Baraka_Guru

Wait a minute...I thought the current bloated amount Americans spend on military was the embarrassing thing. I think maybe you want to rejig how the money is spent. To spend even more is ridiculous. Your education system is failing, your social security is at risk, you can't even look after your veterans, your disparity between rich and poor is making some parts look like Third World countries, and you want more spending on military? When your budget already makes up around 47% of the world's military spending? How much impact will more money have when your spending is already so high? What about your national debt? Between the U.S. and Russia, do you know who's balancing their books better right now? I'm not sure. But what I do know is that Russia's public debt is sitting at 5.9% of GDP (of which has been growing faster than most G8 countries), while the U.S. sits at 60.8%. There is something wrong with your economy, and much of it might have to do with your military. Is this a reasonable expense? Can you afford this?

I think you mean corporate welfare and corrupt socialism.

I don't know how American military personnel cannot be properly equipped with that kind of budget. Something is amiss. Is it corruption? Is it foolish spending? What is it?

And I thought the military base pay was raised this year in Congress?

I don't think anyone is in favour of it. Except maybe contractors. Iraqis might have a bill to pay, but America should establish a generous aid program. Along the lines of what Japan received after the war, but to scale, of course.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot