The Pentagon's New Math

[housewolf]

The Pentagon's New Math

BECAUSE of the cost of the war in Iraq and the mounting federal deficit, the Office of Management and Budget has ordered the Pentagon to make major budget cuts over the next six years. According to the Pentagon, these could come to more than $55 billion and will affect almost all major weapons programs. Like most reports about reductions in Pentagon spending, however, there is less to it than meets the eye.

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Are there any alternatives to this shell game? If the Pentagon were serious about spending, it could take several concrete steps now: canceling cold-war-era weapons systems like the F/A-22 fighter; dropping all contracts that involve money appropriated by Congress but which has not yet been spent; halting the deployment of the national missile defense system until it has been adequately tested; and terminating the much-criticized new contract to lease 100 refueling planes from Boeing.

We are facing a real budget crisis - one brought on by the unwise decision to cut taxes in the midst of a war. Unfortunately, the steps that the Pentagon now proposes will not do much to deal with that crisis, either in the short or the long term.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/opinion/11korb.html?oref=login&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=

[ixion]

1. hmmm... 55 billion over the course of several years, compared with

200 billion a year for just one of their dirty little kill fests.

whatever. :grr:


hello?! Missle Defense Shield. Costs billions, doesn't work.

That seems like a great place to start. :eyes: