There seems to be a personality type that craves argument.

Have run into quite a few online.  One huge tip is always trying for the last word or at least beating things to death. 

Not to be sexist, but the female persuasion is often seen doing this.

MISOGYNIST !   

What is sorely needed is to make the military efficient and to cut waste, fraud, and abuse.  We could cut a good percentage off the military budget without reducing our capabilities or cutting troop numbers.  Not just in the military, but also with military contractors and pork barrel spending by politicians.  I handled some small budgets and logistics in the military and was a servicemember and I was part of the problem.  It was a culture and attitude problem in the military.  I didn't see or understand that this is other people's money that was being wasted till later in my career.

It's very difficult to get any changes made because it's seen as affecting national security or hurting the troops.

What is sorely needed is to make the military efficient and to cut waste, fraud, and abuse.  We could cut a good percentage off the military budget without reducing our capabilities or cutting troop numbers.  Not just in the military, but also with military contractors and pork barrel spending by politicians.  I handled some small budgets and logistics in the military and was a servicemember and I was part of the problem.  It was a culture and attitude problem in the military.  I didn't see or understand that this is other people's money that was being wasted till later in my career.

It's very difficult to get any changes made because it's seen as affecting national security or hurting the troops.

Well said!

The war junkies, neocons, and military industrial complex all love to pray on the fears that any $1 drop in military spending means the end of the American way of life.

The age of mass invasions among military peers ended in the 20th century with the advent of nuclear weapons.  Hence, the only reason for any country to maintain a military budget such as the US is to bleed the tax payers and maintain a global empire.

Why else would you maintain such an obscene military budget when it is clear funding is needed elsewhere, as revealed by the current global pandemic catastrophe.

What is sorely needed is to make the military efficient and to cut waste, fraud, and abuse.  We could cut a good percentage off the military budget without reducing our capabilities or cutting troop numbers.  Not just in the military, but also with military contractors and pork barrel spending by politicians.  I handled some small budgets and logistics in the military and was a servicemember and I was part of the problem.  It was a culture and attitude problem in the military.  I didn't see or understand that this is other people's money that was being wasted till later in my career.

It's very difficult to get any changes made because it's seen as affecting national security or hurting the troops.

Not to blame the military/Pentagon for it, but the baseline budgeting used by the Congress and WH causes a huge percentage of wasteful spending.

The end-of-fiscal-year gymnastics we went through to spend the remainder of our budgets resulted in purchases that were usually not mission critical, and often just purely wasteful. 

For 10 months we are told "we can't afford that additional person to do real mission-related work," or "our budget is too tight to fly you out the day before a 3 week exercise to rest up after a long flight."  Then in August, there is total panic that if we don't replace 2 year old computers, buy an iPad for everyone in the office and get $1500 licenses for MS Office for everyone (even though nobody knows how to use it), we'll have our budget cut the next FY.

Stop that goat rope, and we'll save tens of millions or more every single year.

Not to blame the military/Pentagon for it, but the baseline budgeting used by the Congress and WH causes a huge percentage of wasteful spending.

The military and pentagon is just as guilty as the WH or Congress.  Who do you think both entities consult when drafting the budget?  The homeless on the streets?   

To say there is no corruption in the ranks of the military is disingenuous.

The military budget needs to be drastically reduced and Trump has to tell them they need to do more with less.  In that way, it will force more cost-effective decisions and better uncover the corrupt within the rank and file.

This will definitely free up millions of dollars that should be used elsewhere, as revealed during the current COVID-19 crisis.

The military and pentagon is just as guilty as the WH or Congress.  Who do you think both entities consult when drafting the budget?  The homeless on the streets?   

To say there is no corruption in the ranks of the military is disingenuous.

The military budget needs to be drastically reduced and Trump has to tell them they need to do more with less.  In that way, it will force more cost-effective decisions and better uncover the corrupt within the rank and file.

This will definitely free up millions of dollars that should be used elsewhere, as revealed during the current COVID-19 crisis.

What's your point?  The baseline budgeting includes every single federal government agency, not just the military.

You were never in the military, but PLEASE enlighten us on how the budgets are produced.  I'd like to see if what's done in practice matches what you think is done in theory.

You were never in the military, but PLEASE enlighten us on how the budgets are produced.  I'd like to see if what's done in practice matches what you think is done in theory.

The science and art of budgeting itself is a standard practice in management.

I have and maintain budgets in my line of work and, as an economist, consult others on their own short and long-term budgets.

Depending on what the organization's goal(s) is/are, budgeting is nothing more than allocating what monies you have to the materials and services you need to meet organizational objectives.

In practice, corruption in the budgeting process usually takes place when those in charge of the budget get sneaky and over-complicate the process to hide their shenanigans.

Any budget should be easy to understand for the common person; if not, the budget is likely misallocating resources unintentionally or intentionally.

The science and art of budgeting itself is a standard practice in management.

I have and maintain budgets in my line of work and, as an economist, consult others on their own short and long-term budgets.

Depending on what the organization's goal(s) is/are, budgeting is nothing more than allocating what monies you have to the materials and services you need to meet organizational objectives.

In practice, corruption in the budgeting process usually takes place when those in charge of the budget get sneaky and over-complicate the process to hide their shenanigans.

Any budget should be easy to understand for the common person; if not, the budget is likely misallocating resources unintentionally or intentionally.

That statement alone proves beyond any doubt you have no idea how the government does budgeting.

Just stop.

Gaslighting by way of force fitting “facts” into a narrow view without any direct knowledge of many of the “W’s”.

Baseline budgeting is an accounting method the United States Federal Government uses to
develop a budget for future years. Baseline budgeting uses current spending levels as the
"baseline" for establishing future funding requirements and assumes future budgets will equal
the current budget times the inflation rate times the population growth rate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_(budgeting)

Name a private corporation that automatically INCREASES a group's budget if they spent 100% of last year's funding with little to no consideration for justification, and which CUTS funding the following year if the group ends the year with a budget a surplus.

The baseline budgeting process rewards maximum, often wasteful, spending, and it punishes anyone who saves the gov't money.

You have much to learn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_(budgeting)

Name a private corporation that automatically INCREASES a group's budget if they spent 100% of last year's funding with little to no consideration for justification, and which CUTS funding the following year if the group ends the year with a budget a surplus.

The baseline budgeting process rewards maximum, often wasteful, spending, and it punishes anyone who saves the gov't money.

You have much to learn.

Nice diversion taking away the original premise of this thread.

Your tangent discussion of "baseline budgeting" was very educational, but plays no bearing that the US military budget still needs to be scaled back in favor of other more pressing concerns.

Nice diversion taking away the original premise of this thread.

Your tangent discussion of "baseline budgeting" was very educational, but plays no bearing that the US military budget still needs to be scaled back in favor of other more pressing concerns.

 



HOW the gov't/military creates the budget you object to is entirely on point (SUBJECT:  Time to Scale Back US Military Spending).

You were more than happy to engage in the baseline budgeting discussion until I showed how little you know about it.

 

You were more than happy to engage in the baseline budgeting discussion until I showed how little you know about it.

Why should that be any surprise to you?

Unlike you, who purports to know more than anyone else on this forum; I have very strong views, but am a very open-minded eternal scholar humble to learn things I know very little.

Why should that be any surprise to you?

Unlike you, who purports to know more than anyone else on this forum; I have very strong views, but am a very open-minded eternal scholar humble to learn things I know very little.

In your DREAMS!   

Trump delivers remarks as USNS Comfort embarks for NY

Trump delivers remarks as USNS Comfort embarks for NY

 

Two ships?

Too little too late....

 

With fears of an impending global depression spoken now by both academic and so-called mainstream economists, it is imperative that the US begin scaling back not only in military spending, but also in its military presence around the globe.

America will need all what remains of its financial resources in not only maintaining the public order and trying to restart economic activity, but EVERY SOLDIER available to PREVENT a domestic communistic revolution as well as PROTECT its southern borders from the hoards of migrants and organized crime syndicates that will rush in-mass to establish a new home in the US.

The domestic situation in the US is headed to what looks like a combination of Russia in 1917 and Germany in the 1920s.

Two ships?

Too little too late....

 

Based on your vast experience?   

I've been aboard the USNS Mercy on it's way to assist the Malaysia tsunami recovery.  The platform is massive -- formerly built as an oil tanker.

If you BOTHERED to watch the video, the ships are being deployed to take the overflow of non-CV patients, allowing the ashore hospitals to treat CV patients.  That adds the benefit of keeping uninfected patients apart from the possibly/verified infected.

You hate the military.  You have only negatives to say no matter what they do.  You appear to have a "military variant" of TDS (MDS?).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Mercy_(T-AH-19)

Veterans are uniquely qualified to help during COVID-19 crisis: Goldberg

"If you BOTHERED to watch the video, the ships are being deployed to take the overflow of non-CV patients, allowing the ashore hospitals to treat CV patients.  That adds the benefit of keeping uninfected patients apart from the possibly/verified infected."

I am not saying it will not help; I am saying such deployment is TOO LITTLE TOO LATE.

Why did it take so long for this decision?  The US already leads the way in infections and headed to lead the way in deaths.

Once more, why only two ships?

Why not TAKE every available ship in the Seventh Fleet currently making stink-face to the Chinese in the South China Sea and REPURPOSE them similarly to aid infected Americans on the West Coast?



"You hate the military.  You have only negatives to say no matter what they do.  You appear to have a "military variant" of TDS (MDS?)."

I do not hate the military per se; I hate what the US military has become...  An overbudgeted global police force to govern the declining American Empire and intimidate its enemies.

So useless to an American's daily life, except for the war hawks and the military industrial complex, it has accumulated so much tax payer monies for decades, which left no emergency funds to combat the worst medical and economic disasters in recent US history.