Why is the Most Wasteful Government Agency Not Part of the Deficit Discussion?

[Donnachaidh]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/12

In all the talk about the federal deficit, why is the single largest culprit left out of the conversation? Why is the one part of government that best epitomizes everything conservatives say they hate about government—- waste, incompetence, and corruption—all but exempt from conservative criticism?

Of course, I’m talking about the Pentagon. Any serious battle plan to reduce the deficit must take on the Pentagon. In 2011 military spending accounted for more than 58 percent of all federal discretionary spending and even more if the interest on the federal debt that is related to military spending were added. In the last ten years we have spent more than $7.6 trillion on military and homeland security according to the National Priorities Project.



In the last decade military spending has soared from $300 billion to $700 billion.



When debt ceilings and deficits seem to be the only two items on Washington’s agenda, it is both revealing and tragic that both parties give a free pass to military spending. Representative Paul Ryan’s much discussed Tea Party budget accepted Obama’s proposal for a pathetic $78 billion reduction in military spending over 5 years, a recommendation that would only modestly slow the rate of growth of military spending.

More at the link --

[DeSwiss]

1. Because....

...of the military bases and the arms contractors in the various congressional districts who provide jobs and campaign $$$.

- But most of all because no one f***s with the MIC. All POLICE STATES operate in this way.......

K&R

''...you can stand back and look at this planet and see that we have the money, the power, the medical understanding, the scientific know-how, the love and the community to produce a kind of human paradise.

But we are led by the least among us - the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.''

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYB0VW5x8fI">~Terrence McKenna

[somone]

2. Not to mention the vast sums of money for spying on Americans

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. Because many of the mega-rich have been living large off that? nt

[corkhead]

4. credit where credit is due: the "DOD budget" has been pretty flat over the last 10 years

:sarcasm:

[elleng]

5. Face it, we don't know what is 'part of the discussion,' and

defense has been working on reducing and rationalising. Remember Gates?