Last U.S. combat troops leaving Iraq

[Kuciwalker]

No, it doesn't work like that.

Also, unoriginal troll

My viewpoint on defense spending is entirely consistent with my viewpoint on general public spending, since the military is a public good.

lol

[Kuciwalker]

I didn't say it shouldn't be reduced, just not to pre-WWII comparable levels.

Having airbases in Japan, Germany, etc is INCREDIBLY USEFUL. My understanding is we get our money's worth from being able to launch bombers from there.

Yeah, sure, if you want to DROP BOMBS ON SOMEONE. But it turns out that expending hundreds of billions of dollars worth of our labor and stuff to kill other people and blow up their stuff isn't often the most beneficial use of public funds.

[SlowwHand]

Actually, it keeps a lot of people in work.

[Kuciwalker]

Seems like you should read up on your Eisenhower.

[Kuciwalker]

every gun that is made is a theft from those who hunger and not fed, etc.

[giblets]

I didn't say it shouldn't be reduced, just not to pre-WWII comparable levels.

Having airbases in Japan, Germany, etc is INCREDIBLY USEFUL. My understanding is we get our money's worth from being able to launch bombers from there.

There are reasons for supporting any government program, but supporting bloated government budgets is still not fiscal conservatism.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Seems like you should read up on your Eisenhower.

And also about the crowding out effect that government spending has.

[DinoDoc]

every gun that is made is a theft from those who hunger and not fed, etc.

You should be happy then. Defense spending lags far, far behind on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as budgetary items.

[DinoDoc]

Big government Hauldren Collider rides to the rescue

Defense is one of the few legitimate responsibilities of the Federal government if we're really going to have this argument. So, I'm afraid that you'll have to find a better reason to accuse someone of being "Big Government" or at least a more specific one.

[Guynemer]

I didn't say it shouldn't be reduced, just not to pre-WWII comparable levels.

Having airbases in Japan, Germany, etc is INCREDIBLY USEFUL. My understanding is we get our money's worth from being able to launch bombers from there.

Explain this, please. How does making it so easy for us to project military power across the globe that we needn't even consider the consequences (politically, economically, or morally) "getting our money's worth"?

[Kuciwalker]

You should be happy then. Defense spending lags far, far behind on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as budgetary items.

Um, no. Relevant items from the 2009 budget:

Defense: 514bn
+Global War on Terror: 145bn
+Iraq and Afghanistan: 130bn
= 789bn

Social Security: 944bn
Medicare: 408bn
Medicaid+SCHIP: 224bn

[Kuciwalker]

Defense is one of the few legitimate responsibilities of the Federal government if we're really going to have this argument. So, I'm afraid that you'll have to find a better reason to accuse someone of being "Big Government" or at least a more specific one.

Fiscal conservative doesn't mean "the government doesn't do more than it should", it means "the government doesn't spend more than it should".

[Hauldren Collider]

Social security and medicare move money around, whereas we actually can end up in green with defense spending because people attacking us is a lot worse than having to spend money to prevent people from attacking us.

I'm not going to get into the argument of whether the amount we spend is justified to that regard because honestly nobody can know that and a bunch of Polytubbies certainly aren't going to convince me one way or the other.

[Hauldren Collider]

Explain this, please. How does making it so easy for us to project military power across the globe that we needn't even consider the consequences (politically, economically, or morally) "getting our money's worth"?

Because then nobody wants to attack us. Militaries, ironically, keep peace by scaring away aggressors.

[Hauldren Collider]

Um, no. Relevant items from the 2009 budget:

Defense: 514bn
+Global War on Terror: 145bn
+Iraq and Afghanistan: 130bn
= 789bn

Social Security: 944bn
Medicare: 408bn
Medicaid+SCHIP: 224bn

You are not taking into account the opportunity cost of these. Defense research feeds back into the private sector (not optimally, but it does) with technologies developed and such. Medicare and Social Security have opportunity costs and other costs that you won't see on a budget that far exceed defense.