Cuts? Why not cut the military instead?

[allenuk]

I know this applies more to the British readers, but it has struck me lately that we're getting conned into accepting that Big Cuts by Government are necessary.

Well, they aren't! In Britain's case, all we have to do is cut our armed forces by about 90%, just maintain enough to protect our borders (possibly) and rescue sailors around our coast, and that would be enough. Result? No cuts to welfare, no cuts to our once-brilliant health service.

Oh, we'd have to forget the fact that once upon a time we were a World Power with An Empire. (Er, hello - that has all gone. We are a little island off the coast of Europe. That's it).

Different in the US of A, of course, as you are still a World Power with An Empire. Some industrialist said in about 1945 "Wouldn't it be great if we could always be at war - just look how the economy has boomed in the past 3 years." He was only half-joking, of course, as by the time JFK came to power nearly HALF your GDP was being spent on The Military.

Allen.

[cherylm]

Well, the politicians here are all focusing on the need to cut social programs, funding for public broadcasting services, and "pension reform." One of the network news services went out and surveyed "folks on the street," asking them what percentage of the Federal budget went into those areas (and also into foreign aid). The general consensus among the public was that each of these areas consumed HUGE percentages of the budget. (One person fully believed that 40% of our budget went to foreign aid, in fact.) After all, if the politicians were making such a huge fuss about these categories, "they MUST be hugely expensive."

The reality is, of course, that the military gets an almost-unlimited budget...and the major "social programs" impacting the budget are our social security system of old-age pensions for average working stiffs and the Medicare health insurance plan for the same population. (Worthy programs, both of those last ones, but still..........) The high-profile political budget battles take up a tiny amount of the overall budget. But they make good political theater.

Soooooo....we have our own sad situation on this side of the pond..............................sigh..............

[allenuk]

Curiously, the great Cuts Debate on this side of the Atlantic is prompting more people to wonder whether we need to cut anything at all (except the military budget). Since I posted this, I've seen a couple of articles in our national press coming to similar conclusions.

It's been obvious for years, as it has in the US, but cutting benefits and increasing taxes seems to be concentrating British minds on the alternatives; hopefully the same process is taking place in the US.

(Talking of the US, I'm just coming to the end of my first reading of Howard Zinn's 'People's History of the USA'. What an incredible book - one of the few that I really wish I'd read 30 years ago. It's not anti-American, on the contrary, it's very much PRO the American people. It just exposes the system for the sham it often is).

Allen.

[cherylm]

Allen, Howard Zinn is one of my sister's favorite authors, and she introduced me to his work. I agree that the "People's History" should be required reading...it would be a tremendous addition to the texts in our American history classes!

There have been some rumblings over here about what should or should not be subject to budget cuts. Every so often someone floats a sensible proposal, but thus far they've all been shot down by "the other side." It seems to me that part of our problem is that we've been so badly fractured into warring "factions" who are all unwilling to compromise for the overall good. People on their own are still good, solid, and caring...but put us in groups and we just splinter apart. Too much generalized yelling, and not enough common, courteous conversation...........

Well, perhaps this is just a temporary upheaval before we all advance to a higher state of civilization...right?

[headoncollider]

Frome what i've come to understand, it has nothing to do with "what we want" anymore. The only things that come to fruition are those that follow a proffit margin.
And when you look at where all our "public services" are these days, (privatized), it becomes aparrent what will follow. More cuts, less service and higher fees to maintain the "public services" we were told our tax dollars were funding.
So if all these services are being sold off to commercial privatizations, where are the tax dollars going?

Has anyone else here heard of the growing movement in the USA about taxing fraud by the US government?
Ive seen a few Youtube clips about people who are not paying tax because the constitution holds no actual laws (only implied by definition) for garnishing wages.
Its aparrently more clearly appoased in constitutional documentation.

I'm Australian, so ive not paid a great deal of attention to it, but from what ive seen, they "THE PEOPLE" do seem to have a good case. Or at least the courts havent been able to find an actual law to charge them with. That in itself says no law of tax actually exists
And yes, I do agree, we do have to contribute if we want a fully functioning society. What I don't agree on is how much and where OUR WEALTH is being directed.