...The 58-40 vote (click title to entry - thank you) in the full Senate reversed a vote in the Armed Services Committee last month that would have added $1.75 billion to the defense budget next fiscal year to force the Air Force buy seven more of the air-to-air fighters. The Pentagon maintains it needs the money for higher priorities....
The proper name for this dysfunctional military spending is called corruption !
Economies cannot be based in 'unnecessary' spending on any item. It is a clear illustration of how change can be productive to the country and the economy.
...“I called Secretary Gates last week and yesterday we had a productive discussion in which he assured me of three key and persuasive facts: that the Pentagon’s shift in resources and priorities will have no adverse affects on Massachusetts workers whose skills are transferable from the F-22 to the F-35, that there will be no shortage of planes or equipment for the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s mission, and in fact that production of the F-35 could generate additional jobs for our experienced workforce," he added....
It is time to move on from the old rhetorical economy of the past. It is time to 'get on with it.'
West Virginia Patriots for Peace is siding with the Pentagon on this one! (click here)
Let's finally pass a budget that makes CUTS in military spending!
Pentagon chief Robert Gates proposed to cut the military budget by ending production of the F-22 fighter jet, a Cold War era fighter jet that epitomizes the bloated military budget. Now Congress is refusing to shut down production. Urge your senators to cut F-22 funding. In a late night vote last month, a House committee inserted funding for 12 new F-22 fighter jets into its military authorization bill, which has now been approved by the full House. Now a Senate committee has also voted to add more than $1 billion in funding for seven additional F-22s to its version of the bill. To pay for these new planes, the Senate is proposing to take money away from funds used to pay the salaries of soldiers.
Protectionist votes need to be red flags. The military isn't supposed to support an economy, it should be accommodated by it.
...The F-22 (click here) was designed in the 1980s to fight presumable Soviet fighter planes that had yet to be developed, and has suffered since its inception from flaws and budget overruns. It has never been flown over Iraq or Afghanistan. There is even a lawsuit, recently reopened, alleging that Lockheed Martin, producers of the jet, has knowingly supplied defective F-22s to the Air Force since 1995....
Everything on 30 years of Republican priorities is backwards. When the USA entered WWII, the economy 'had to tool up' for the war. It did it well. Peace time economies should reflect the needs of a nation, not a nation at war. The 'problem' with dysfunctional military spending that are protected by some members of Congress is that it maintains a preferential voter base. That was faciliated by Eisenhower's desire for a USA Military Industrial Complex. It isn't necessary. It has become a bad habit.
Economies should not exist to produce unneeded military measures. The needs of the military should be accommodated by the economy. Military research that brings better methods and equipment to any 'war theater' is always a good idea, especially when it is to protect soldiers. But, to produce military equipment for the sake of politics is a sincerely bad idea. It postpones the needs of Americans, both in the military and the civilian domain, today and in the future.
I really congratulate Secretary Gates for asking for changes to help the USA reduce budgets while enhancing domestic needs and policy. That is so wonderful I can hardly stand it.
