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Barack Obama  |
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Rob Kailey is a working schmuck with no ties or affiliations to any governmental or political organizations, save those of sympathy.
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Fri Oct 23, 2009 at 12:55:25 PM MST
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So there's been a lot of hand wringing about a health care reform bill that will cost approximately $800-900 billion over ten years. To put that into perspective, let's look at defense spending in the U.S. this year:The Senate on Thursday sent the massive 2010 Pentagon policy bill to the president's desk for signing. The Senate approved the bill authorizing $680 billion in defense spending by a vote of 68-29. Combine this with a handful of other security related appropriations and we spend every year roughly what is under consideration for the ten year cost of health reform.
Cato's Chris Preble writes: All told, every man, woman and child in the United States will spend more than $2,700 on these programs and agencies next year. By way of comparison, the average Japanese spends less than $330; the average German about $520; China's per capita spending is less than $100. Keeping in mind that Social Security and Medicare are funded by earmarked payroll taxes that are used to underwrite the general budget of the U.S., it is worth remembering that Defense is by far the biggest portion of the federal budget.
Some of that is reasonable. Unlike Chris Preble, I'm not an avowed opponent of U.S. military domination. I think the U.S. is a relatively enlightened hegemon and I think unipolar worlds offer some useful stability.
But the Defense budget in the U.S. is wildly out of control in ways that do nothing to advance American interests. That means that we're spending a lot of money we don't have to.
Fighting to focus the defense budget on...defense instead of on it being a massive jobs program for private military contractors is one of the most underrated social justice issues of our time. Tackled properly, it could be a real game changer in positive ways for the nation. |
| Matt Singer :: Some Budgetary Perspective |
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