US Federal Spending 2009: defense: 782 billion Scenario #1: Cutting it by 75% and using the money for something useful like improving infrastructure, developing green jobs, rebuilding our cities. Perhaps instead of building the next F22 we should employ those brains for something more beneficial for our society. Scenario #2: Feeding our $$$ to big corporations who built garbage (Stealth Bomber for example) for billions of dollars and keep our brightest minds occupied creating better ways to kill people. Hey but we can always blame the social security for the deficit and our debt. It has worked well so far. P.S. Defense-related expenditure for next year: 721 billion for DOD spending plus another 300 to 500 billion for FBI, military part of NASA work etc, etc, TOTAL COST: 1 to 1.2 TRILLION A YEAR As for border protection: $100,000 summons for each illegal working for any company enforced as rigorously as speeding ticket/red light/parking violations would clear the us of 99.9% of illegal immigrants without wasting millions on border "security". Question is why has it not been done?
Now that communism has not been an issue for 20 years, why does the USA feel the need for a huge international military presence? It's clearly reducing US security rather than enhancing it. The military could be cut in half and it would still be able to easily invade any country that it can invade now. Afghanistan and Iraq have shown that it is not pure military might that is the big deal, and Georgia showed that even with by far the most powerful army, the US is never going to do anything against major military powers like Russia, China, India etc.
How about neither scenario? Or reduced, streamlined defense spending and no more money flushed down the toiled on wasted gov't jobs? This "the gov't didn't spend $$ on this, therefore it should spend it on that" mentality is what needs to go. By the way, green energy is a joke. Simple math and physics don't support it. The output is miniscule, and sometimes it uses more energy via fossil fuels (as well as a ton of land and infrastructure) than it produces. The "green jobs" will go away once people realize that we've littered our countryside and chopped down trees for worthless solar panels and windmills.
Israel's case (which does appear in the list) is worse than all those bigger countries (Japan, S korean, Europe): It siphons money, prestige, brings mainly trouble, offers no return on investment while other countries send business deals/money/etc, and it even has the guts to spy on the US!
Yes military jobs are one of the best ways to create jobs when there is mass unemployment but it will lead to big wars. I think this is what started World War 2.
Of course they do, but it's not as important to them as it is minorities. Recent inquiries as to why combat units are disproportionally white concluded that white kids are there more for the adventure and patriotic feelings, minorities take the less dangerous support positions and tend to stick it out as a career. The military budget is mainly pay and services for people, look it up.
While I can agree that Koreans should defend Korea, the liberal populist illusions are more rampant than ever. It's always the money thats in the military thats the difference maker which would turn society around. It doesn't matter that we have a department of energy that has poured countless tens of billions into alternate energy for the last 30 years, it doesn't matter that we already spend more per student than most anybody in the world, it doesn't matter that the social budget in 2010 is quadruple the defense budget... if only, if only, (start the John Lennon music) we could just make bridges instead of F-22s. Can you people be any dumber?