The few people in Pentagon leadership positions with a real interest in getting their budget under control agree that closing unneeded military bases is the best place to start. Getting them closed has been a Herculean task, however, with politicians so desperate to keep wasting money that they’ll even spend extra money lobbying for it.
The state government of Massachusetts is so desperate to keep Massachusetts military bases open, despite them being unwanted and unneeded by the Pentagon, that they’re preparing to pony up a $177 million bond, backed by state taxpayer money, to make improvements at those military bases to try to bribe the Pentagon into keeping them open.
It’s an unprecedented and straightforward payola, and one that could set a precedent for other states trying to buy their way into keeping military bases alive, if only to serve as a sinkhole for future taxpayer funds in a ridiculously inefficient jobs program.
Massachusetts officials say they’re simply recognizing the “new political reality,” and that throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the Pentagon is the only chance they have to keep their bases off the closure-commission’s list.
The most disturbing aspect of the situation is that they may be right, and that taxpayers are set to start being taxed at a state level to keep open politically advantageous military bases that they will have to be taxed again at the federal level to pay for.
The MSM keeps reporting the US economy has recovered from the 2008 crash. Is this a sign of a recovering economy? When taxes are used to keep tax money flowing in, when the circulation of tax money and debt is all that's keeping the economy going, the economy is not far from collapse.
So much easier ,, to MAKE money since computers store the numbers…. No books, messy ink or arduous printing necessary…. just a few keystrokes and voilà….. hundreds of millions, billions…. a trillion.. Only need to tap that zero key a few times…. It seems like it will make money worthless, but, knock on wood, these days with the chitty economy, even with zero interest….??? The stuff seems to get ever more valuable… Go figure…. The Fed wizard keeps ilusion extant….. Can you fool all the people all the time…??? Maybe…!!!!! just enough…….
One of the functions of Congressmen and Senators is to take care of the interests of their constituents. It is a sad note that the quality of the entire Massachusetts delegation from Cherokee Warren on down that it has come to this. Gone are the days when a Lev Saltonstall or a Jimmy Burke could bring home the bacon. The present crowd does not even try. Not a one. They are immersed in self promotion and ideological fantasies. They don't give a tinker's dam for the working man, the business man or anyone other than themselves. The proud Commonwealth that has produced Presidents, Speakers, Cabinet members and Supreme Court Judges in abundance is now represented by a gaggle of pipsqueak ciphers. A teat on a bull would be more useful than the whole lot of them.
But if they shut down the bases, where will they keep terrorists awaiting trial? Where will the tanks come from for martial law events?
I guess what it comes down to is: which politician (and political party) is going to thumb their nose at roughly 66,000 voters. Regardless of whether the closings would be beneficial to the overall health of the country, and it's security, the pols of Massachusetts have decided to continue the wasting of billins of dollars. If I was a Massachusetts taxpayer, I'd be furious.
New York state gov't is giving millions to lobbyists on behalf of keeping Ft Drum going.