The US spends nearly as much on our military as the rest of nations on this planet... combined.
Cut social programs? Par for the course. The class war was already waged, the wealthy won. Big time. Now they just seem to want to clean up the scraps...
http://www.csmonitor.com/Busi...
http://www.motherjones.com/po...
The GOP new plan boosts the military spending, and then cuts social programs. So are the Chicken Hawks turning ploughshares to Swords?
bob
2012/05/07 13:09:35
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Top Opinion
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socokid 2012/05/07 13:13:42
I realize this is a difficult concept for some, but if there aren't any jobs, there are no benefit programs
Automation, cheap labor in China and other places, cost of living for the American dream that created 2 income households instead of one, better tecnology in manufacturing and agriculture produces more with less labor, population .....ect...... these are the reasons there is not enough jobs. A college degree and/or a marketable skill has become more important in our job market, yet there are individuals without oppurtunity and the fact that not everybody is college potential, and used to fill the unskilled jobs that are the ones getting replaced for better production methods.
The whole matter has no simple solutions, although printing more money inflating the dollar can't be the answer either.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
- Dwight Eisenhower, January 17, 1961
"The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded."
He never imagined the media so twisted or he probably would have included them as a 3rd threat
And actually, the full quote is even better.
"The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society."
Business as usual inside the Beltway. Congress continues to prove it doesn't consider itself the employee of the PEOPLE, but rather the employee of lobbyists and the corporations and special interests they serve.
It always amuses me when wealthy/right-wing individuals believe other people aren't rich simply because they didn't work as hard as they did. Some of the hardest working people I know are also among the poorest. They just had far, far more hoops to jump through during their childhood. Bad school, bad neighborhood, poor parents, low employment rates, etc, etc... Some people are lazy, as some are workaholic madmen. Some are educated, others are not. However, virtually everyone wants to be successful, educated and productive. It's is an inescapable part of the human brain. But, when you make it nearly impossible for one group, virtually forcing them to stay in their class through this reality, while making it increasingly easier for another group for reasons that do not include the individual's will to succeed, it destroys us. The average household (all income earners over 18 in a home) is 49k. Half more, half even less. 49k... I haven't made less than that in individual salary since I was in my early 20's. Our current household income is several times that, and yet find it hard to realiz...
It always amuses me when wealthy/right-wing individuals believe other people aren't rich simply because they didn't work as hard as they did. Some of the hardest working people I know are also among the poorest. They just had far, far more hoops to jump through during their childhood. Bad school, bad neighborhood, poor parents, low employment rates, etc, etc... Some people are lazy, as some are workaholic madmen. Some are educated, others are not. However, virtually everyone wants to be successful, educated and productive. It's is an inescapable part of the human brain. But, when you make it nearly impossible for one group, virtually forcing them to stay in their class through this reality, while making it increasingly easier for another group for reasons that do not include the individual's will to succeed, it destroys us. The average household (all income earners over 18 in a home) is 49k. Half more, half even less. 49k... I haven't made less than that in individual salary since I was in my early 20's. Our current household income is several times that, and yet find it hard to realize I am not middle class. Strange feeling, really. Like a fish in water not knowing he's wet. If may taxes went up a little to provide health services, more access to higher education, etc.. no problem. I know it helps EVERYone. This entire nation. It most importantly puts more of our most precious resource, human beings, back into the playing field. It provides them the ability to be successful, where it is dwindling today.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Busi...
Suggesting our nation's wealth needs to be in the hands of fewer people in order to continue business, jobs, etc... also makes little sense. The growing disparity is the problem, not wealthy people or poor people.
It's strange to witness the divide occurring, the two-tiered society forming. We now simply reward the bank account of your parents/grandparents through accidents in birth. Two kids that are otherwise identical, intelligent, hard working Americans will have enormously different outcomes if born to poor/wealthy families. One is now weeded out far more often, and is the problem. The person born to a poor family has a far more likely chance of becoming one of those "lazy" people desperately trying to find a job while on food stamps and using the emergency room for the flu, and increasingly has nothing to do with a will to want to work and be educated. Class movement is on it's death bead, the American Dream is now a fairy tale, and half this country is actually convinced making it worse fixes things. *sigh* We want to take even more away from them to protect growing disparity. Insanity.
We are neutering ourselves if we continue to suggest we need to coddle the wealthy and take more away from those with less as a means of motivating the poor people in this country to become rich too. That is ridiculous, barbaric, and unsustainable. Period.