There is no question that there is corruption in defense contracts. but this time the additional speding was imperative. Our military status was at pre WW2 standards, and the navy had fewer ships than before WW1. One must also realizt that our manufacturing capabilities are nowhere near WW2 abilities. Upgrading the military was simply a must. With regard to federal waste and gross over-emplyment. There needs to bev a large cutback in the federal buracracy. Some cabinet depts should be cancelled Dept of Education should be gone as education is a state issue.

Nothing in my post suggests that we do not maintain our military--just take self dealing and corruption our of the process. In fact, wasting resources on corruption in defense contracting makes us weaker, not stronger. Under our current system, I believe that the more we spend, the weaker we become.

The Pentagon is the largest bureaucracy in the Federal government. As for the current military vs, WWII levels, we are not in any declared war, let alone an overqhelming global conflict, quite unlike WWII. WWII also required rationing Victory Gardens, etc. See any of that personal sacrifice on the home front today? Also, we don't have nearly as many horses and bayonets as we had during WWII. The discussion should be how our current military meets our current defense needs, not the number of ships and troops.

Nothing in my post suggests that we do not maintain our military--just take self dealing and corruption our of the process. In fact, wasting resources on corruption in defense contracting makes us weaker, not stronger. Under our current system, I believe that the more we spend, the weaker we become.

The Pentagon is the largest bureaucracy in the Federal government. As for the current military vs, WWII levels, we are not in any declared war, let alone an overqhelming global conflict, quite unlike WWII. WWII also required rationing Victory Gardens, etc. See any of that personal sacrifice on the home front today? Also, we don't have nearly as many horses and bayonets as we had during WWII. The discussion should be how our current military meets our current defense needs, not the number of ships and troops.

"On September 8, 2017, Trump signed a bill increasing the debt ceiling. Later that day, the debt exceeded $20 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. On February 9, 2018, Trump signed a bill suspending the debt ceiling until March 1, 2019. It was $22 trillion. In just two years,Trump has overseen the fastest dollar increase in the debt of any president.

Trump's Fiscal Year 2020 budget projects the debt would increase $5 trillion during his first term. That's as much as Obama added while fighting a recession. Trump has not fulfilled his campaign promise to cut the debt. Instead, he's done the opposite." Kimberly Amadeo

Time to be real and stop excusing Trump.

Both sides have their hands in the cookie jar. It is far easier to cut taxes and increase spending than it is to raise taxes and cut spending. Therefore, we are all responsible in that we will punish politicians who do the latter and re-elect politicians who do the former.

It is interesting and oh so predictable that the right wingers here seem to think that social entitlements are the only problem (side note--if you have paid into SS your entire working life then you are indeed "entitled" to benefits promised. The right wing has managed to make entitlement a pejorative as in"give away" or "free stuff". Let's return "entitlement" to its actual meaning.).

I rarely see right wingers who will to talk about the defense budget whose
procurement process is arguably the most corrupt in all of government. There is a reason that the large defense contractors have production facilities in key congressional districts all over the country. This is how the second largest air force on the planet is the US Navy and the Pentagon has defense projects pushed on them that they neither want nor need.

Before we start talking about cutting SS (which does not contribute to the deficit, BTW) lets try two ideas that I have mentioned here before:

1. Any Congress Critter is forced to recuse him/herself from v****g on any defense appropriations bill that would benefit his/her own district. This would go a long way towards a rational analysis of what our defense needs actually are instead of a Congress Critter's self interest. It would also lead to more rational decision making by the defense contractors placing facilities where they economically make sense rather than to grease the wheels.

2. Any foreign military adventure comes with an automatic tax increase to pay for it. This would have stopped W's Iraq war in its tracks. Easy to be pro-war when it comes with a tax cut, right? That way, everyone in the country is investment in the war, even if it s as trivial as paying a few more bucks in taxes to actually "support the troops" instead of bumper stickers. This produces, and will always produce "rich man's war-poor man's fight". No more wars on the credit card affecting only the troops and their families.

Do these simple things and then discuss the social safety net.

"On September 8, 2017, Trump signed a bill increasing the debt ceiling. Later that day, the debt exceeded $20 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. On February 9, 2018, Trump signed a bill suspending the debt ceiling until March 1, 2019. It was $22 trillion. In just two years,Trump has overseen the fastest dollar increase in the debt of any president.

Trump's Fiscal Year 2020 budget projects the debt would increase $5 trillion during his first term. That's as much as Obama added while fighting a recession. Trump has not fulfilled his campaign promise to cut the debt. Instead, he's done the opposite." Kimberly Amadeo

Time to be real and stop excusing Trump.