General: U.S. spends as much on 'plastic Santas' as on military

[quaoar]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3821607.html

Army Chief Laments Defense Budget Fights


By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON — Americans spent as much on "plastic Santa Clauses and tinsel" and other holiday niceties last Christmas season as they do on their military for a year, the Army's top general said Wednesday.

Lamenting complaints by some about too much defense spending, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, told reporters: "I just don't understand .... what's the problem?"

Schoomaker said the defense budget the Bush administration requested this year _ nearly $440 billion, plus the costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan _ is 3.9 percent of the nation's near $13 trillion overall economy. Bush has requested $50 billion so far for the wars.

He said that during World War II, military expenditures accounted for 38 percent of the entire economy.

"Here's what is amazing to me ... What do you think we spent on plastic Santa Clauses and tinsel and all this stuff for Christmas last year?," Schoomaker asked during a meeting with reporters. "The answer is $438.5 billion, roughly equivalent to the defense budget."

[W_HAMILTON]

1. ARRGGH

Attack on Christmas...

But from a military person???!?

Must support the troops!

Must defend Christmas!

ARRRRGGGH MAJOR MALFUNCTION

DOES NOT COMPUTE

INITIATE SHUTDOWN

...
..
.

[ClintonTyree]

2. If I had the time.........

I'd love to research his "facts" and tear them to shreds. "Bush has requested $50 billion so far for the wars". :wtf: What fucking planet is THIS guy on?

[berni_mccoy]

3. That's B.S... the christmas deco market is $438 BILLION?!?! Nope

Plus the defense budget is MUCH LARGER than that... that's only what is publically known. The real number (which is expected to be 2-3 times higher) is not actually known.

[quaoar]

6. from the story:

"The general said he got the figure on Christmas spending from a newspaper clipping."

[charlie]

7. He's fulla shit

He's confusing billions with millions. The figure was $466 million in 2002.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features/001582.html

[lectrobyte]

13. I didn't follow the links, but I assume all the "journalists" involved

with this story didn't call him on his bullshit?

[quaoar]

15. LOL

[tabasco]

18. Not only a completely BS argument but lying about the numbers

(as if it mattered).

Schoomaker is a traitorous cheerleader for the war-profiteering cabal.

[elehhhhna]

4. Uh Oh! The Mil wants a war on Christmas?

[toymachines]

5. is that all of xmas shopping?

its the biggest shopping time of the year... the man has to know consumerism is more important to americans than war.

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. He must think we buy plastic Santas from Haliburton

$7000 for Santa, Sleigh is extra.

[DeaconBlues]

9. we spend more than $1460 per person per year on tinsel?

That's what you get when divide the annual military budget (not including additional funding for Iraq and Afghanistan) by the number of people in the country.

I guess basic math skills are no longer necessary to become a commissioned officer in the military.

[Alcibiades]

10. He wasn't commissioned yesterday

A lot of the top brass today were commissioned during the Vietnam era. Lower standards then. math was not deemed essential.

[DeaconBlues]

12. That's right. Didn't think about this guy being a lifer.

But it seems to me that in today's climate, ignorance has evolved from being merely a non-issue. It has become an asset.

[stillcool]

11. I think he meant to say...

roughly equivalent to the money defense mis-placed and can't account for. Do they even know how much do-re-mi they dole out? I mean, with all the black-ops, secret prisons, propaganda, false-flags, cut-outs, private military contracts, etc.,isn't all the spy shit now in the Pentagons budget, with little oversight from congress?

[jmowreader]

14. If you call water heaters "niceties" he's right

He got this number by taking the sales figures for the entire retail sector from Black Friday to December 24, calling it "plastic Santas and tinsel and other holiday niceties" then comparing it to Bush's $440 billion budget request--a budget request that does NOT include the costs of the two wars we're losing.

Remember the part of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" where the Grinch went into people's homes and took everything there, on the theory it was all Christmas-related? Same thing applies here. Most "holiday spending" at that time of year is not holiday-related, but it's all counted as such.

Schoomaker's a smart man; unfortunately, he's also an old-time soldier, one who unquestioningly follows his commander-in-chief. (He also followed Clinton.) Which is bad when you're dealing with THIS commander-in-chief.

[Lisa]

16. even if that statistic is true ...

... and all that money is going for Christmas decorations (as opposed to groceries, winter clothing, etc.) -- at least it isn't killing as many people. I haven't heard of that many fatalities caused by "Christmas tree shrapnel", "plastic Santa impacts", or "tinsel suffocation", but there do seem to be a lot of victims (including innocent bystanders) who are dying from cluster bombs.

[tabasco]

17. What kinds of drugs is this guy on?

That is a totally meritless argument for having a half-trillion dollar military budget.

This is the guy that Rumsfeld had to pull out of retirement to be the Army Chief of Staff, because there wasn't a big enough ass-kisser on active duty.

Unreal.

Schoomaker has a fancy job title but his real job is

RUMMY'S #1 ASS KISSER !