"We must rebuild the military" ... but how do we pay for it???

"We must rebuild the military" ... but how do we pay for it???

I keep hearing people say we must rebuild our military so its the largest threat on earth, and I am reminded once again of this notion during the debate on tv right now... but one question I've never seen anyone answer, how the heck are we going to pay for it???

just look at the current budget proposed raising spending to 4.1 trillion dollars... thats an 8% increase over the past 3.8 billion budget... and none of this addresses the deficit spending and the growing interest payments just to manage our debt... and it doesn't include rehauling our military...

so how does anyone plan to rebuild the military and lower spending so we can finally address the debt? I know the simple and favorite answer is "welfare spending" as the solution... but we can only cut so much from that to cover the current deficit, little alone spend more on something else... so if we can't get all the money we need from cutting benefits people get, where on earth is this money going to come from?

I'm fairly conservative financial, and when I run the numbers, I just don't see how the math adds up... just to get back to neutral budgets, we need to slash our current budgets, and then to spend more in one area than the other, would mean moving massive amounts from one to another... and I just don't see the realistic ability for us to do both... so are we going to rebuild the military while running a deficit, or will we finally be budget neutral?

unless they want to raise taxes somewhere I just don't see the physical math working out... but someone feel free to show the budget, and where we will shift the dollars, and then lets run that math and see just how much you reduced benefits for those on social security etc etc... prove me wrong...

P.S. keep in mind most answers also include cutting taxes, and depends on years of running a deficit before the estimated gains are realized... so are people willing to raise the deficit and run the risk of the promises not coming true years later after we cut taxes???

 

Cut Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid in my opinion.

 

I hear this tagline all the time - "we must rebuild the military". Where did this come from? As far as I am aware the military is fine with the resources being spent. Is the military in woefully bad shape? If yes, exactly how bad is the condition? What needs to be done?

 

That is small potatoes compared to cutting foreign aid.

 

Right, and lose the next election. You have to know this won't happen, both the Republicans and the Democrats know it's the kiss of death. Good luck with that one....

 

You're kidding...right? Social Security spending is about 4.9% of GDP. Medicare is roughly 3.5% and Medicaid is 2.8%. Care to guess where foreign aid comes in? How about a whopping 0.19% of GDP.

Why is it that we constantly vastly overestimate foreign aid spending? I don't get it, we can't be this ignorant of reality.

 

I think that we need to overhaul our military and make it match our current threats.

We aren't going to war with Nazi Germany any time soon. I would like to see a focus on a leaner, better trained, and more technologically advanced force of fast responding units. Replacing soldiers with drones in the air, land, and sea will save lives and massively cut payroll expenses. Finally, we need to play hardball with nations that share our military goals in a given conflict and make them contribute their fair share of support.

All that said I have never served in the military (I tried to get in but had a history of asthma) I would be interested to hear the positions of current service men and woman on this subject.

 

Wow , that is a big spread.

 

How about we take money from the Pentagon's fat budget and repay all the SS money that was spent on wars and the interest paid on that extra spending?

 

i am all for rebuilding the military but first must come the wall and border security then economy and better trade deals along will easing restrictions on business and then rewarding them if production is kept in house. after that I say infrastructure strengthening. Then we can start throwing a bunch of money into the industrial complex. not wasteful amounts though. I want sensible money used by smart people.

guess who i am supporting LOL.

 

cut foreign aid to countries who do things like stone women to death and shout death to america

 

Here are a couple of charts that may help the discussion.

View attachment 41015 View attachment 41016

 

How do we pay for it? Easily. We just use other people's money.

First we get the older generation to pay for part of it by slashing their Social Security benefits that they've already bought and paid for (just remember to ramp it back up once we get to retirement age ).

Whatever shortfall is left we simply borrow and have the future generation pay (Because they sure as hell aren't going to pay for it with OUR SS benefits, hands off you greedy SOBs).

 

Let me say that I am a flag-waving patriot who has a huuuuuuuuge amount of pride in our military.

That said, I simply don't believe that our military is gutted and weak. I believe that a lot of people are still using a WW2 paradigm when they think about what our military needs to be strong. Well, it isn't 1941 anymore. We don't fight wars like we did back in those days.

What we need is to be the undisputed technological champion. We need a military that is sleek, nimble, and lethal. We need it to have the very best support systems in the world.

Darkbane, you sound like you are asking yourself the same questions about the federal budget that I used to ask myself. I have spent a lot of time listening to the politicians and thinking for myself. Here's my conclusions and the bottom line......

Democrats don't worry about deficit spending. They think deficit spending is good.

Republicans think deficit spending is bad, but they are addicted to it. They are like heroin addicts who would gladly tell you how terrible it is to be a heroin addict, but they shoot up every day. Republicans believe in spending a lot of money for the things they want in the federal budget, but they don't believe in actually making the public pay for it. "Making the public pay for it" is another way to say "tax". And, in the political vocabulary of Republicans, "tax" is a four-letter word. Given a choice between continued deficit spending and actually paying for the spending, Republican politicians will choose deficit spending every time.

I am fairly conservative, but I am not with them on economic matters. I believe I hold a conservative and responsible belief that if we are going to buy something, we should pay for it. I believe that if we are not willing to pay for it, we can't have it.

By belief is that in the give and take of the political process, there will be things in the budget we like and things we don't like. That will never change! It is not an excuse to not pay for it. We are one country, and this is our system, and if the collective will is to spend on something, then we cannot just opt out of paying for it just because we don't like this thing about it or that thing. Nobody likes everything, but we are all responsible for it.

Personally, I think we should gradually raise the taxes necessary to pay for our spending. People who say there is waste, fraud, and abuse may be right. People who say there is "pork" in the budget may be right. But there is extremely little political pressure to get rid of any of it. Why? Because we don't have to pay for it, that's why! I guarantee you, as soon as we taxpayers are forced to actually pay for our spending, there will be huge political pressure to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and all unnecessary programs. This is how we close the budget deficit once and for all, and we get rid of wasteful spending.

We pay for it.

 

How do we "make" other nations pay their "fair share"?

and what makes you think the current military is not already as "lean" as it can get?

 

Our military doesn't need to be rebuilt, we have the finest military in the world.

 

and how much foreign aid is sent to 100% of the countries around the world? will that cover the entire cost to rebuild the military? and what happens to the programs that are very effective that were funded by our foreign aid that benefited our interests? and what about all the emergency aid thats packaged in that foreign aid to help with disasters and such? we just stop helping countries when they experience events? if you're okay not helping anyone, just let me know, I just want to make clear you understand what some of that foreign aid goes towards... and that doesn't include a lot of other special interest we have with that money, like attacking drug criminals...

 

if they're beheading people and stoning them to death and shouting death to america then yes we should stop giving them money.

 

okay count up the foreign aid from countries you believe are doing that... and show us how much money that turns out to actually be... I'm not arguing we shouldn't, I'm arguing it will barely make a dent in the actual budget...

I mean we just raised the annual budget 8% which still doesn't address the deficit... so we're spending 8% more and its all debt... its insane... we can't afford to spend more on military, we're going to be forced to cut it just to get back to a balanced budget...

 

you dont need to pay anything to rebuild the military. When your at the point where you wont go after a legitimate enemy target because it may spill oil when killed then there is no point in sending them to fight anymore. The only military reform needed is to let the military fight when you want them to collateral damage be damned (as long as its in another country ). That alone will strengthen the military 100fold.

 

we should stop spending money is that what you're getting at?

 

Foreign aid is but a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of social security and Medicare/Medicaid

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I'm fine with losing one or even two elections if it means dramatically scaling back Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare and refunding the U.S. military.

Nobody wins elections forever anyway.

 

The US military is the most powerful armed force in the history of humanity. Number #2 ain't even remotely close.

the issue shouldn't be about spending more money on the military budget, it should be a debate about HOW the $660 Billion per year is actually SPENT.

Maintaining the infrastructure required for obsolete strategies left over from the 20th century and its myriad wars doesn't make much sense.
For instance, maintaining unnecessary military bases and continuously purchasing weapons systems that are not required but that keep constituent factories operational doesn't make much sense.

 

Let me guess: You want to cut someone else's SS and Medicare/Medicaid, since you have already paid for your's? At least that's how the narrative usually goes. Nevermind that most people get more out than they paid in, unless they die early.

The military is already overbloated as it is. Do we need to spend as much as the next 50 countries combined, or does 20 countries suffice? I would say, cut military expenditures in half and spend the money in a smart way: Focus on cyber warfare and terrorism, not on keeping fighting the cold war from 40 years ago.

 

This is the only sensible course of action.