patrick.net

thomaswong.1986 says

you must have forgotten how much defense cuts we had since 1991

That's a load of crap. Overall defense operations are far more outsourced. Was Gulf War I operations infrastructure handled by Cheney/Halliburton? Were there paid bodyguards running all over war zone then? Fuck no. Maybe 1% of Gulf War I involved contractor operations. I suppose though that Blackwater is attractive despite higher costs, since you don't have infinite healthcare & pension obligations to them.

thomaswong.1986 says

you must have forgotten how much defense cuts we had since 1991.. how many bases were closed and military equipment scrapped.. how many Nukes and Silos have been decommissioned. Have you forgotten all this ? we are no where near 1980s spending ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Realignment_and_Closure_Commission

Its been a long long time since I seen P3 Orions flying out of Mt View Moffet Field

You must have forgotten all the growth in "homeland security" as well as "intelligence". Destroying nukes and closing silos don't even add up to a rounding error in defence spending.

I will type this really slowly for you. The dod budget isn't the same thing as military spending. Not by a long shot.

bob2356 says

You must have forgotten all the growth in "homeland security" as well as "intelligence". Destroying nukes and closing silos don't even add up to a rounding error in defence spending.

nickles and dimes going to servers/ HW/SW costs... and small special forces teams.

you want to compare that to massive military costs of the past.. facilities like the Navel and Air Force

Bases and Personal.. just look at the Bone Yards where it went to...

thomaswong.1986 says

Your picture proves nothing about a real reduction in defense spending.
Once upon a time back in my aerospace days the F-117 was the hot-shit black project what about 100 million dollars each? Now all rotting in boneyards. Yes old planes end up there who cares really. We spend money on all this homeland security and contractor shit that we did not back then.

thomaswong.1986 says

drew_eckhardt says

The Democrats want a big, powerful government run for corporations' benefit with its growth paid for by higher taxes.

have you ever known or seen growth occur due to higher taxes rates.. yet both in 1961 with the Kennedy Tax Cut and later with 1981 Reagan Tax Cut we saw economic expansion occur with higher employment and higher tax revenues. Higher Taxes rates have not resulted in higher tax revenues.

Growth in government.

Look at what the entire Establishment keeps out of sight!
http://patrick.net/?p=1230886
"Fool them if you can." is the mantra ...