Cut to SS, but plenty of money for more troops deployed to *Australia*?

[MadHound]

Seriously, why are we deploying more troops to Australia, especially on a permanent basis? It's not like Australia is defenseless, they have a defense force of nearly sixty thousand full time, active duty troops, plus over forty thousand active reserves. Not to mention they are technically sophisticated and are the largest force in Oceania.

So why the hell are we wasting money staging troops in Australia? A sad, sad sign of our priorities when we're expanding our military presence abroad needlessly, but our leaders are more than willing to cut programs that save lives at home, programs such as SS, Medicare and Medicaid.

Frankly, it is bases like this one that need to be cut first. We have dozens of needless military bases around the world, relics of WWII and the Cold War. We need to be closing them up and bringing the troops home instead of opening new ones. We can no longer afford to have these bases, nor can we afford to be the world's cop. We currently have permanent military bases in sixty three countries, and a military presence in over one hundred and fifty countries. Seriously, do we need bases in Japan, Iceland, Great Britain, Finland and on, and on, and on?

We cannot afford to have this global military presence, we simply can't. Struggling under a massive load of debt, with the largest military budget in the world, and looking to cut programs that help the poor and needy, we simply cannot afford our military. If we continue to go down this path, that self-same military will kill us. Which does more good for our country, keeping the heat on for our poor and elderly in the winter or putting 2,500 troops on permanent duty in Australia?

We have got to stop this insanity, now. The only cuts that we should be making is to our bloated military, and it needs to be cut in half, at minimum. Anything else is a travesty of leadership and social justice.

[lonestarnot]

1. Oh sure sure sure, always money for that bullshit.

[GTurck]

3. Agree...

but the military is the largest employer of Black and Hispanic youth here in central Texas near Ft. Hood. What you propose is to re-build our ability to have work for them outside of the military. GOP won't allow that unless we make a bigger and more focused protest about the unfairness and meanness inherent our lives thanks to the 1%.

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. I wouldn't be surprised if 60% of the jobs we have left....

are dependent on military spending.
Who says Government doesn't create jobs?

[GTurck]

23. Agree sadly...

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. Every time talk of SS reform arises we're told SS is self-funding

trust-funded and showing a multi-trillion dollar surplus. It is supposedly separate from the general fund.

At least that's the deluge of responses I get whenever I claim I'll never see a dime of SS. So either the OP is misleading or all those who claim SS is OK are misleading me.

[MadHound]

21. Or there is another possibility

That SS is actually solvent, but the rich and powerful want to raid it anyway, like an addict going for that last serious hit.

[exboyfil]

2. We spend 4.7% of our GDP on Defense

Australia spends 1.9%. They should protect themselves.

Other fun spending facts:

Canada - 1.5%
South Korea - 2.9%
Japan - 1.0%
Germany - 1.4%
Ireland - 0.6%
France - 2.2%
UK - 2.7%
Italy - 1.8%

[blindpig]

4. Empire has it's priorities.

Ain't no one in DC listening to you.

[xchrom]

5. Recommend

[marmar]

6. 'Cause there's evidence of terra near the Great Barrier Reef

[smokey nj]

11. They're gonna need a bigger boat.

[TBF]

7. Cut military, nationalize health care - that should be our mantra going into 2012. nt

[and-justice-for-all]

25. indeed..nt

[knitter4democracy]

8. China. It's that simple.

He's putting pressure on China with this, though that seems like a game of chicken considering they own us financially.

[RevStPatrick]

9. That's just what I was thinking.

It's a signal to China...

[RevStPatrick]

13. And maybe we were right!

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-insists-us-does-not-fear-china-080628319.html

[knitter4democracy]

16. Ah, crap. China's gotten the message and is upping the ante.

I don't see any of this going well. *sigh*

[ensho]

12. kick

nt

[PETRUS]

14. Simply returning our military spending to pre 9/11 levels

...as a percentage of GDP, not even in absolute terms, would more than cover the amount the supercommittee is tasked with raising/cutting.

[DrDan]

15. I wonder if this will make "the list" - "2500-strong marine presence in Australia from

SS and Medicare cuts"

[sarcasmo]

17. Empire building, YES! Helping the poor and the working class, NO!

[HipChick]

18. Psst...Troops were already there...Pine Gap there has been staffed for over 40yrs..

just an expansion...not sure why this is even news..

[MadHound]

22. Because we are upping the anty, and amount we spend, needlessly

Seriously, why are we stationing troops in the front yard of an ally? Especially when we simply can't afford it.

[Brother Buzz]

20. Troops are fungible

They can be here, or they can be there. There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know.

[and-justice-for-all]

24. Because the US is the world police...

US military build-up did not end with the cold war. It is disgusting what the US spends money on, and the US is unflinched about tossing its citizens to the curb all for the sake of world domination by military force.