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Robert Gates tells NATO like it is

Deacon923

Scooter Banks
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And it's like this: the free ride on the coattails of the American taxpayer is coming to an end, Euros.

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I can only hope he is right. We can no longer afford to be the world's cop. Pretty soon (which could mean next month or 5 years from now) the Republicans are going to figure that out, and they are going to figure out that they can blame the Euros for the problem. That's when serious defense cuts are going to get some traction in Congress.
 
And it's like this: the free ride on the coattails of the American taxpayer is coming to an end, Euros.

Link

I can only hope he is right. We can no longer afford to be the world's cop. Pretty soon (which could mean next month or 5 years from now) the Republicans are going to figure that out, and they are going to figure out that they can blame the Euros for the problem. That's when serious defense cuts are going to get some traction in Congress.

Yes, if only we could learn at the foot of a dyed-in-the-wool Progressive Bob Gates. Thank God we've got this Administration in place to curtail excessive government spending...
 
Yes, if only we could learn at the foot of a dyed-in-the-wool Progressive Bob Gates. Thank God we've got this Administration in place to curtail excessive government spending...

If we're going to spend the money, let's at least spend it on helping Americans eat, and find jobs, instead of trying to police the world.
 
In a world of across the board cuts, defense needs to see the biggest ones.
 
serious defense cuts will never get traction in Congress

I think Eisenhower covered this one.

That said, the country can't keep going like it is. At some point when it's a political winner for the GOP, they'll co-opt the defense spending issue. Obama's military aggressiveness has more or less made it a non-starter; you can't cut defense when you're fighting wars in 4 countries on the other side of the world.
 
The problem with the defense budget is that a lot of it that could be cut is spending on research and development, trying to create weapons systems, vehicles, etc. Gates has started the process of cutting these back, but the lobbyists for defense contractors have a lot of support in congress. Many of the programs that go over budget are because members of congress are able to insert small packages here and there for unnecessary additions that keep pushing the projects back and increasing the cost. These "small" additions, though, create jobs here in the US and are great for re-election campaigns. Until congress and the DoD start locking the contracts early on and hold the defense industry to the contracts as far as timelines and budgets, the defense budget will be out of control.
 
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