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Want to make a deal on cutiing defense spending?

See OP: Are you willing to make that deal?

  • Total voters
    10
How about we cut the entitlement spending in half and stop the military welfare we give out to Europe, Africa, Latin America, East Asian and the Middle East.
 
Goobieman said:
The point was to present an issue that you would refuse to address in any meaningful way, as is your custom. Good to see you contine to live up to your reputation.
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Ah, so I was right. It was a dishonest poll from the start.
 
Goobieman said:
This is directed mostly for those on the left who (supposedly) care about the federal deficits and the national debt, but all may feel free to respond...

FY2009
Total defense spending was $655.8B
Total spending on entitlements was $2288.7B

How much do -you- want to cut defense spending?

-I'll- agree to cutting defense spending by any amount -you- care to specifiy, so long as -you- then agree to cut entitlement spending $3.48 for each $1 cut from defense.

Further, I'll let YOU choose what programs are cut from defense, so long as I get to choose what programs are cut from entitlements.

Are you willing to make that deal?

If so, how much to you want to cut...?
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I'd like to cut everything and, ideally, eliminate many entitlement programs altogether. But cutting entitlements blindly according to an arbitrary formula like this is a bad idea. Entitlements are entitlements for a reason. We'd need to phase them out in order not to leave people high and dry. Discretionary spending is discretionary for a reason, which makes it the best place for cuts in the short term.
 
Goobieman said:
This is directed mostly for those on the left who (supposedly) care about the federal deficits and the national debt, but all may feel free to respond...

FY2009
Total defense spending was $655.8B
Total spending on entitlements was $2288.7B

How much do -you- want to cut defense spending?

-I'll- agree to cutting defense spending by any amount -you- care to specifiy, so long as -you- then agree to cut entitlement spending $3.48 for each $1 cut from defense.

Further, I'll let YOU choose what programs are cut from defense, so long as I get to choose what programs are cut from entitlements.

Are you willing to make that deal?

If so, how much to you want to cut...?
Click to expand...

There needs to be cuts all around. I couldn't say if this ratio should be used, but there certainly needs to be cuts from many programs (military and others) until our budget is balanced.
 
Hatuey said:
Is the point of this thread is to demonstrate that military spending is just as important or wasteful as social spending even though the overwhelming majority of the industrialized world disagrees?
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Lest we forget, the conservatives live in the previous centuries, in the age of empires and surpression of the working man...

Also, lets have a clear cut definition of "entitlements".

As far as "waste" goes, I've seen a ton of this in both the private and public sectors, others would not see this same waste if it bit them on their fat arses.
 
digsbe said:
I wouldn't make this deal. I believe we should increase defense spending and vastly decrease entitlement spending. We also need to reform government employment and cut out waste/pork.
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Tempting to cut military spending down to nothing.
News flash - The Germans Nazis, the Italian Fascists, the Soviet Communists, the Japanese imperialists have all been bested.
90% (as I am to understand) of elQadae or whatever (Islamic extremists) have been killed or sent packing.
The world does have its UN - lets use it...
We, as a nation, must learn how to make friends, rather than enemies.
For two hundred years, this cutting waste and "pork" have been a topic of discussion.
IMO, its safe to say that waste, at least a good portion, has been cut..
 
No deal on defence spending cuts.. just bloody well cut them.

U.S._Defense_Spending_Trends.png
 
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Hatuey said:
Is the point of this thread is to demonstrate that military spending is just as important or wasteful as social spending even though the overwhelming majority of the industrialized world disagrees?
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Proper defense spending is a thousand times more important that unconstitutional entitlement spending. If the rest of the "industrialized" world disagrees with us, we should stop spending money to defend them, and they can start sending our useless maggots money.
 
Hatuey said:
Ah, so I was right. It was a dishonest poll from the start.
Click to expand...
As I said:
Good to see you contine to live up to your reputation.
 
Winston Smith said:
Entitlements are entitlements for a reason. Discretionary spending is discretionary for a reason.
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Interesting that "entitlement' spending all stems from programs that the Constitution gives no power to create, while "discretionary" spending stems from programs that the Constitution directly gived the power to create.

Revenue spent on entitlements is spent gegardless of availabe income, and, alone, exceeds all revenue created by all means. As a result is is a financial cancer, and needs to be tackled before anything else.
 
samsmart said:
Why is that a deal you don't want to agree on?
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No. YOUR response to the issue put to you was "no deal".
Why wont YOU take the deal, as offered?
 
Goobieman said:
Interesting that "entitlement' spending all stems from programs that the Constitution gives no power to create, while "discretionary" spending stems from programs that the Constitution directly gived the power to create.

Revenue spent on entitlements is spent gegardless of availabe income, and, alone, exceeds all revenue created by all means. As a result is is a financial cancer, and needs to be tackled before anything else.
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The courts disagree with you, obviously, about the constitutionality of entitlement programs. I sympathize with your argument to some extent, but it's already been lost. I do agree that domestic spending is monstrously out of control compared to anything the Founders envisaged, but this is also true of so-called defense spending. It has everything to do with "full-spectrum dominance" and very little to do with actual defense. And you can at least argue that entitlement programs accomplish some good. Killing people and breaking stuff isn't productive in any way unless you're actually in danger...or unless you subscribe to the broken window fallacy. This is why small-government conservatives have historically opposed the warfare state right along with the welfare state.
 
samsmart said:
How about we make this deal instead? We'll make no-bid contracts for entitlement programs illegal along with no-bid contracts for defense spending. Is that fair?
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No it is not, and obviously you do not understand how sole-source (no-bid) contracting works.
 
Gabriel said:
No deal on defence spending cuts.. just bloody well cut them.
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Now, be honest and show us a similar chart illustrating the growth of entitlement spending.
For added fun, add in a graph that shows entitlement spending as a% of total revenue.
 
Goobieman said:
This is directed mostly for those on the left who (supposedly) care about the federal deficits and the national debt, but all may feel free to respond...

FY2009
Total defense spending was $655.8B
Total spending on entitlements was $2288.7B

How much do -you- want to cut defense spending?

-I'll- agree to cutting defense spending by any amount -you- care to specifiy, so long as -you- then agree to cut entitlement spending $3.48 for each $1 cut from defense.

Further, I'll let YOU choose what programs are cut from defense, so long as I get to choose what programs are cut from entitlements.

Are you willing to make that deal?

If so, how much to you want to cut...?
Click to expand...

Maybe more 1 to 1. I'd get us out of our trillion dollar + wars what have been going no where, will go no where, and will lead no where other than more debt and more dead Americans.
 
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