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View Full Version : Pat Buchanan: What is Our Military Defending?




bobbyw24
05-31-2011, 04:50 AM
"We need to be honest with the president, with the Congress, with the American people" about the consequences of cutting the defense budget, said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in his valedictory policy address to the American Enterprise Institute.

"(A) smaller military, no matter how superb, will be able to go fewer places and do fewer things."

Gates seeks to ignite a debate the country seems reluctant to have. With a federal budget running out of balance by 10 percent of gross domestic product, what are we Americans willing to sacrifice? What are we willing to forego? What are we willing to cut?

The biggest budget items are Social Security, Medicare and defense. To Democrats, the first two are untouchables. To most Republicans, defense is off the table. Indeed, the likelihood is that any budget deal to which both parties agree will contain escape clauses to enable Congress to avoid the painful decisions and kick the can up the road.

Consider the situation the U.S. military faces.

http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2011/05/31/what_must_we_defend/page/full/

cindy25
05-31-2011, 05:19 AM
Israel, Haliburton, Goldman Sachs, Citibank........................

bobbyw24
05-31-2011, 05:42 AM
We face the necessity of choice, and perhaps the place to begin is for Americans to ask two questions.

First, what is so vital to our security we must defend it at the risk of war? Second, what Cold War commitments can we relinquish now that the Soviet Empire no longer exists and Russia no longer represents a global threat?

Bossobass
05-31-2011, 06:09 AM
The reason the money must be borrowed is because we aren't generating enough capital to afford our extravagances.

Funny how those extravagant expenditures end up in so few pockets.

Cutting is essential, but even more essential is making capital available for small business, the nation's largest employer. Absolutely no one is even mentioning this glaring hole in the US economy.

During the tech bubble, any asshole with shit for a plan could launch an IPO.

During the housing bubble, any asshole with no income or job could get a mortgage.

During the military hardware bubble, any asshole with a death gadget idea could tap into an ocean of cash.

During the bailout bubble, any insolvent asshole bankster in the world could get free billions to cover his criminal actions.

During all of those bubbles, small businesses couldn't get a loan if they invented the cure for cancer.

Any economist who ignores the problem of lack of capital for small business is not an economist.

Bosso