As noted previously, if the supercommittee doesn't come up with another $1.2trillion in budget cuts by November 23, automatic triggers get squeezed that will cut that much money from the federal budget over the next 10 years. Thanks to the Dems and Obama, 1/2 of that money will come from cuts to the military budget, which is currently around $700billion a year. The Pentagon has already seen $45billion in annual cuts for the next 10 years make it past Congress, and the next round would more than double that (assuming the Supercommittee can't hammer out an agreement by 11/23, an assumption I've already made.)
Today's Tribune & the AP are reporting that Congress is "open to cost-cutting" ideas for the military, which is good. However, according to this article, they're looking at military health care benefits as a possible place to save some cash, which is the opposite of good. It fucking sucks.
The term "entitlement program" is tossed around a lot these days, usually with the requisite just-bit-a-lemon sneer on the face of the person lamenting all of this government "give-away," as if we're talking about some sort of freebie, hand-out, awww what the fuck here take some of this charity.
These people signed a deal. Both the enlistee and the US government. Enlistee agrees to let douchebags like GW send him or her into a life-or-death situation, usually for months at a time, and in return the US government agrees to pay for the enlistee's medical care.
Forever.
Not much point in signing up if the only medical bennie I get is a prosthetic leg and a hearty "thank you for your service" handshake. What kind of assholes are we electing? Who the fuck are these people? Who would look to the medical care and retirement benefits of veterans as a potential target for budget cuts?
Well, the leaders on the Senate Armed Services Committee — Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz. are two such assholes. That's right, you read that correctly....John Fucking McCain.
I'm not even going to bother ranting about the idiocy of McCain's willingness to consider health care cuts, or more accurately, savings to the Pentagon by making veterans pay more for coverage. All I'll say is, somebody needs to remind Johnny Boy that not all veterans marry into money (cough after abandoning the dying first wife cough.) And besides, that shouldn't even be part of the discussion.
According to Sec Def Leon Panetta, the combined retirement pay and health benefits for military personnel have put the Pentagon "on an unsustainable course" and added that an additional $600billion in defense cuts over the next decade would represent a "doomsday" scenario for the Pentagon.
It's simple math really. We're spending $700billion a year, every year, on what we refer to as defense but which is really offense.
With the already agreed upon $45billion in annual cuts, added to another potential $60billion, we come up with a little over $100billion a year for the next 10 years. It saves us a little over a trillion bucks. And, it takes our military down to around $600billion a year, or roughly 6 times that of the next closest military budget, China's $95billion a year.
I'm not sure I see the impending doom that Leon sees. $600billion buys a lot of stuff, and it's not like anybody's really threatening us anyway. Our military budget has more than doubled since 9/11. What exactly have we bought for the extra $3.5trillion? Don't say Iraq and Afghanistan, because GW charged that stuff on the really big credit card. We haven't even begun making payments for that shit.
The military needs a haircut, that's a no-brainer.
<snip>
Determined to avoid spending reductions that would hit troop numbers, aircraft, ships and weapons, Levin, McCain and other lawmakers are urging budget-cutters to scrutinize the military entitlement programs.
<snip>
Ain't that a fuckin' kick in the head?
Don't give me any of that bullshit about cuts in troop numbers as a way to save money. That's not a huge budgetary drag, ...not when our present active level is something like 1.4 million troops, cooks, and file clerks. You don't whistle through $700billion a year in administrative costs.
It's the other shit, ...the aircraft, ships, and weapons, that are really the sacred cows in this. People like Levin and McCain would rather increase the co-pay portion of health care for veterans than eliminate some silly ass weapons system that doesn't work. They'd rather have a Vietnam vet and his family pony up than see the river of cash that flows to their military-industrial-complex cronies dry up, or even slow down.
As the Supercommittee haggles, people like Levin and McCain are standing on the sidelines shouting in plays. They know that if the Supers don't hammer out a deal, the military is going to take a haircut, and apparently they'd like to avoid that, even if it means doing so on the backs of the people who wear the uniform, or the people who used to wear one.
I for one am going to write to Dick Durbin, Mark Kirk, and my Rep Jan Schakowsky, to express my disgust in the mere thought of cutting military heath and retirement benefits.
Those people are entitled.
They're owed.
So fuck you Carl Levin, and fuck you too John McCain.
Today's Tribune & the AP are reporting that Congress is "open to cost-cutting" ideas for the military, which is good. However, according to this article, they're looking at military health care benefits as a possible place to save some cash, which is the opposite of good. It fucking sucks.
The term "entitlement program" is tossed around a lot these days, usually with the requisite just-bit-a-lemon sneer on the face of the person lamenting all of this government "give-away," as if we're talking about some sort of freebie, hand-out, awww what the fuck here take some of this charity.
These people signed a deal. Both the enlistee and the US government. Enlistee agrees to let douchebags like GW send him or her into a life-or-death situation, usually for months at a time, and in return the US government agrees to pay for the enlistee's medical care.
Forever.
Not much point in signing up if the only medical bennie I get is a prosthetic leg and a hearty "thank you for your service" handshake. What kind of assholes are we electing? Who the fuck are these people? Who would look to the medical care and retirement benefits of veterans as a potential target for budget cuts?
Well, the leaders on the Senate Armed Services Committee — Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz. are two such assholes. That's right, you read that correctly....John Fucking McCain.
I'm not even going to bother ranting about the idiocy of McCain's willingness to consider health care cuts, or more accurately, savings to the Pentagon by making veterans pay more for coverage. All I'll say is, somebody needs to remind Johnny Boy that not all veterans marry into money (cough after abandoning the dying first wife cough.) And besides, that shouldn't even be part of the discussion.
According to Sec Def Leon Panetta, the combined retirement pay and health benefits for military personnel have put the Pentagon "on an unsustainable course" and added that an additional $600billion in defense cuts over the next decade would represent a "doomsday" scenario for the Pentagon.
It's simple math really. We're spending $700billion a year, every year, on what we refer to as defense but which is really offense.
With the already agreed upon $45billion in annual cuts, added to another potential $60billion, we come up with a little over $100billion a year for the next 10 years. It saves us a little over a trillion bucks. And, it takes our military down to around $600billion a year, or roughly 6 times that of the next closest military budget, China's $95billion a year.
I'm not sure I see the impending doom that Leon sees. $600billion buys a lot of stuff, and it's not like anybody's really threatening us anyway. Our military budget has more than doubled since 9/11. What exactly have we bought for the extra $3.5trillion? Don't say Iraq and Afghanistan, because GW charged that stuff on the really big credit card. We haven't even begun making payments for that shit.
The military needs a haircut, that's a no-brainer.
<snip>
Determined to avoid spending reductions that would hit troop numbers, aircraft, ships and weapons, Levin, McCain and other lawmakers are urging budget-cutters to scrutinize the military entitlement programs.
<snip>
Ain't that a fuckin' kick in the head?
Don't give me any of that bullshit about cuts in troop numbers as a way to save money. That's not a huge budgetary drag, ...not when our present active level is something like 1.4 million troops, cooks, and file clerks. You don't whistle through $700billion a year in administrative costs.
It's the other shit, ...the aircraft, ships, and weapons, that are really the sacred cows in this. People like Levin and McCain would rather increase the co-pay portion of health care for veterans than eliminate some silly ass weapons system that doesn't work. They'd rather have a Vietnam vet and his family pony up than see the river of cash that flows to their military-industrial-complex cronies dry up, or even slow down.
As the Supercommittee haggles, people like Levin and McCain are standing on the sidelines shouting in plays. They know that if the Supers don't hammer out a deal, the military is going to take a haircut, and apparently they'd like to avoid that, even if it means doing so on the backs of the people who wear the uniform, or the people who used to wear one.
I for one am going to write to Dick Durbin, Mark Kirk, and my Rep Jan Schakowsky, to express my disgust in the mere thought of cutting military heath and retirement benefits.
Those people are entitled.
They're owed.
So fuck you Carl Levin, and fuck you too John McCain.
