Bush to Seek $401.7B Pentagon Budget

[jpak]

 Bush to Seek $401.7B Pentagon Budget

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-wh/2004/jan/23/012301338.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -

President Bush will ask Congress to approve $401.7 billion in defense spending for the budget year that begins in October, a 7 percent increase over this year, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The money does not include the cost of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, the Pentagon is spending about $1 billion a week in Iraq and about $1 billion a month in Afghanistan.

If, as expected, operations are still under way in those countries when the 2005 budget year begins Oct. 1, the administration presumably will have to ask Congress to appropriate extra billions of dollars.

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[citizen snips]

1. Bush is a big spender.

n/t.

[Sandpiper]

2. Sigh...

If only the Republicans were as interested in spending money on social uplift as they are in killing people and blowing things up.

[Toots]

3. $401.7 billion in defense spending

And virtually all is for Offense and not Defense at all. Why is New York holloring about being shorted on their homeland security funding? That is Defense. Buying bunker busting nukes is not Defense.

[arcane1]

4. "The money does not include the cost of fighting wars.."

tht says it all right there...

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Let's see what that looks like in red...

$401,700,000,000.00

hmmmm...wonder what life in the United States would be like if that amount of money were to be allocated for schools, health insurance, Vet benefits, creation of non-military jobs...

[OneBlueSky]

6. the only word that comes to mind is "obscene" . . .

someone who knew what they were doing could cut this budget by a third and in no way jeopardize security . . .

[aneerkoinos]

7. Cost of Empire

400b + Iraq and Afganistan, let's asy about 500b.

The estimated US governement debt next year 500b.

The Empire of debt...

[scarface2004]

8. karl rove, richard perle, and paul wolfowitz,

not to mention dick cheney and donald rumsfeld just came all over themselves.

get them some kleenex to clean it up!

[teryang]

9. These figures are wrong

The first appropriation for the war in Iraq which included funds for Afghanistan operations was $67 Billion. An additional $87 billion was appropriated a few months back, (so this volatile issue wouldn't have to be discussed during the campaign) to take us to the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2004. That is $154 billion for a twenty month period. That is $7.7 billion dollars a month which is a great deal more than the cost cited in this article.

According to this article the cost would be approximately $110 billion for same period. Opportunity costs, equipment depreciation and replacement are not included in the costs figured. Similarly, the tens of billions lost in the general economy while businesses hunkered down in anticipation of war and the deterioration of our schools and infrastructure during the entire period are not figured into the calculations.

The figures in the article are distorted to make war sound cheap. Hey, it only costs a billion a week. How's that for a cheap jingo?