$1,347,412.48 per MINUTE (edited)

[A HERETIC I AM]

One million, three hundred forty seven thousand, four hundred twelve dollars and forty eight cents.

PER MINUTE

Every minute. Of every day.

That's what $708.2 Billion in defense spending works out to for FY 2011.

http://comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2012/FY2012_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf
http://comptroller.defense.gov/budget.html

I started a thread about the following a few weeks back, but I'll say it again;

The next time you get into a conversation with a Repub about teachers or any government worker making too much, ask them why they never complain about the amount of money the CEO of General Dynamics makes. Or why they never mention the salaries of the union shipwrights and other workers at Electric Boat in Connecticut or the guys at Newport News shipyard or the workers at Northrup Grumman or Lockheed Martin. After all, those people receive salaries made up ENTIRELY of tax dollars.

Never hear THAT argument, do you?

Know how many products General Dynamics makes that you and I can buy? That is to say, that you and I can buy without doing so on a DOD contract.

1.

Gulfstream Jets. Not something the average American buys regularly, is it?

Anyone that thinks spending a 1.350 mil per minute on defense is something we NEED to do should have their head examined.

Edited to correct my math and thanks to Sirveri for pointing out my error. It is indeed $22,456 per second.

[secondwind]

1. Kicked.

[Gravel Democrat]

2. Richard C. Blum

Richard C. Blum (c. 1936<1>) is an investment banker and the husband of United States Senator from California Dianne Feinstein.

Blum's wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, has received scrutiny due to her husband's government contracts and extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. Blum has denied any wrongdoing, however.<3> Critics have argued that business contracts with the US government awarded to a company (Perini) controlled by Blum may raise a potential conflict-of-interest issue with the voting and policy activities of his wife.<4> URS Corp, which Blum had a substantial stake in, bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the U.S. military, from The Carlyle Group in 2002; EG&G subsequently won a $600m defense contract.<1>

In 2009 it was reported that Blum's wife Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to provide $25 billion in taxpayer money to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a government agency that had recently awarded her husband's real estate firm, CB Richard Ellis, what the Washington Times called "a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms."<5>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Blum

That's why you don't hear that argument from DiFi

**

http://costofwar.com

[intheflow]

3. That's obscene. n/t

[Sirveri]

4. Check you math, cause I got 22,457$/sec. Your rate is per minute.

(7.082 * 10^11 $/yr) / (60 seconds/min * 60 min/hr * 24hr/day * 365day/year)

unit cancelations: sec/min * min/hr = sec/hr * hr/day = sec/day * day/year = sec/year
Reciprocate units for division: $/yr * yr/sec = $/sec

* 60 sec/min yields your number, so you're off by a factor of sixty.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. You are correct, and thanks.

Corrected.

[Sirveri]

7. happy to help. This is a good place to bounce memes off of... well sometimes...

It's still a big ass number. About 2306$/person, which is about 1.15$/hr per person (assuming you work full time, not so easy in this economy, also assumes everyone works)... Assuming a pop of 307M as of Jun 2009. Of course not all of those people actually work, the majority don't, civilian labor force according to the BLS is 153,406 thousand, so we'll say 153M 708000M... 4627$/worker which is about 2.31$/hr in wages. Of course those numbers fluctuate based on your tax rate

If you can't tell I like math. It's so awesome...

[Newest Reality]

6. I know how big defense spending is

and I think it has a huge impact on where our tax dollars go and why so much of our national wealth is diverted from what is important to what is profitable.

Yet, when I see the numbers I think about my own life and where I am at. I have lived in a travel trailer now for almost three years. I work my ass off in my fifties as barter for a place to live and have to rely on food stamps in order to eat. I have no assets or investments or anything of value and no family to count on. My outcome is nothing but day-to-day survival and no security whatsoever with retirement being death. Being homeless is only a heartbeat away and I have to act and work every day with that in mind.

I am a Serf totally beholden now to the Lord of the land. However, that is something I need to cling to and cherish, no matter how it affects my state of mind and expectations and hopes, because I have a place to be and I desperately want to avoid being homeless. That's my only hope and dream and purpose now. Not much else matters. I have no paltry or trivial notions of grandiosity before me. No matter how tired I am or how depressed some days are, or how down and dismal and disappointing it all seems without a future or anything approaching what I once thought was fulfillment and important, I am still in a stable place for now.

At my current, low and devalued rate of needs, that one second of defense could enrich my life in ways that would probably seem meaningless to many people. I would be able to do something more than just work and worry and wonder how long I can manage a life of toil with no income or potential to deal with any new pitfall that might be looming before I die. It is like having a lot of teeth you need to fix without being able to afford the dental care you need. You start chewing on one side and smiling less. You might get some pulled and realize that you can't afford a bridge and dentures are way out of your reach, if you ever need them. You realize that health issues will only be complicated and worrisome, not matter what because having no money whatsoever will have a big impact on any illness and its outcome.

This is something that you never could have imagined ending up in at any point prior to it in your life. Yeah, it is very similar to many people who live like this around the world as a regular existence, so why complain? Well, I just wasn't prepared for it at all, no matter how broke I have been in the past. The idea of living like this much longer is not very compelling at all simply because, without any money at all, I have little choice and am very prone to whatever circumstances and moods might prevail around me. I have no power or real choice anymore other than to make myself cope and continue and not opt out.

Just one second could keep me going for a long time and might add some light to my now old, dark, meaningless life. I am not going to get it, as many others won't get anything either. Being expendable is the worst part of having gone through the whole American experience and paying your dues, and getting the final proclamation on your value and relevance in the end. It makes you glad that nothing lasts forever, or this would truly be Hell.

[Gravel Democrat]

8. Hang in there, the next revolution will need soldiers

If you want to return our country to what it was you are *not* expendable!

A good 50% of the US hasn't mobilized at all. Yet.

And DO remember, you are *not* alone!

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

Thomas Jefferson

[Mnemosyne]

9. It never seems to get easier, does it?

:hug:

[xchrom]

10. recommend

[joeunderdog]

11. Holy shit.

Incredible, nauseating, beyond belief.