"Pentagon Looking Safe from the Super Committee's Cuts" (Dwarfed by SS, Medicare, Medicaid cuts)

[woo me with science]

So, the word is that the growing "consensus" on the Super Committee is just 100 billion in "defense" cuts out of a 1.2 TRILLION dollar deficit reduction package.

And that 100 billion is even more shameful when compared to what appears to be the "consensus" for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid ALONE: 200 to 550 BILLION DOLLARS.

That does not even begin to address the other 200 billion in "noncontroversial" (cough cough) spending cuts on the way, which will affect programs that have not yet even been disclosed.

_____________________________________________________________


http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/10/pentagon-looking-safe-super-committees-cuts/43974/

Pentagon Looking Safe from the Super Committee's Cuts
Reuters
By John Hudson 11:56 AM ET

The growing consensus on how the 12-member panel plans to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit is starting to look like a big win for the Defense Department, which could see its budget slashed by hundreds of billions of dollars if there is no deal. In an email obtained by Politico's Mike Allen, Chris Krueger of the investment-research firm Washington Research Group tells clients the deal would likely see $100 billion in defense cuts. That figure squares with a National Security Insiders Poll conducted by National Journal last month in which a majority of experts with "budget-cutting or policy experience" said defense cuts wouldn't exceed $100 billion.

That would be a huge relief to Pentagon officials who last week went on a media blitz warning that if the Super Committee doesn't reach a deal by Nov. 23, a trigger would automatically slash $600 billion from the defense budget, a move that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said would cause "catastrophic damage" to the military. “It would double the number of cuts we confront, and it would damage our interests not only here, but around the world.” That warning has been echoed by John McHugh, the Army secretary, and Gen. Ray Odierno, the new chief of staff who warned of a dramatic downsizing of force levels last week and former Air Force Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn who penned a foreboding column in National Review last Monday.

So if it's looking like the military will be spared, what is the Super Committee planning to cut instead? Krueger lays out some cuts with some awfully wide margins that add up to $1.2 trillion:


$300B revenue raisers (the likely framework would be a 3-1 spending to revenue ratio) …

$216B interest savings …

$134B-$300B in Medicare/Medicaid …

$60-255B Chained CPI for inflation-adjusted programs …

$200B relatively non-controversial spending cuts …

$100B defense

Of course, for those who think the Pentagon could use a major haircut, a gridlocked Super Committee could be a welcome development. What are the chances the 12-member committee won't strike a deal? It will likely depend on Republicans agreeing to government revenue increases and Democrats agreeing to significant cuts to entitlements. Trouble is, the committee has been extremely secretive about whether they can forge a deal. For what it's worth, the Washington Research Group sees a 25 percent chance of a grand deal being enacted. Meanwhile, Mike Allen pegs the chances at 40 percent.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Never would have expected that!

[woo me with science]

15. These are the cuts the President put on the table first.

Who could have imagined that the Super Committee would start with cuts that the President has already signaled he will accept.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

24. Wait, the Obama 2012 DUers assured me that Obama was just horse trading

and that the Dems would never allow Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare to be cut. So how could this be?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Amurka's most sacred of sacred cows is off the table.

[spanone]

3. of course. never thought they would put a dent in pentagon spending.

only place to go? those fucking entitlements....you betcha

[dtexdem]

4. Cuts in SS and/or Medicare need to trigger massive revolt by the populace.

And that needs to be clear to Congress before they go along with these atrocities.

[woo me with science]

8. +10000 This was the game plan all along.

They are making a powerful statement here: the war machine over our poor and elderly. The war machine over the people.

We need to raise bloody hell.

Not to mention that escalating the war threat will be their trump card for the Wall Street protests.

They are beating the drum on national security and Iran again. There is no way Wall Street will be seriously reformed as long as the banks are needed for a major new war looming on the horizon.

[JDPriestly]

9. They will. Don't worry. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

are lifelines for seniors and the poor. We can't exist without them. Cutting them will mean a death sentence for many Americans.

OWS is going to become even more popular.

[Magoo48]

5. At some point we'll either drop the rock or sink all the way to the bottom. which will it be?

[sibelian]

6. Lots of wars to come, I see.

Unsurprising.

[bvar22]

7. Well Steal my Wallet and call me Elmer,

I though the Super CONgress was going to be fair!

I know! I KNOW!!!
I GOT This!!!

The Red Queen is in The Middle!
And they thought I was a DumbAss!



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.


Solidarity99!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Empires in end stages do this predictably

And you think OWS is popular now, just wait.

[NCarolinawoman]

11. Apparently this is the "real" Death Panel.

I am sure all of the folks on the Super Committee have no financial cares and have state of the art health care coverage.

What they don't have, is EMPATHY.

It really is disgusting. :puke:

[woo me with science]

14. It is a betrayal of human beings.

It is a betrayal of the poor and the elderly, and all Americans.

And this has been the plan all along.

[Exilednight]

12. Gee, who didn't see this coming? n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

13. Our bridges may all collapse, our schools may all close, but there will alway$$$$ be plenty of $$$$$

for the military and the drug war.

Always.

[Amonester]

16. Tax the filthy Rich more.

Just a small SE transaction tax seems to be too much to impose.

Imagine if the People would start screaming (not just 3,000,000 of US: not enuf...).

[woo me with science]

19. They are starting to scream.

Spread this story. Call and write Congress and the White House.

And support OWS. Right now they appear to be our only hope.

[Amonester]

20. Also SEND the link to the Tumblr page from the link in this OP

to ALL congresscriters AND to Penn. Ave. D.C.:

'Occupy' protesters find allies in ranks of the wealthy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5033467

(where I also took back my 'filthy' insult for these GOOD riches) :)

[woo me with science]

28. Thank you!

What a great OP, and what a great site!

[sad sally]

17. Even our trusted Democrats on the secret super committee are not touching defense.

Supercommittee Co-Chair Patty Murray Accepts Award from Defense Industry As She Mulls Cuts To Pentagon Budget

Why won’t the mainstream media or supercommittee member Patty Murray talk about her award from the defense industry?
October 5, 2011

When Senator John Kyl, a Republican member of the “supercommittee” charged with reducing the federal deficits by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, threatened to walk out on the panel if cuts to the defense budget were open for discussion, it was big news. Far less attention, almost none, in fact, has been paid to Democratic Senator Patty Murray, a co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. But a recent award that the senator from Washington received may say more about the likelihood of cuts to the defense budget than the Arizona Republican’s tough talk. So, perhaps, does Murray's refusal to discuss it.
---
In addition to the large sums of money that regularly flow from defense contractors to members of Congress, the Aerospace Industries Association has also recently kicked off a lobbying campaign aimed at average Americans. Dubbed “Second to None,” the industry effort is an attempt to mobilize people to pressure their representatives to reject cuts to defense spending. Playing on fears of terrorism and the loss of manufacturing jobs, the campaign is far from subtle. “American leadership in aerospace and defense is being threatened by forces in Congress and the administration. The security of our troops, our technological future and our economic stability are all at risk. We must preserve jobs across the nation that keep our nation strong. Join us and act now before it is too late,” its website warns.
---
Murray has never issued a press release regarding her industry honor. No reference of her acceptance of the prize has appeared on her website. Nor did the national press offer any coverage of the supercommittee co-chair receiving an award from an industry at the same moment she is one of 12 legislators deciding the economic fate of that sector for the next decade.

http://www.alternet.org/world/152611/supercommittee_co-chair_patty_murray_accepts_award_from_defense_industry_as_she_mulls_cuts_t?du

[woo me with science]

18. Thank you for posting this.

This trumpeting of our so-called "getting out of Iraq" is an outrageous slight of hand and misdirection during an election year.

Our poor and elderly, and all Americans, are being put on the chopping block in order to preserve the military industrial complex.

[Cherchez la Femme]

21. He's toast.

I regret all the time, effort, money, knuckles rapping on doors, worn down 'comfortable shoes', &etc. that I put into his 1st campaign.

Nevermore.

I wish such as Louise Slaughter or Bernie Sanders would run for President

And no more voting for Evil; not the greater, certainly not the 'lesser' -- and the hell with the letter after his/her name.


I am DONE with all these purty, manipulative, speeches that are merely exercises in bullshitting, simply crafted to deceive; I'm done with this lying, finished with all the Turd-Way propaganda crap.


For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be known as a Democrat. I've lost my pride in it;

and as our brave Marine said in the OWS march: There is no honor in this.


No, not in ANY of this.

[AntiFascist]

22. No wonder they are trying to go to war with Iran...

they need to validate their budget and their existence.

[woo me with science]

23. Yes, and the threat of war with Iran will also be their trump card for the Wall Street protests...

not only as a distraction, which it will certainly be...

but also because a looming major war will accomplish the goal of making the banks indispensable and immune to reform.

Serious reform will never be considered as long as there is a threat of war and this source of loans for the military is considered vital to our security.

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. #OccupyMilitarySpending.

[Scuba]

26. Yeah, but DOD ain't broke. It's funded all the way to the end of the fiscal year, while...

...Social Security and Medicare are only funded for a couple more decades.



Sheeeeze, libruls just can't deal with facts.













sarcasm thingy

[TransitJohn]

27. Shocked, shocked I tell ya!

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. The team was chosen for exactly this outcome.

Conservative democrats and ones who depend on defense contractor campaign donations.

[woo me with science]

31. +1

[Octafish]

30. The Pentagon's share of ''Discretionary Spending'' is about all there is these days.

Who runs Bartertown?



In America, Might has made Right since November 22, 1963.

[inna]

32. Surprise! (not) WTF is "the Super Committee" anyway, isn't it unconstitutional?

It's a complete abomination and open abuse of (any pretense of) democracy, period.

[MilesColtrane]

33. I still think that IF they reach a deal Congress will not endorse it.