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

[FourScore]

Why is the Most Wasteful Government Agency Not Part of the Deficit Discussion?
Republicans ignore incompetence, bloat and corruption at the Pentagon
by David Morris

In all the talk about the federal deficit, why is the single largest culprit left out of the conversation? Why is the one part of government that best epitomizes everything conservatives say they hate about government—- waste, incompetence, and corruption—all but exempt from conservative criticism?

Of course, I’m talking about the Pentagon. Any serious battle plan to reduce the deficit must take on the Pentagon. In 2011 military spending accounted for more than 58 percent of all federal discretionary spending and even more if the interest on the federal debt that is related to military spending were added. In the last ten years we have spent more than $7.6 trillion on military and homeland security according to the National Priorities Project.



In the last decade military spending has soared from $300 billion to $700 billion.



When debt ceilings and deficits seem to be the only two items on Washington’s agenda, it is both revealing and tragic that both parties give a free pass to military spending. Representative Paul Ryan’s much discussed Tea Party budget accepted Obama’s proposal for a pathetic $78 billion reduction in military spending over 5 years, a recommendation that would only modestly slow the rate of growth of military spending...

SNIP

...The Tea Party revolution has only strengthened the Republican Party’s resolve that the Pentagon’s budget is untouchable. An analysis by the Heritage Foundation of Republican votes on defense spending found that Tea Party freshmen were even more likely than their Republican elders to vote against cutting any part of the military budget.

What makes the hypocrisy even more revealing is that the Pentagon turns out to be the poster child for government waste and incompetence...

http://onthecommons.org/why-most-wasteful-government-agency-not-part-deficit-discussion

[gkhouston]

1. Because the MIC can afford lobbyists, and we can't. n/t

[Hand_With_Eyes]

2. We have become a militaristic country

Since World War II

[Kennah]

4. It's worse. We've become Rome.

[JanMichael]

3. Walmart and Koch Industries. nt

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

5. 7-15-11 press conference

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/07/15/press-conference-president

"It also requires cuts in defense spending, and I’ve said that in addition to the $400 billion that we’ve already cut from defense spending, we’re willing to look for hundreds of billions more."

...

"Just to be very specific, we’ve identified over a trillion dollars in discretionary cuts, both in defense and domestic spending. That’s hard to do. I mean, that requires essentially that you freeze spending. And when I say freeze, that means you’re not getting inflation so that these are programmatic cuts that, over the course of 10 years, you’d be looking at potentially a 10 percent cut in domestic spending. "

...

"On defense spending, a huge amount of their savings on the discretionary side came out of defense spending. I think we need to cut defense, but as Commander-in-Chief, I’ve got to make sure that we’re cutting it in a way that recognizes we’re still in the middle of a war, we’re winding down another war, and we’ve got a whole bunch of veterans that we’ve got to care for as they come home."

Obama's at least mentioning it. Hard to have any discussion, really, when the other side keeps fingers in the ears and just keeps repeating the same thing over and over. :(

[Cereal Kyller]

6. Bang on!

Enthusiastic K&R!

[Grrrfun]

7. Bullets? Bribery? Blackmail?

all of the above?

Wealth Addiction and War Addiction are real and are killing America..

[upi402]

8. Verboten: Military and taxing the rich

Workers; meat or pet

[Capitalocracy]

9. Here, ask that question again...

but this time, talk into this bullhorn.

We need to be shouting this from the rooftops.

[classysassy]

10. There is so much money

made during wars,the war profiteers bribe our officials and send our young to foreign lands to die for greed.Bring back the draft and the warmongers will think twice before exposing their kids to the possibility of getting their assess sent home in a body bag.