Record US Military Budget Still Assumes Growth in Years Ahead
Pentagon Touts 'Major Cuts,' But Growth Continues
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sought to spin some relatively trivial cuts in weapons programs as fiscal responsibility in the era of record military budgets, and seems to have had at least some success, with numerous papers touting the “major cuts” and calling his plan the first significant cut since 9/11.
The cuts were, of course, largely illusory. The 2011 military budget is the largest ever, and despite claims that the plan reflects the “absolute minimum” spending, each subsequent year through the end of the projections in 2016 is larger than the last.
Rather what Secretary Gates has accomplished is to announce an extremely minor cut in the rate of the growth of the enormous budget, with most of the imagined savings backloaded to 2015 and 2016, giving plenty of time for even this to be pared away.
Gates’ efforts are primarily a function of the Republican House of Representatives looking at possible military cuts. If Gates can spin his slight decrease in growth as sufficient, the assumption is that they will look elsewhere.
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googoomuck
January 6th, 2011 at 11:15 pm
Think your tax dollars goes to helping the poor in this country. Think again.
ghouri
January 7th, 2011 at 2:27 am
All the mad states rely on weapons of mass destruction and with america is nothing new.
The main reason for the down fall in the history of super powers was arroganz, killings,torture, inefficient, blind and create more foes around the world and amerrica is no exception.
Montaigne
January 7th, 2011 at 4:24 am
It is truly a significant sign of the self-righteous decadence and brutality of the American establishment, that this dark man with all his dark deeds, has risen to the top of both democrats and republicans, and he speaks to them as if he was among equals. Because, that is what the establishment looks like: lying, ofuscating, disruting debates, disregarding laws and treaties, while at the same time playing BETTER than anything else.
I hope they will all meet Gates behind his Gates of hell, and will have to listen to him eternally!
liveload
January 7th, 2011 at 4:49 am
Aww man, I was hoping you'd illustrate this article with that picture of Bob Gates behind the podium with that extremely constipated look on his face.
MoT
January 7th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Gates has proven once more he's the chief "floater" in the five sided toilet bowl.