Cut the Military Budget By Barney Frank

[Joanne98]

By Barney Frank
ICH
February 25, 2009 “The Nation“

I am a great believer in freedom of expression and am proud of those times when I have been one of a few members of Congress to oppose censorship. I still hold close to an absolutist position, but I have been tempted recently to make an exception, not by banning speech but by requiring it. I would be very happy if there was some way to make it a misdemeanor for people to talk about reducing the budget deficit without including a recommendation that we substantially cut military spending.

Sadly, self-described centrist and even liberal organizations often talk about the need to curtail deficits by cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs that have a benign social purpose, but they fail to talk about one area where substantial budget reductions would have the doubly beneficial effect of cutting the deficit and diminishing expenditures that often do more harm than good. Obviously people should be concerned about the $700 billion Congress voted for this past fall to deal with the credit crisis. But even if none of that money were to be paid back–and most of it will be–it would involve a smaller drain on taxpayer dollars than the Iraq War will have cost us by the time it is concluded, and it is roughly equivalent to the $651 billion we will spend on all defense in this fiscal year.

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via Cut the Military Budget - ICH

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/cut-the-military-budget-by-barney-frank/

[phantom power]

1. Defense spending and interest on debt are the two biggest costs.

By a wide margin. Any discussion about "reducing spending" that doesn't involve both reducing defense spending and paying down our national debt is a waste of time.