What I don't like about McCain....

[Army_of_One]

What's the state of the US housing market?

You are baiting me with a question you already know the answer to. Actually the housing market depends on what part of the country you are in. It's typically bad everywhere but worse in someplaces. Again Binky...the housing market is a market..subject to supply/demand and other elements. Like ANY market it has good times and bad times...like every market does.

The plans you posted from your country all have one theme..."provided by the government". Provided by the gov't really means..."provided by the tax payers". My personal thoughts are if you can't afford a house then rent something you can afford, save your money and when you can afford one then buy one.

[Binky Bainbridge]

You are baiting me with a question you already know the answer to.

I'm not baiting you Army1, just interested, I guess its like ours, but have no real knowledge like you do.

The options I outlined are, in my opinion, panic measures designed as a "political elastaplast" by our inept Labour government who have adopted a "tax & spend" policy over the last 10 years with no thought being given to the future. They won't work and the public aren't being fooled by Brown the Clown anymore, he's finished!

[Army_of_One]

I'm not baiting you Army1, just interested, I guess its like ours, but have no real knowledge like you do.

The options I outlined are, in my opinion, panic measures designed as a "political elastaplast" by our inept Labour government who have adopted a "tax & spend" policy over the last 10 years with no thought being given to the future. They won't work and the public aren't being fooled by Brown the Clown anymore, he's finished!

The Democrats will be a heavy "tax and spend" organization. There is no way Obama can pay for all of his promises without major tax increases.

Bush has spent way more than a Republican should but some of the spending are things that are not budgeted...IE Katrina...

[Binky Bainbridge]

Bush has spent way more than a Republican should but some of the spending are things that are not budgeted...IE Katrina...

....and the war on terror? Why does the US have to spend so much on its Defence budget?

Military Funding and the Iraq War


President Bush is inadvertently drawing attention to the huge amounts of money directed to military spending in the United States.


Mr. Bush is claiming that Congress’ attempts to limit the length of the Iraq war by placing language to such effect in the $124 Billion supplemental bills will hurt American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What Mr. Bush fails to acknowledge is:

1. That HE would be the one to halt the supplemental funding process by carrying out his threatened veto.
2. That the military budget for Fiscal Year 2007 is $481 Billion dollars not counting Iraq war funding.
3. That the above $481 Billion in the normal defense appropriations alredy included about $70 billion for Iraq war related expenses
4. That the U.S. has already spent over $414 billion on the Iraq war
5. That the $124 Billion emergency supplemental funding for the war is in addition to the $414 billion already spent on the Iraq war and is in addition to the $489 Billion dollar FY military budget
   
6. That the Congressional Research Service has indicated that the Pentagon can get along just fine without the additional money through July by juggling other accounts in its half-trillion-dollar budget.
7. That last year facing the same deadlines, the Republican Congress didn’t get around to approving a supplemental $94.4 billion in war-fighting money until June without hectoring by the White House

So let’s take this a step further. Could there possibly be any FAT in the Pentagon’s almost half trillion dollar budget for this year?

Well we see in the spreadsheet for the U.S. Budget that there are some interesting categories that could be looked at.

How about the $73 Billion dollars that is supposed to be spent this year on Research and Development?

How about the $84 Billion dollars that is supposed to be spent this year on Procurement? Do we actually need all the aircraft and missiles that may be in the budget that could perhaps have been more suited to a conflict with the former Soviet Union?

How about the almost $13 Billion dollars that is supposed to be spent this year on Military Construction? Didn’t the BRAC commission just a short time ago propose to close a bunch of U.S. military bases?

The cartoon below is a few years old. We now spend 56% of the Federal Budget on military expenditures (see pie chart above). But the cartoon gives you a good idea about the enormity of money our government spends on the military relative to all of our other pressing domestic and international needs.

Click on picture to play video:

http://blog.nodvin.net/?p=203

[Army_of_One]

....and the war on terror? Why does the US have to spend so much on its Defence budget?

Have to keep a strong military for things like protecting our people and...errrr perhaps saving Englands ass again...

[Binky Bainbridge]

Have to keep a strong military for things like protecting our people and...errrr perhaps saving Englands ass again...

Again, I ask the question, perhaps hoping this time for a serious answer. Why does the US feel it has to spend so much on national defence - compare it to the rest of the world - its way out of proportion!

In Context: US Military Spending Versus Rest of the World

When the US Fiscal Year 2009 budget request for military spending came out in early 2008, Travis Sharp and Christopher Hellman (mentioned earlier) projected the spending of other nations planned for 2008 thus allowing comparison between US military spending and the rest of the world:
Pie chart



Comparing US with others

In other words,

• US military spending accounts for 48 percent, or almost half, of the world’s total military spending
• US military spending is more than the next 46 highest spending countries in the world combined
• US military spending is 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran.
• US military spending is almost 55 times the spending on the six “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) whose spending amounts to around $13 billion, maximum. (Tabulated data does not include four of the six, as the data only lists nations that have spent over 1 billion in the year, so their budget is assumed to be $1 billion each)
• US spending is more than the combined spending of the next 45 countries.
• The United States and its strongest allies (the NATO countries, Japan, South Korea and Australia) spend $1.1 trillion on their militaries combined, representing 72 percent of the world’s total.
• The six potential “enemies,” Russia, and China together account for about $205 billion or 29% of the US military budget.

Military spending in 2008 ($ Billions, and percent of total)CountryDollars (billions)% of totalRankSource: U.S. Military Spending vs. the World, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, February 22, 2008
Notes:

• The figure for the United States is the budget request for Fiscal Year 2009 and includes $170 billion for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons activities.
• All other figures are projections based on 2006, the last year for which accurate data is available.
• All countries that spent over one billion per year are listed.
• Due to rounding, some percentages may be slightly off.

Why does the US number seem so high when the budget announced $517.9 for the Department of Defense?

Unfortunately, the budget numbers can be a bit confusing. For example, the Fiscal Year budget requests for US military spending do not include combat figures (which are supplemental requests that Congress approves separately).

The budget for nuclear weapons falls under the Department of Energy, and for the 2009 request, was about $29 billion.

The cost of war (Iraq and Afghanistan) is estimated to be about $170 billion for the 2009 spending alone. Christopher Hellman and Travis Sharp also discuss the US fiscal year 2009 Pentagon spending request and note that “Congress has already approved nearly $700 billion in supplemental funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and an additional $126 billion in FY'08 war funding is still pending before the House and Senate.”

Furthermore, other costs such as care for vetarans, healthcare, military training/aid, secret operations, may fall under other departments or be counted separately.

[Army_of_One]

Ok...Binks..first of all I wasn't joking. We have to pick up Englands slack sometimes..that costs more.

Furthermore...there are many reasons we spend MORE on our military. You can't make comparisons like that in just financial terms. First our military is large, well trained and has pretty modern equipment. We probably spend more on research and development than most countries. Our military is voluntary unlike a lot of the places you mentioned. Consequently we have to pay soldiers more and give them better benefits to keep them. In China and Russia they probably just make a guy serve...period. The pay and quality of life in those Armies are crap. OUr military is better trained...we spend A LOT of money on training. EVERY one of those countries you mentioned send their officers HERE to be trained if they can...they go to the Command General Staff College in Leavenworth to learn how to fight the American way. We don't send out people to Russia to learn those things...it's because we lead the way. We have a very up to date, modern fighting force. China and Russia do not.

As for Europe...considering what they spend they don't get much "bang for the buck" because more of those weak knee'd countries couldn't take care of themselves let alone help fight a war. (france for example...pfffffffft)

We also spend a lot of money on those that have retired paying benefits. The life span is considerably longer for someone in the US than it is in ..say China or Russia so that would be another minor factor. I could go on and on...the bottom line is that our country makes have a strong military a priority and it's worked ok for us so far.

I like that stat that we spend 98 times more than Iran...umm...no shit. Look how freaking big our country is. The Iranian navy and air force is a joke which could be eradicated by our military in a matter of days if not hours. What a one sided report. I wonder what the spending percentage is compared to GDP.

[gadwall]

aoo that chart dosen't reflect irans military spending acurately. all their funding towards nuclear energy(bomb) is probably not included. likewise for the rest of those countries i doubt the verasity of that pie chart because few countries are as forthcoming about their private business as the US.

[Highwayman]

....As for Europe...considering what they spend they don't get much "bang for the buck" because more of those weak knee'd countries couldn't take care of themselves let alone help fight a war. (france for example...pfffffffft).....

Two words…. NATO – Georgia.

[Army_of_One]

I started this thread to talk about what I didn't like about McCain and not turn it into a pissing contest about politics...Jack Knife says we should play nice so I thought we would. You have managed to highjack the thread and once again turn it into an "anti U.S." deal...questioning why we (the U.S.) spend so much money on the military compared to the rest of the world. You may say your are not anti-American but you sure seem that way to me. You always say "I love you Americans and your ways...but...bash bash bash". Why don't you give it up. Again...clean up your own house before you critisize someone else's.