ottotheboar

The policies of cities / towns to the homeless varies widely, some places will only allow a very short time in a shelter and will give provide a bus ticket out of town and a coupon redeemable for food at a local supemarket basically kicking the can down the road . I had a guy work for me who had been homeless off on on for years and it was an insight into a very different world.

Sally Redux

I was stunned to hear there are still over 60,000 US troops in Germany.

AmerLisa

Well that's 60k that aren't unemployed, that have decent medical (better than I) and are not homeless.

Sally Redux

So you're happy to pay for it?

Why not embrace proper socialism?

AmerLisa

I think there's a lot of waste that happens in the military, just about like everything else. But that doesn't make me for it or against it, I'm just saying.....

HumphreyC

There are two reasons for that (it used to be 100,000 not too long ago). Firstly every time there is a reduction the local German communities kick up a fuss as they are largely dependent on business from U.S servicemen. Secondly NATO. Article 5 of the NATO treaty requires the Alliance to come to the aid of member-states if their territory comes under attack. Whenever there are plans for a withdrawal the other member states object and say the U.S is in danger on not being able to live up to it's responsibilities (and certain Eastern European countries are still afraid of Russia)

Both of those reasons are pretty silly in my opinion. There is no reason why we (as in the U.S) should be indirectly funding a large chunk of Germany's national defense budget which they should be funding themselves. Secondly local businesses will suffer in a withdrawal, but c'est la vie. Plenty of U.S bases have been shutdown with limited thought given to the impact on local commerce.

Next year you and I will spend more than more than $2,700 each on [defense] programs and agencies. Therefore I think when we start looking at deficit cuts the military is going to have to be high up the list.

Giantaxe

The question is is all this defence spending (including the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan) a productive use of tax dollars? I would say that the answer is a resounding "no". I would also say we simply can't afford the current level of military spending when there are so many pressing needs at home. What I find peculiar is that so many Republicans are willing to slash other government-funded jobs, but aren't willing to cut a cent of military spending. This is completely unrealistic and counterproductive, especially when we are firing tens of thousands of teachers.

Sally Redux

Excellent points by Humphrey and Giantaxe.

I was also reading an article in Time about a National Guardsman who killed his family and himself after returning from tours of duty and not being able to re-adjust. It seems to be a growing problem.

CelticRover

President Eisenhower warned us 50 years ago about how formidable the Military Industrial Political complex could become.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942...50-years-later

Bluegrass Lass

Just to add to this a bit. Was reading how in AZ, the governor has cut around $530mil from the state medicaid budget, which has had the effect of removing thousands from the transplant recipient list - essentially signing death warrants for these folks. And at the same, they gave a 2% tax cut to corporations which totaled around $540mil.

I just can't comprehend why the governor would do that?!? It just proves how much thought and compassion are really given to people, opposed to the almighty f'ing dollar. :curse:

CelticRover

Sadly but simply stated, our politicians at almost all levels, are bought and paid for and are financially obligated to the agenda of their very rich and powerfull contributors.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social..._79742587.html

SDDep

Has this turned into the anti US Military/defense spending thread?

Shall we eliminate the military altogether? there's no cold war, no real enemies anymore, what do we need it for?

We can then add a coupla million servicemembers and about 6 or 8 million family members to the welfare rolls...

Do we spend a ton of defense? yes... too much? probably...

Should we have a better safety net? yes...

Is this a welfare state like the UK? no it isnt..and I don't want it to be..

I work hard, pay my taxes and support my family, especially in this state, my taxes go to all sorts of social and welfare programs that I will probably never benefit from and thats ok.

Without us all getting all spun up, its horrible that any family would be homeless. Some are victims of assorted things, others make choices that the children have to live with and that sucks.

Stay focused on the problem instead of the "who can we bame for this" bandwagon.

And Michael Moore can make some good points, but is an ass for the most part.

This isnt the UK or Europe, right or wrong, it just isn't, and I thank god for that sometimes...

BILDER

Ummm.... Canada has the largest welfare structure (outside of the Scandinavian countries). Possibly too large.

ian-mstm

"You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?" JL/ID

Ian

BILDER

Great post.