Why did the senate pass $80 billion increase in military spending in September?

Because a select few with a lot of pull will get even more wealthy from this increase.

Because it’s expensive to flounder about in the Middle East. The stupidity of the money poured down the toilet since 2003 is scandalous. A land turning out 36 billion dollar aircraft carriers launching fighter planes costing half a billion dollars a pop, all to defend the rusting bridges, crumbling highways, the army of 1.5 million homeless souls and a declining standard of living characterizing a population herded toward bankruptcy through convoluted carnival sideshow health insurance insurance scams.

Because for 8 years Obama gutted our defenses.

@seawulf575: “Because for 8 years Obama gutted our defenses.”

So, the Dems waited until there was a Republican administration to get behind efforts to provide more money than the administration even requested?

gutted our defenses?

^More bullshit. Stupid bullshit…

Obama pulled troops from places they never should have been. Many are back stateside, strengthening our defenses, or in places they are actually kind of needed. He started the “strategic pivot” of the Navy towards Asia. A move that proved he had a tight grip on where priorities should be.

Trump promised to cut military spending, when campaigning. One of a handful of ideas I liked.
That promise, if kept(which of course he didn’t ) would have “gutted our defenses.”

@Hypocrite575 . At it again. Trump is failing to meet yet another campaign promise. And that promise would have taken more from the military he inherited from Obama. You can’t be mad at Obama, if Trump was going to do worse and you supported that. H Y P O C R I T E

^In almost every category (staffing, equipment, etc), the numbers don’t lie. We had fewer troops by the time Obama left office that we have seen in at least 60 years. We had fewer naval vessels than we have seen in the last 60 years. Every category I could find was lower than it has been since 1954. Probably farther back, but I couldn’t find data to support that. He minimized pay for the troops for at least 3 years, giving them only about 1% pay increases. Since cost of living was going up by more than that during that time, that equates to a pay cut.
You make the comment that he pulled troops from places they should never should have been. You cry about Trump breaking campaign promises. Yet you defend Obama. Let’s keep it to military stuff. He promised to win the war in Afghanistan. Did he? No. He made a 300% increase in the number of troops that were there, but then bailed on the war when it wasn’t won in 1 year. He left a huge mess in that country. Oh, and we still didn’t pull all the troops out…we still have about 8,500–11,000 troops there depending on your source. He promised to pull our troops out of Iraq. we still have about 6,000 troops there and that is not counting the carrier groups that are in the region for support. Meanwhile he also promised peace in the Middle East within 12 months of taking office. Did we get there? No. Instead, he helped build ISIS. You know @MrGrimm888, for somebody that likes to believe science, you really do avoid an awful lot of facts.

Mr @seawulf575 I am afraid you will have to provide links with those so called facts that you cite, YOU take nothing we say for face value but we are supposed to take everything you say as gospel?
Your ultra right wing vile hatred of Obama and his administration makes you see everything he did as a detriment to your country.
But anything that was to help the working joe, and not give the wealthy right huge tax breaks ,and big increases for the military is bad in your extreme right wing world.
You better give very neutral links as like you scoffing at anything you consider left, will be considered the same for anything right.

Sorry @SQUEEKY2, I’m done with the citations. I give them and it makes no difference. You all either attack the source or claim I didn’t cite enough. Meanwhile not a one of you offers up a citation to refute anything I state. So no, you can do your own research. And when you find something that refutes what I have stated, bring it on. Every one of you is every bit as capable as I am at doing a google search. For this one I think I searched historical trend of military staffing. And then did another for naval vessels. It’s not magic. But I am done going through the effort for you folks.
Meanwhile, I find it interesting that you suddenly started in with the working joe/rich people argument. I supported the tax reform and it has helped the working joes. Of course our tax reforms don’t help you in Canada, but there you have it.
I guess the other question I have is: with you being from Canada, what do you care what I think about the President of the United States, past or present? Just trolling from across the border?

I think your calling the kettle black, with your troll statement.

^But not really an answer to the question, eh? The one about why you care what an United States citizen thinks of a past US president?

What I care about is your neo extreme right wing views, do little if nothing to help the average working slob in your country.
Is there anything in your country that isn’t Obama’s fault?
I care about what goes on down there is because the states have a way of getting their views and ideas implemented up here after a while.
I also have relatives that live down there, and how things affect them, does that answer your question?

Only 8 people voted against this obscene increase. Spending this type of money for the military budget is apparently a bipartisan issue.

The amount that the Democrats and Republicans approved was $36 billion more than the Trump administration had requested.

Lol. Obama “promised” peace in the middle east, and victory in Afghanistan?

@seawul575 resorting to blatant lies now…

@SQUEEKY2 Yep, that answers it. I can respect the idea that you have family here. Out of curiousity, do they share your socialist views? And why did they leave Canada? Or was it you that left the USA?

@MrGrimm888 Believe it or not. I know you won’t actually take the time to investigate it yourself. Go ahead and call me a liar without a stitch of proof. That is pretty much your M.O. And very much typical of liberals.

Oh, and @SQUEEKY2 you say I have extreme right wing views. Have you ever thought that I am probably a moderate and that your views are so skewed to the left that mine only look extreme right wing? Just wondering. I notice that I have no problem going off on Repubs or Dems equally, so long as there is some evidence. I don’t like hypocrisy where you on the uber-left go off about some conservative but defend the same actions out of someone on the left. I suspect you are so inundated with the progressive agenda that you truly do not recognize how radically biased your views really are.

@seawulf575 quick there must be some homeless person you can go kick.
I have yet to see you say one bad thing about your wonderful rep/cons could you point that out?
If not there must be some poor working slob you can kick off medicaid?

@seawulf575 . Nope. You are the one making baseless, claims. Shouldn’t be hard to find a video of Obama saying ” I promise to accomplish peace on the middle east, and total victory in Afghanistan.” Unless you are lying…

Radically biased views, yeah I want universal health care for everyone rich or poor, I want safe working conditions for every working joe.
A wage that doesn’t require government help at the end of a work week to put food on the table.
And I want the large corporations to pay their percentage of taxes,yeah I am a real commie.
yeah,yeah I know BUT THAT IS NOT SUSTAINABLE !eyes roll.

@SQUEEKY2 We are actually very close on many of our end goals, believe it or not. I don’t like universal healthcare. I got my fill of that while I was in the military. Worst healthcare I have ever seen. Any time you start trusting your health and welfare to the government, I believe you are going in the wrong direction. You are putting more layers of uninformed people between you and healthcare. Additionally, you end up “getting what you get” for doctors and care. Nope, not what I see as the right answer. However, I do believe that there are still many ways that we can make healthcare far more affordable than it is today.
I’m all for jobs that pay enough for one person to support a family. Big time. But entry level jobs are not those jobs. Entry level jobs are just that…entry level. They are jobs that young people fill to get job experience. Old people fill them to supplement the retirement. They are jobs that companies have to see how a new hire is going to work out. But working at McDonalds making fries is not a career designed to support a family. On the flip-side of that, I find it atrocious that there are many, many big companies that are in claiming tough financial times that lead to minimizing or blocking raises, cutting work forces, etc but manage to pay the CEO a $20M every year. I find the Japanese way of running a business far more realistic for a long lasting corporation. Did you know that most CEOs of Japanese corporations don’t make much more than $1M bonuses and those have to be earned?
On taxes, I’m all for EVERYONE paying their fair share of taxes. That’s why I have always been a supporter of a flat tax system. Everyone pays 10% of their gross income…no deductions, no loopholes. Businesses, individuals, rich, poor, dividend incomes, etc….all get taxed at the same rate. Everyone benefits from those things our taxes pay for, everyone should pay their share.
But I do not believe bigger, more intrusive government is the answer. And that is where you and I, I believe, differ. I have a hard time coming up with one thing the government has done correctly and efficiently….ever. The US has a very good military….that is horribly inefficient. The Postal service is, in my mind, a very good thing….but not efficient. Government healthcare, as I have experienced, is neither, good nor efficient. So to want to give more and more control of my life over to the government is the wrong move. Unfortunately, those that want large government control are also far left. And that is where my statement came from. If you are far left, anyone that is moderate would look radically right to you. To me, radical right is almost anarchy. No government control at all.
I find it sadly funny that we spend so much time trying to one-up each other and not enough time talking about issues.

Has it occurred to anyone here that we might not need so grotesque a pile of military weaponry?

@stanleybmanly that is probably, sadly, true. Unfortunately, many of the countries that could harm us have as much or more.

nobody has even half as much. And you gotta ask yourself what’s the threat?

Exactly the states have enough of a weapons stock pile to destroy the earth somewhere around nine times over,why the need for ten or more?
Except a select few will get even more wealthy from this increase, and @seawulf575 I thought you frowned on corruption?

@SQUEEKY2 I think you are missing a lot of the issue with the spending. Yes, some will be on weapons. Other will be on equipment that isn’t weapons. Other will be pay for the soldiers and others. Everyone makes a grand assumption that this spending is only for weapons.

The point is that the military budget exceeds what should be necessary for the actual defense of the United States. When it comes to matters other than the defense of the country, such as never ending bogdowns in unwinnable wars, we have spent all of these trillions on the WRONG sort of military while the country disintegrates domestically.

^A lot goes into research and development. Probably the biggest waste of money, as many projects use lots of money just to be discontinued.

I think military spending, and overall military personnel reduction would be a great benefit to the country. That is, if the funds were used for things like free health care, and education.

@seawulf575 . I agree that free health care may be of lower overall quality (not for sure) but it would at least be available to those who need it. I lost my ACA coverage for 2018, due to changes made. I will now be forced to use the ER, if I get sick. I won’t be able to pay them, so the hospital will lose money. And not paying, will damage my credit. Making a thriving existence all but impossible. I had to have a hospital stay for over a week when I was in my early 20’s. I had no insurance at the time (many don’t when so young.) It was a life threatening issue, so I had to do what was needed. After two weeks, I had accumulated over $70,000 in medical bills. At the time, I made less than $10,000/year…
That fun debt I was saddled with ruined my life really. I’ve never been able to establish credit because of it. When I almost got away from that, I tore my ACL. Add another $2,000, just for the MRI. Thousands more for the surgery. Six months without work, and expensive rehab. I got some government aid, but was handed thousands more in debt…

Millions of people have their futures yanked from under them this way. If health care were free, it would make a healthier, better population. Seeing the numbers thrown around in military spending, and other wastes of money really is a slap in the face to me.

My father is a vet. He has to deal with long waits, and some inconsistencies with the VA. But he would be long dead, without the free care.

Countrieslike Israel, have free health care. And still enjoy getting foreign aid from the US.

Some very simple sweeping military spending cuts, would open up plenty of money for OUR own. Lots of foreign aid is given to secure access to airspace, and landing strips of other countries. It’s all pretty much military spending.

And as Stanley asked, who is our threat? Canada, or Mexico? There are two large oceans that give us barriers from any threat of invasion. Our military is more for shaping the world as our government wants. Not protection.

Military contractors are clearly more important, to our government, than it’s citizens…

I know Obama care wasn’t perfect, but it sure helped me, for a few years…

And there you have it. There’s always plenty of lobbying for aircraft carriers, but who lobbies for the poor or sick? The thing that is most insidious about both the healthcare situation and the increasing poverty rate in this country is that we as individuals are inclined to think these conditions in the main THEIR problems. None of us are ever allowed to forget that the burden of the war machine or “national defense” is to be shouldered by us all. Those screaming about the evils of socialsm, have no qualms when it comes to the clerk at McDonalds financing an aircraft carrier or dying in the wastes of Afghanistan in the service of that most ancient of socialized endeavors.

#@stanleybmanley2020!

I’d rather be boiled in oil. But the REAL threat to THIS country is no longer external. Both the healthcare situation and growing poverty are the “clear and present” dangers.

^You’ll learn to like it. The beatings will continue, until moral improves…

But @stanleybmanly as long as the military get their expenses, and the wealthy keep getting richer,all will be right with the world, if the poor have a problem they can always sign up to the military.

The biggest problem I have with military spending is pretty much the same problem I have with most government run things: the waste. I have seen first hand how the government throws money away on things that make no sense. Go to your local hardware store and buy a wrench. It costs you a couple bucks. When that same wrench is sold to the military, it is about 10x as much. I don’t blame the person selling the wrench, I blame the government for being willing to pay that for a wrench. But they do it all the time.

^Isn’t that what UFO conspiracy theory folks point to as a way to funnel money to top secret programs?

Maybe the budget increase is due to a secret intergalactic war?...

Either that, or Uncle Sam is balls deep in the American taxpayer’s ass…

I’m sure the money gets funneled to other things. Some of the costs I experienced revolved around being “Subsafe”. We would by a normal steel bolt that you could buy at your local hardware store for a buck. We would pay $10 for it (or some exorbitant price like that). The reasoning was that it was supposed to be “Subsafe”. You could supposedly trace its pedigree all the way back to being iron ore and show all the QC on it that whole time. The idea was that you were getting more reliable materials. But they still broke, rusted, etc. So really, did we gain that much for our tax dollar? The other part was that when a company got a contract to supply goods or service for the military, the costs are highly elevated. They would put it out for bid and the bid would go to the lowest bidder. But that doesn’t mean they were cheap. They just didn’t jack up the prices as much as the other bidders.