President Donald Trump

[The Feral Slasher]

Well, it didn't happen now as military spending got a nice $300 Billion boost over the next two years.

I'm aware of that, and that was sort of my point. The time to complain about money wasted on the military is when there is a Dem in office (actually it would be even better to have a consistent position). As Hornsby noted it probably won't matter anyway...

[The Feral Slasher]

More political agreement. Interesting that only those on the right who are budget hawks and the far left opposed the military spending increases.

Centrism ftw !

[Hornsby]

But complaining about a stupid parade isn't going to change anything either, and it's impact is much smaller. I guess I don't agree about just accepting it and letting it slide because I think my voice doesn't matter. I never thought we would have gay marriage in my lifetime either, but fortunately people spoke up and made change happen. I'm tired of Dems accepting what is "possible" or whatever the Democratic party wants to offer and not challenging them to do better. Donald Trump will never respond to the voice of the progressives/liberals/Democrats so I don't waste my breathe criticizing him -- but the Dems should look for a candidate who does want change and will respond. Anyway, we are stuck with him so if people feel better voicing their displeasure I'll try to just let them.

But the Parade is the "thousand dollar hammer" taken to a whole 'nother level...it's so stupid and self aggrandizing that it cries out to be ridiculed. I'm a pragmatist at this point in my life, I know what's changeable and what's not, and cutting our military spending in an appreciable way is something that's not likely to happen as long as there are foreign powers that rival ours, or even small boogiemen like North Korea that suddenly find themselves with nuclear weapons.

BUT, the potential for driving a corrupt President and his cronies out is real, IMO...it's something that's achievable through the electoral process.

[The Feral Slasher]

But the Parade is the "thousand dollar hammer" taken to a whole 'nother level...it's so stupid and self aggrandizing that it cries out to be ridiculed. I'm a pragmatist at this point in my life, I know what's changeable and what's not, and cutting our military spending in an appreciable way is something that's not likely to happen as long as there are foreign powers that rival ours, or even small boogiemen like North Korea that suddenly find themselves with nuclear weapons.

BUT, the potential for driving a corrupt President and his cronies out is real, IMO...it's something that's achievable through the electoral process.

I agree that it is difficult to impossible to reduce military budgets -- particularly given that so few Democrats will try to do anything about it when they are in office. As far as driving out a corrupt President, I think the Democrats would have more success if they offered a better product and didn't rely so much on pointing out what an idiot Trump is. That actually didn't work the last time around, though it wasn't for lack of effort.

Anyway, Trump certainly deserves a lot of criticism, on that we agree.

[OaklandA's]

I agree that it is difficult to impossible to reduce military budgets -- particularly given that so few Democrats will try to do anything about it when they are in office.

Defense Spending by year:
2010: $721B
2011: $717B
2012: $681B
2013: $610B
2014: $614B

[The Feral Slasher]

Defense Spending by year:
2010: $721B
2011: $717B
2012: $681B
2013: $610B
2014: $614B

lol, nice Cherry picked data. Why not show the huge increases from 1996 thru 2010 and the increase again in 2015 ? Spending on defense in 2015 under Obama was more than it was in all but 2 of GWBush years. And the average spending during the Obama years was about twice what the spending was in the year 2000.

So yeah, they did reduce it from the peak, but I'm not sure that means much. Was any of it attibuted to the reduction in troop levels in the failed Afghanistan surge ?

[The Feral Slasher]

lol, nice Cherry picked data. Why not show the huge increases from 1996 thru 2010 and the increase again in 2015 ? Spending on defense in 2015 under Obama was more than it was in all but 2 of GWBush years. And the average spending during the Obama years was about twice what the spending was in the year 2000.

So yeah, they did reduce it from the peak, but I'm not sure that means much. Was any of it attibuted to the reduction in troop levels in the failed Afghanistan surge ?

So, I see all sorts of different numbers from different sources. Below is one example. In any event I will acknowledge that there appears in general to be a slight decline or plateau during the Obama years. But the level is far higher than it was during the early Bush years.

https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-military-budget-components-challenges-growth-3306320

[OaklandA's]

lol, nice Cherry picked data. Why not show the huge increases from 1996 thru 2010 and the increase again in 2015 ? Spending on defense in 2015 under Obama was more than it was in all but 2 of GWBush years. And the average spending during the Obama years was about twice what the spending was in the year 2000.

You said "it is difficult to impossible to reduce military budgets" and "Democrats do not do so when they are in office." I was just pointing out that the Democrats and Obama did do exactly that.

The actual numbers vary depending on which site you look at, but the numbers from https://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/defe...nding_analysis show the following:
2011: 705B
2012: 678B
2013: 633B
2014: 603B
2015: 589B
2016: 593B
2017: 600B

Proposed Budget:
2018: 700B
2019: 716B

[The Feral Slasher]

You said "it is difficult to impossible to reduce military budgets" and "Democrats do not do so when they are in office." I was just pointing out that the Democrats and Obama did do exactly that.

The actual numbers vary depending on which site you look at, but the numbers from https://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/defe...nding_analysis show the following:
2011: 705B
2012: 678B
2013: 633B
2014: 603B
2015: 589B
2016: 593B
2017: 600B

Proposed Budget:
2018: 700B
2019: 716B

Well I'm sure you and other Dems are proud to point this out. While I will point out that the level is still unreasonably high and much higher than the average during the Bush years. The U.S. spent far more on the miltiary under Obama than under Bush, that is my point.

You never answered how much of this, if any, is because Obama realized his error in Afghanistan and reduced troop levels. Or does that come from another part of the budget ?

[revo]

The U.S. spent far more on the miltiary under Obama than under Bush, that is my point.

In terms of pure dollars, yes, but not as a percentage of the total budget.

Years	                         96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15
Defense Budget (Billions)	266	270	271	292	304	335	362	456	491	506	556	625	696	698	721	717	681	610	614	637
Total Budget (Trillions)	1.58	1.64	1.69	1.78	1.82	1.96	2.09	2.27	2.41	2.58	2.78	2.86	3.32	4.08	3.48	3.51	3.58	3.48	3.64	3.97
Defense Budget %	        16.8	16.5	16.0	16.4	16.7	17.1	17.3	20.1	20.4	19.6	20.0	21.9	20.9	17.1	20.7	20.4	19.1	17.5	16.8	16.0
Defense Spending % Change	-0.1	+1.6	+0.2	+7.8	+4.0	+10.1	+8.2	+26.0	+7.6	+3.1	+10.0	+12.5	+11.3	+0.2	+3.4	-0.6	-5.0	-10.5	+0.6	+3.8

[The Feral Slasher]

In terms of pure dollars, yes, but not as a percentage of the total budget.

Years	                         96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15
Defense Budget (Billions)	266	270	271	292	304	335	362	456	491	506	556	625	696	698	721	717	681	610	614	637
Total Budget (Trillions)	1.58	1.64	1.69	1.78	1.82	1.96	2.09	2.27	2.41	2.58	2.78	2.86	3.32	4.08	3.48	3.51	3.58	3.48	3.64	3.97
Defense Budget %	        16.8	16.5	16.0	16.4	16.7	17.1	17.3	20.1	20.4	19.6	20.0	21.9	20.9	17.1	20.7	20.4	19.1	17.5	16.8	16.0
Defense Spending % Change	-0.1	+1.6	+0.2	+7.8	+4.0	+10.1	+8.2	+26.0	+7.6	+3.1	+10.0	+12.5	+11.3	+0.2	+3.4	-0.6	-5.0	-10.5	+0.6	+3.8

I would have to look. not sure if that is the best way to look at it. it is a complicated comparison to make

[The Feral Slasher]

I would have to look. not sure if that is the best way to look at it. it is a complicated comparison to make

We could spend a lot of time sorting through numbers. On a yearly basis there was a decrease according to most numbers I have seen, and I have noted the spending during the Obama administration was significantly higher than during the Bush administration. So people can make out of that whatever they want. As someone who thinks we spend to much on the military and wasted a lot of money on pointless wars during the Obama administration the fact that there was a slight yearly decrease for the second half of his administration doesn't really mean much to me. I think the spending and wars were too great throughout his administration.

[The Feral Slasher]

You said "it is difficult to impossible to reduce military budgets" and "Democrats do not do so when they are in office." I was just pointing out that the Democrats and Obama did do exactly that.

I actually didn't say that part in bold

[Redbirds Fan]

We could spend a lot of time sorting through numbers. On a yearly basis there was a decrease according to most numbers I have seen, and I have noted the spending during the Obama administration was significantly higher than during the Bush administration. So people can make out of that whatever they want. As someone who thinks we spend to much on the military and wasted a lot of money on pointless wars during the Obama administration the fact that there was a slight yearly decrease for the second half of his administration doesn't really mean much to me. I think the spending and wars were too great throughout his administration.

Jeez, dude, way to take a stand.

[The Feral Slasher]

Jeez, dude, way to take a stand.

go back.to kissing obamas ass