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Think tank recommends big benefits cuts

If we're going to have the military just be a jobs program then we can provide just as many jobs to doctors and nurses, even more, by instituting a national health service to provide universal health care.

As long as the AMA can impose a quota limit on the number of doctors in the US regardless of whether we have a national health service or not will be moot as many of those minorities are going to be looking from the outside in.
 
Sorry folks but you cannot have it both ways. If we are to take the knife to the federal budget, we have to look at some of the big ticket items that are discretionary and defense fits that description to the tee.

We are going to have to decide as a people if we want to continue to outspend the next 12, 14, 17 whatever that number is now nations defense spending COMBINED or do we believe we can still have national security if we just outspend the to top five or so combined? At what point is it overkill?

We are actually seeing people talk about cutting things that people worked their entire lives for like Social Security and before we do that we should have a long hard discussion about just where we want our limited resources to go to. Do we want money going into the pockets of those who worked hard for it and help up their end of the bargain for the last four or five decades or do we want to continue on a military spending binge?

Overkill would be begin when we have 25% more capability than need to defeat all the worlds militaries combined and it is kept within a decade of current technology for all systems.
 
WHAT??? the GAO (General Accounting Office) is the budget branch of Congress. they don't recommend ****. Your not making any sense at all.

Um, isn't the purpose of the GAO study, that you mentioned in the first post, to collect information used to make budgetary recommendations to the Congress?
 
Hahahaha cut military, of course, or we could quit giving former presidents such great retirement benefits for what, serving for all of 8 years.
 
Um, isn't the purpose of the GAO study, that you mentioned in the first post, to collect information used to make budgetary recommendations to the Congress?

Based on expenditure vs budget yes. They repeatedly say that the DOD cannot account for a portion of the monies they recieve from Congress and that they waste another part. As such they have repeatedly states that the DOD budget can be cut with no ill effects.
 
I have read the blog and have gathered this much.

Given the mandate for businesses to cover their employes under Obama care the proposal for having health care for veterans to be placed under businesses is cost shifting esp. since a lot of that care will be related to injuries due to military duty. The families of the veterans should be covered under the health care provided by their employers.

The proposal to delay retirement benefits for military should be a nonstarter as long as there is substantial opposition to delay retirement benefits in Social Security from 65 to 67. Any reductions of payments to military should not be done unless we are willing to do something similar to Social Security beneficiaries like those who have other income will take a reduction in benefits. I like the idea that future military enrollees will provide their own retirement benefits by enrolling in a investment like IRA.

The placement of troops is more in line with Geo-stratrigic policies and must be address under those.
Since the blog did not link the report I cannot comment further.
 
The only moral entitlement is my entitlement.

edit: Please die, autocorrect.
 
I have read the blog and have gathered this much.

Given the mandate for businesses to cover their employes under Obama care the proposal for having health care for veterans to be placed under businesses is cost shifting esp. since a lot of that care will be related to injuries due to military duty. The families of the veterans should be covered under the health care provided by their employers.

The proposal to delay retirement benefits for military should be a nonstarter as long as there is substantial opposition to delay retirement benefits in Social Security from 65 to 67. Any reductions of payments to military should not be done unless we are willing to do something similar to Social Security beneficiaries like those who have other income will take a reduction in benefits. I like the idea that future military enrollees will provide their own retirement benefits by enrolling in a investment like IRA.

The placement of troops is more in line with Geo-stratrigic policies and must be address under those.
Since the blog did not link the report I cannot comment further.

Many military vets, myself included, were promised free medical care for life for ourselves and our dependents. The government already reneged on this at least once and now wants to place an even greater burden on us. They are planning to cut TriCare Prime almost completely out, even though vets already pay a premium to upgrade to it. Also, already having healthcare is a bargaining chip for retired vets seeking employment, their new employer doesn't have to provide it. As to the effect of Obamacare, hopefully by Jan 30 next year it will dead and gone.

If they want to save some money and also give an improvement to some vets, then do away with VA hospitals. Since we already have a TriCare policy, they could simply change the coverages for that TriCare policy and allow disabled veterans to seek their own medical doctors/hospitals. I don't know the numbers, but already paying for a healtcare policy and providing the hospitals should be costing them far more than just providing a better policy would, i.e. providing us a zero cost one since some of us have free care at the VA anyway.

Trying to make the veterans pay into a retirement plan, especially considering how low their pay is, is utterly ridiculous. The majority of our military members are E-5 and below, they already are under the poverty level for actual pay and Obama and his crowd wants them to spend that little bit of pay to provide some of the costs of their own healthcare and that of their dependents and now to put in money to even get a retirement? With what? Some live in substandard housing and barely manage to feed their families on what they make now, how the hell are they ever going to cover that healthcare and retirement? Some of them already qualify for welfare and housing assistance if they wanted and WIC, what the hell, dump them off on medicaid also, just so someone who will vote liberal gets more benefits? Screw that.

It is already absolutely shameful the way this country treats it's veterans as opposed to welfare recipients.
 
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This is no different than what large companies have done to people who worked until they retired. Some are forced into early retirement so the company can save money on what they pay out. Also pay cuts and benefit cuts for those who already retired. It's only a matter of time for the same thing to happen to the military.
 
Hahahaha cut military, of course, or we could quit giving former presidents such great retirement benefits for what, serving for all of 8 years.

While we're at it, cut Congress pay to $75,000. And cut their healthcare benefits too. And no pensions unless you work 15 years.
 
This is no different than what large companies have done to people who worked until they retired. Some are forced into early retirement so the company can save money on what they pay out. Also pay cuts and benefit cuts for those who already retired. It's only a matter of time for the same thing to happen to the military.

Probably, hope they budget it for enough body bags once the blood bath begins because they did cut too deeply.
 
Spending is how we control all aspects of the government. As much as I respect our military, they shouldn't get a blank check to operate either.

For one thing, we don't have the money to pay for such a large military. For another, we need to stop our mentality that we are justified in our Wars Against Everything. Such things are deleterious to us as a stable, thriving nation.

Ike said to "beware of the Military Industrial Complex". It's high time our government started to pay attention and heed the warning. For an real-time example of what could happen if we don't pay heed, look no further than Russia losing the Cold War.

For a clear example of what could be if we continue on a course of out-of-control spending, poor infrastructure and no true manufacturing base, look no further than Greece.

We can do better, ladies and gentlemen. Compromise is key not "all or nothing/do it our way or else" politics which is what Republicans seem to be demanding.
 
While we're at it, cut Congress pay to $75,000. And cut their healthcare benefits too. And no pensions unless you work 15 years.

Alas, we are so dreaming if we think congress is gonna cut it's own benefits.
 
Hell of a way to say, "Thank you!".

I don't see how anyone in the world could be shocked by such a 'finding'. Though they talk 'nice nice' about the military, the left, in general, despises the military and military members. Who else would cut pay and benefits to those that actually work and offer service to our nation in order to have more money to buy votes of those dependent on government.
 
"Health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive" - Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

Yeah, and yet some people mistakenly think government involvement in health care makes costs go down. Crazy stuff.
 
Ike said to "beware of the Military Industrial Complex". It's high time our government started to pay attention and heed the warning. For an real-time example of what could happen if we don't pay heed, look no further than Russia losing the Cold War.

For a clear example of what could be if we continue on a course of out-of-control spending, poor infrastructure and no true manufacturing base, look no further than Greece.

We can do better, ladies and gentlemen. Compromise is key not "all or nothing/do it our way or else" politics which is what Republicans seem to be demanding.

The troops, who served and sacrificed for you and I, aren't the, "military industrial complex". They deserve to be given the bennies they were promised in return for their service.

The ultimate hazard here, is that cutting bennies and pay will hurt recruitment and neccesitate conscription, the next time we need to fill the ranks.

Cutting pay and bennies, now, would send a big knife in the backs of the people that sacrificed for YOU.
 
This is no different than what large companies have done to people who worked until they retired. Some are forced into early retirement so the company can save money on what they pay out. Also pay cuts and benefit cuts for those who already retired. It's only a matter of time for the same thing to happen to the military.

Did those people risk their lives protecting YOU? Did they volunteer to serve in the military, so that you weren't drafted?
 
"Health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive" - Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

Now would be a bad time to cut bennies for our soldiers, then. Right?
 
Did those people risk their lives protecting YOU? Did they volunteer to serve in the military, so that you weren't drafted?

Don't even go there with me. My brother served in the US military for 20 years. He's been to Korea, Iraq twice (under Bush Sr and Bush Jr), and other places that he is not allowed to tell me about. From what he has told me, he has seen and been through some real f**ked up s**t. He also has COPD, PTSD, and other physical ailments that prevent him from being able to work a job, thanks to his Iraq deployment. The only assignments he received that put him in harms way was when a republican was in office.

My best friend's father served in the US military. He was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. He was captured by the Nazis when he was 13 and sent to a concentration camp. He managed to escape from the concentration camp and came across General Patton's troop. He fought with the US and General Patton brought him back to the US and fought for him to become a US citizen for serving our country (I saw the newspaper article, so I have seen proof). He found a job working for Thorn Apple Valley in Michigan for 40 years. During his last year, the company laid him off and denied him his retirement benefits. He retained a lawyer but was unable to win his retirement benefits.

In a direct answer to your question, yes. There are former military people working for companies that have been screwed over and they risked their lives protecting me.
 
Hell of a way to say, "Thank you!".

A new report by a liberal-leaning think tank recommends a dramatic overhaul of military pay, retirement and health care benefits as part of a $1 trillion cut in defense spending over 10 years.

The Center for American Progress calls for capping pay raises, eliminating military health benefits for many retirees who are covered by an employer-provided plan, and reducing the value of military retired pay as well as making retirees wait until age 60 to start receiving it.

Army Times Mobile - Think tank recommends big benefits cuts

Of all the things we should NOT cut, it is military benefits. These brave men and women risk their lives in service of their country, regardless if we agree with the wars, and the reasons for them.
This is deplorable, despicable, and deserves much condemnation and ire.

In addendum to this, I must add that I am without a doubt in favor of our military being provided benefits for life.
Not to mention, each veteran that has served should qualify for an acre of the following property, free of charge, and to do with as they so please;

Federally Owned Land
 
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Don't even go there with me. My brother served in the US military for 20 years. He's been to Korea, Iraq twice (under Bush Sr and Bush Jr), and other places that he is not allowed to tell me about. From what he has told me, he has seen and been through some real f**ked up s**t. He also has COPD, PTSD, and other physical ailments that prevent him from being able to work a job, thanks to his Iraq deployment. The only assignments he received that put him in harms way was when a republican was in office.

My best friend's father served in the US military. He was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. He was captured by the Nazis when he was 13 and sent to a concentration camp. He managed to escape from the concentration camp and came across General Patton's troop. He fought with the US and General Patton brought him back to the US and fought for him to become a US citizen for serving our country (I saw the newspaper article, so I have seen proof). He found a job working for Thorn Apple Valley in Michigan for 40 years. During his last year, the company laid him off and denied him his retirement benefits. He retained a lawyer but was unable to win his retirement benefits.

In a direct answer to your question, yes. There are former military people working for companies that have been screwed over and they risked their lives protecting me.

And, they all did it so YOU didn't have to and now YOU are all for cutting their bennies.
 
Yeah, and yet some people mistakenly think government involvement in health care makes costs go down. Crazy stuff.

The government should not own the means of producing healthcare. Military Socialist Healthcare is massively expensive.

But to say that government involvement in healthcare cannot make costs down is an oversimplification of the issue and ignores ways government intervention can reduce costs.
 
The government should not own the means of producing healthcare. Military Socialist Healthcare is massively expensive.

But to say that government involvement in healthcare cannot make costs down is an oversimplification of the issue and ignores ways government intervention can reduce costs.

In general, do the people that support Obamacare, and even voice that it is 'not enough' or a 'good first step' want MORE government involvement or LESS?
 
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