Sorry, America. No Peace Dividend for You.

[Octafish]

Wonder why it seems there's never any money to make life better for the 99-percent?



It must be going somewhere, all that tax money and all that borrowed money.
Oh, here's something...it's a question of discretionary spending and who's exempt from what.

Why Is the Most Wasteful Government Agency Not Part of the Deficit Discussion?

EXCERPT...

Indeed, the Republican government battering ram appears to have stopped at the Pentagon door. This was evident early on. As soon as they took over the House of Representatives, Republicans changed the rules so that military spending does not have to be offset by reduced spending somewhere else, unlike any other kind of government spending. It is the only activity of government they believe does not have to be paid for. Which brings to mind a bit of wisdom from one of their heroes, Adam Smith. “Were the expense of war to be defrayed always by revenue raised within the year … wars would in general be more speedily concluded, and less wantonly undertaken.”

SOURCE: http://www.alternet.org/economy/151617/why_is_the_most_wasteful_government_agency_not_part_of_the_deficit_discussion/

From my perspective, We the People used to be the government -- you know, "Government of the people, by the people for the people."

Nowadays, the government is somebody -- no, something -- else. We serve those who, figuratively and literally, call the shots.

[elehhhhna]

1. Homeland Uber Allies Security Theatre AND TSA gotta go, also.

There's three.

Ah'm smartah then Rik Parrie!!1!

[Octafish]

5. You're as smart as anybody in any room or out, elehhhhna!

This proves it:



You found "X": $57 Billion

Budget 2012: Homeland Security

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/02/budget-2012-homeland-security.html

"Homeland" sounds so Berlin, 1940.

[T S Justly]

2. More good questions destined for the mound. K&R (nt)

[Octafish]

7. Life's too short to spend killing and destroying. Let's do some healing amd building, for a change.

Going by how we vote, it's a good bet that's what most Americans would want. But, no.

Senate Approves 2012 Pentagon Budget of $644.3 Billion

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-05/senate-approves-2012-pentagon-budget-of-644-3-billion.html

Toss in the wars and off-the-books black budgets and we're talking a trillion.

A trillion dollars, properly applied, would change this planet overnight.

[KansDem]

3. The issue of the "Peace Dividend" was raised when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989

...and it was no longer required to have a squadron of B-52s loaded with nuclear bombs in the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

But it was quickly dismissed by agents of MIC...

[coalition_unwilling]

6. Right about then is when we discovered the dastardly villain Saddam Hussein, having

until then been his ally from 1980-88 (during the Iraq-Iran War when we needed him as a buffer against the spread of Iranian influence throughout the Gulf).

[Romulox]

4. We must "defend" ourselves. Naturally, that means drone attacks in Yemen. nt

[bhikkhu]

8. It is a part of the deficit discussion...

and cutting the pentagon budget was a big part of the deal that got done to raise the debt ceiling. I don't know if I was the only one who was surprised, as that wasn't even on my list of expectations - but it is certainly a good thing.

The "peace dividend" is expected as well, as the Iraq war is over and Obama has begun a plan to bring all the troops home from Afghanistan by 2014.