts as part of debt deal," The Washington Post, July 20, 2011
Oh no! Before the invading Chinese armies hit U.S. shores, let's consider where Americans' money goes when they pay their income tax:


Meanwhile, from Reuters earlier this month:
A $649 billion defense spending bill for next year easily passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday after four days of debate . . . .

The measure, approved 336-87 in the Republican-dominated House, would raise the Pentagon's base budget for the 2012 fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1 by about $17 billion over current levels, despite intense pressure to slash the $1.4 trillion U.S. deficit.

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Obama asked for about $690 billion for military spending for 2012. This House bill does not include funds for U.S. nuclear weapons programs or military construction, which come in other bills and add about $33 billion to defense spending.
To the 14 million-plus Americans (officially) unemployed: don't you wish you were getting tossed overboard like the military?

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:07 AM

    How are "military spending" and "Pentagon budget" two different things?

    Take away with one hand, give with the other.

    Pentagon and "the military" are the same thing!

    Only inside the Beltway do people deceive themselves that "the military" and "the Pentagon" are two different things. It's part of the fakeness of the "insider" perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, that was my point.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:07 PM

    Thank the lord for our excellent government- keeping our reserve army of the unemployed stocked full of candidates for our brave military.

    ReplyDelete