GOP protects their sacred cow...

WASHINGTON -- While media attention focuses on the cuts to government spending demanded by House Republicans and broadly accepted by Democrats, the Pentagon is poised to reap billions more in federal funds, according to sources close to the discussions. The confines of the budget negotiations established by the two parties results in a system where every extra dollar going to military spending ends up being offset by a dollar reduction in spending on domestic social programs.

Last week, Senate Democrats came to the table with $10 billion in proposed cuts to the military budget but, a House GOP aide said, the offer was immediately rejected. Democratic sources confirmed that the party had proposed defense spending reductions but disputed the amount.

Democrats and Republicans are now moving toward an agreement that would increase defense spending. But Democratic sources close to the talks said the Democrats' spending recommendation remains roughly $2 billion shy of that of their Republican counterparts. A spokesman for the Senate spending panel declined to comment, citing ongoing talks. A spokesman for Senate Democratic leadership did not respond to requests for comment.

During an Appropriations Committee meeting last weekend, the Obama administration and Senate Democrats proposed funding the Pentagon at $513 billion. That spending level is the same as Senate Democrats’ December proposal, but it also offers a $5 billion boost to the Pentagon's current budget.

Still, it's not enough to placate Republicans, who have demanded funding be set at $514 billion, even though, an administration official says, the Department of Defense has "signed off on" the $513 billion level.

Sources say the two sides have also failed to come to an agreement on money designated for military construction. While Democrats are pushing for a $73.1 billion construction budget, Republicans have countered with $73.94 billion, a difference of $840 million.

Combined, the differences between the two parties' plans are trivial in the face of the $14 trillion federal debt. But in the context of discussions over how to keep the federal government funded through the end of September -- and avert a shutdown in the process -- aides say the disagreement is proving critical.


“If you plus up those areas together,” one high-ranking Democratic official said, “what happens is you have to take it from somewhere else. And where are you taking it from? From Labor, Education, the NIH [National Institutes of Health], health care, the social safety net. That’s how they are trying to jam us.”

Republicans say that Democrats knew from the beginning that proposed cuts to defense spending would be rejected. A GOP aide said the military spending negotiations had been complicated by the Pentagon's recent indication that it would need more than it initially requested -- an account that the Obama administration disputes.

Either way, the late-stage negotiations over a budget resolution hit a snag Monday, in part because of domestic spending cuts necessitated by the hike in military spending. According to Politico’s David Rogers, several chief areas of dispute remain. Among them are $3 billion in funding for the establishment of new nonprofit health cooperatives, a component of the president’s health care reform package that is cherished by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). Negotiators are also discussing roughly $10 billion in cuts to the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services departments.

 

Fun, Fun, Fun............ Republicans want to spend a little more, Democrats want to spend alot more, and the taxpayer gets fucked either way...... and the only institution that wins regardless is BIG GOVERNMENT.

What a wonderful world!!!

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The wealthy buy more toys, grandma eats catfood. Thats America

 

o777, you must not be too much of a thinker. You can't seem to get off the Rep vs. Dem thing. We have one way out of here....cut spending...leave taxes alone...until we pay off the debt and return to a real money system...none of this fiat crap. Every nation that "moved on" to fiat currencies collapsed! We need a REAL monetary system. Oh, please don't give me the crap about...."The gov't needs to spend money to make the economy grow...so we can pay taxes and pay off the debt crap!" We ALL have heard this for too long. Here are my two thoughts...

1.) Disinter FDR's body - he was a fu[king traitor who stole the real money from the people and pushed the US onto fiat.

2.) Develop the best plan possible to return us to real money. History repeats itself for the knucklebrains who don't learn from it - we need to get off the fiat currency and return to REAL currency. -No not just because some "kooks" think we should use gold/silver as money...but, because every civilization that used fiat collapsed! Disclaimer: I do NOT own gold or silver at this time...I just know that it is real money. Heck, we can use some other metal, but the idea is the same - fiat will kill us!

-gastropod

P.S....What would you say to a FRIEND who said to you...."Hey, I am thinking of trying heroin every day for like three weeks." or "Hey, I am thinking of trying crack cocaine every day for like three weeks." (General psychological principle is that it takes three weeks to form a habit...good or bad.) Any REASONABLE friend would say to this person, "Are you fu[king NUTS!?!?! You will become addicted and then be REALLY screwed!!! How is it that FDR and his a$$hole buddies thought fiat was a *good* idea????? Any economy student who studies a little economic history will know that countries that move to fiat COLLAPSE!

 

Oh he's not. But he does consider himself a master debater.

 

"Fiat money
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fiat money is money that has value only because of government regulation or law. The term derives from the Latin fiat, meaning "let it be done", as such money is established by government decree. Where fiat money is used as currency, the term fiat currency is used.

Today, all national currencies are fiat currencies, including the US dollar, the euro, and all other reserve currencies. This trend began with the Nixon Shock of 1971, which ended the backing by precious metal of the U.S. dollar."

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

 

I believe the republicans, democrats, and everyone else is responsible for getting us into this situation, and their responsibility to take reasonable, fair, and across the board steps to rectify the situation.

Military budgets can be cut in half and we are not going to be less secure or safe.

Soldiers can be moved from Europe and Asia, and stationed on our own borders to secure them, to secure our ports, etc.

The sacrifice that has to be made has to be a shared sacrifice, not just an attack on one or two socioeconomic groups.

If we are truly a United States, then those in congress and the senate, Obama and everyone else needs to start acting like we are a country in need of change.

I fault the democrats for their part in this mess, I fault the republicans, but if we seriously want to fix the problem, then we all have to work together.

Imagine if we were all on a ship, and the ship started leaking water.

Would we ask only one group to begin bailing out water? Or would the rich and poor stand next to each other bailing out water to save their own, and everyone's life.

The problem is that the wealthy are insulated from the hardship that is here, and will get worse if there is not a shared pain. Cuts, serious cuts have to happen at every level, except those necessary for survival.

We have to ration, and I assure you that if we don't ration across the board, the wealthy are going to come under attack. There isn't going to be a place to hide.

What the right wing doesn't understand, or is in denial of...is that we have had close to two generations of a strong middle class. Working men and women, living a comfortable life and having some certainty in their retirement years.

Now, if you take that away from them, and they see that a certain segment of society doesn't have to also sacrifice, they are going to be pretty pissed off.

It simply is not smart politically for the republicans to ignore what has happened, expectations that have been generated for decades, and the wasted money that is our military.

Rumsfeld said several years ago the following:

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

The military is one of the greatest areas of waste in our budget. It is criminal how contracts scam the taxpayer...but do the right wingers step up to the plate and demand that we stop this practice?

I am in full agreement that some citizens take advantage of welfare, etc.

However, their crimes are like a kid stealing a candy bar compared to the high level white color crime that happens in the military industrial complex.

The republicans are going to find out what happens if they cut only the butter and leave the guns unscathed...and it is not going to be pretty for them.

People are going to wake up and realize that the dream of being one of the wealthy if they just work hard enough was just a propaganda device to get their votes.

No, you are right, it is not a Rep vs. Dem thing, but I am happy to address the changes the Dems need to make (disbanding unions is a canard). The repubs, with the exception of Ron Paul perhaps, refuse to look at the bloat of their sacred cow.

Fiat money is not the cause, it is a symptom. This attack on fiat money is just so misplaced. Fiat money didn't make people in America greedy, it didn't make our military industrial complex suck the life out of our budget, etc.

 

Do any of the "real money" types understand what kind of implosion world wide would happen if fiat money is suddenly renounced?

Their gold won't save them, any more than Qaddafi's gold holdings will save him.

The gold bug mentality is a form of extremism. People like them think we could have made the economic, social, and technology progress we have made without credit, debt, etc.

It simply is not practical.

Has the world abused their credit? Sure. Should the world have been better about balancing their budget along the way? Sure.

If we had balanced budgets, would fiat money be an issue?

No...

 

It is akin to a wealthy household with high expenses geared to a business income that is slowly shrinking. If spending is not reigned in, Papa goes bankrupt. In this case, the US dollar will be the sacrificed entity as US is past the point of no return.

 

That path can change, and increasing taxes on those who can afford them, and cutting the military budget is a start.

Frugality across the board. No sacred cows, except those that are necessary for survival.