IMO, that would invite our enemies to strike.

With all the talk of the US government borrowing trillions of dollars to just maintain the status quo on Wall Street, now is the time for Americans to rethink its current spending priorities on the military.

What good are these known and unknown garrisons around the globe with all their logistical costs, if the US does not have the money to properly address Covid-19 and its victims as well as financial assistance for the businesses and workers that will/are being wiped out in its wake?

There is no point of having the greatest military on Earth, if your country is headed to an economic depression.

So you want to cut spending on “garrisons” that you “know of” as well as don’t know of? It’s like saying I dunno what “x part” of my car does, but hell I think I don’t need it so I’ll tell the car manufacturer to cut it out.

"So your idea to help the PRIVATE SECTOR economy is to force thousands of service members out of their government-funded jobs and into the private sector?  How many of those will simply roll-over onto the welfare/unemployment roles, still costing tax payers but WITHOUT providing the services they were trained for -- and trained at great expense to the tax payer."

You bet, any day of the week.  I will always unapologetically put the interests of the nation's citizenry before its soldiers.

The military is effectively a socialist jobs program as well as a way for politicians to buy influence in their districts with heaping helpings of porkbarrel spending. As Smedley Butler pointed out, war is a racket.

We would have to replace the military with another socialist jobs program, which could actually save a lot of money over time because paying for bombs that simply cease to exist when they are used is a lot more wasteful than public works projects that last generations. Our quality of life would decline in some ways because we would not be able to force other countries to use the petrodollar, but the decline and rejection of our fiat currency is already happening anyway so not much to loose in the medium to long term.

What we really need to do is regrow domestic manufacturing, which is actually possible now that the trade war is over and people realize how dangerous it is to let foreigners control our supplies of medical equipment. Do not get me wrong. It will be a bumpy road no matter what direction we take, but some point we have to come to terms with the fact that our worst enemies are internal, which makes our bloated global conquest-obsessed socialist jobs program a huge liability that can and will be used against us unless we manage to scale it back to a reasonably sized institution.

"For every veteran who enters the job market in a down economy, there are civilians applying for the same job.  Veterans often are given preference over non-vets.  Is that what you want to see: your neighbor on food stamps and Medicare, possibly having to sell his home, while the ex-Marine gets the job your neighbor wanted?"

Yes, veterans may have preferences for government jobs, but I doubt that will and should not hold true in the private sector during a recession or depression.

Wrong.  The preferences kick in even more when the military has a RIF.  Economic factors don't play into hiring policies.  The gov't offers incentives, not to mention the public image boost of hiring vets -- at least for those who don;t hate the military members like you do.



"The funds spent for a well-trained and well-equipped military also makes its way into the economy.  Service members, support staff, civilian companies and all  their family members spend that income, which then benefits the economy as a whole."

This maybe true as long as they are NOT SPENDING their money on businesses operating on military bases.

Ever been on a base?  Most concessions are run by local owners and national chains with local franchises.  They hire lots of off-base employees to work the jobs, as well  as many dependents.

Where do you think that money goes?  Bases operate like any other gov't run place.  They use civilian vendors.  That vendor is not a gov't entity. 

"You have a very simplistic understanding of how finances and the economy work.  If you think the government saving money somehow equates to a benefit for the private economy, there's not much hope for you."

So you believe.

Not much of an argument, huh?  You can't tell me why I'm incorrect in that belief?

Borrowing money is never in the interest of the tax payers.  Anytime a government can save money, that allows for a surplus that can greatly benefit society, especially during a pandemic crises like what the World is going through now.



"Politicians saw a huge "peace dividend" when we won the Cold War and the military had a massive RIF.  All that "savings" was spent on other programs -- and our taxes went UP.  Additionally, we entered a recession at that time, because it takes time for a society to retool and retrain a drawn-down military.  In the meantime, it hurts everyone short turn.  More labor in the market suppresses salaries.  Supply and demand."

What's your point?  The founding fathers were against war and standing armies.  A nation should spend its time making money, not war or garrisoning the planet.

The founding fathers? LOL!  The founders never envisioned a trillion-dollar budget, nor all the welfare/charity programs we have that are quite literally nothing but using taxes to buy votes.



"Stack THAT draw-down recession ON TOP of the economic disaster we're facing now, and I think you;ll agree that now is NOT the time."

I humbly disagree. 

The whole World is already facing a global recession that can potentially lead to a global depression by the end of this calendar year.  Should that happen, every nation will need every dollar to ensure the RULE OF LAW and continuity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of its people within its borders.

The nations of the World will not have the time to act tough and make dirty faces at each other.

With a GLOBAL pandemic hitting some very strong nations (China) very hard, do you really think now is the time to drop our guard?  Not only that, but our military performs some of the most effective humanitarian missions on the planet (go read about the Tsunami relief our hospital ships provided).

So short-sighted, it's not even worth considering.

"You bet, any day of the week.  I will always unapologetically put the interests of the nation's citizenry before its soldiers."

Maybe you missed that day in school, but the people you refer to as merely "soldiers" are also citizens, with the same rights and interests as the rest of the "citizenry".

We know you hate the military, but now you have gone and admitted you have a personal grudge against the individual members of the military, not just the management.

You believe the "man on the street" is more deserving of -- anything -- than anyone willing to join the military.  That's sad and repulsive at the same time.

Please don't reframe my statements for your personal agenda.

People of the military ARE CITIZENS of their nation, but don't insult everyone here that they and civilians are the same.  Where do civilians or other government employees for that matter have the privilege of shopping at the HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED Navy Exchange or the Commissary for the needs of daily life or frequent a military base's bowling alley or theaters for their entertainment?

After all that special treatment, you really believe the civilian population should kowtow to military servicemen.

What you are championing is a return of the military as social class of its own above civilians.  In the modern World, only fascist governments did that.

"Wrong.  The preferences kick in even more when the military has a RIF.  Economic factors don't play into hiring policies.  The gov't offers incentives, not to mention the public image boost of hiring vets -- at least for those who don;t hate the military members like you do."

That's a bad policy.  You must be a SOCIALIST because true capitalism dictates no special privilege to ANYONE. 

Yeah.  The Socialist Party Leaders NEVER EVER got anything resembling special treatment, huh?   

I'm a Socialist like you're a Veteran.



"Ever been on a base?  Most concessions are run by local owners and national chains with local franchises.  They hire lots of off-base employees to work the jobs, as well  as many dependents.

Where do you think that money goes?  Bases operate like any other gov't run place.  They use civilian vendors.  That vendor is not a gov't entity."


Got news for you.  Those businesses do not charge nor pay state taxes. 

Wrong.  Businesses operating in Hawaii owe state EXCISE taxes on their income, unless they fall into specialized sectors like research and development.  Go look it up.  ALL BUSINESSES that operate in Hawaii -- local or not --  even on bases -- owe excise taxes with a few exceptions..



"The founding fathers? LOL!  The founders never envisioned a trillion-dollar budget, nor all the welfare/charity programs we have that are quite literally nothing but using taxes to buy votes."

How do those realities of today offset the founding fathers view AGAINST war and having a standing military.

You beat that dead horse already.  Go review past comments in other threads. 



"With a GLOBAL pandemic hitting some very strong nations (China) very hard, do you really think now is the time to drop our guard?  Not only that, but our military performs some of the most effective humanitarian missions on the planet (go read about the Tsunami relief our hospital ships provided)."

Any nation's military can be used to assist humanitarian disasters.  You make it sound only America conducts such activities.

You really spun that!!  How many ships can you name from other countries that essentially provide a full service hospital off the coast of a territory that's been demolished by a natural disaster?  I'll let you use Google if you can't come up with any.

Word on the street is that the fun guys in the middle east are already drumming that the US is responsible for the virus outbreak, due to the propaganda being spun out of communist China.  Keep in mind their subjects do not have free access to information like most of us do.


I fully expect a terrorist incident occurring shortly, either in the United States or in Israel.

But, hey!  We can use our tax money to prop up GM and Bank of America instead of funding the military.