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BBC: U.S. military analysts reject globalization but want U.S. stuck in Middle East perpetually
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RichA
Nov 15, 2018, 9:52:04 AM11/15/18
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thinbl...@gmail.com
Nov 15, 2018, 11:01:24 AM11/15/18
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On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 9:52:04 AM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46219481
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon , Monday, September 10, 2001
The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America. This adversary is one of the world's last bastions of central planning. It governs by dictating five-year plans. From a single capital, it attempts to impose its demands across time zones, continents, oceans and beyond. With brutal consistency, it stifles free thought and crushes new ideas. It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk.
Perhaps this adversary sounds like the former Soviet Union, but that enemy is gone: our foes are more subtle and implacable today. You may think I'm describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world. But their day, too, is almost past, and they cannot match the strength and size of this adversary.
The adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120103220058/http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=430
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1536135.stm
https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/providing-for-the-common-defense.pdf
As important as reform is, however, it is an illusion to believe that savings
from efficiencies alone will provide sufficient funds for near-term
reinvestment in modernization. Every previous attempt to subsidize
modernization through internal reform has come up well short of expectations.
We believe the Department should continue to pursue reform on
its own merits, to enhance competitiveness and assure taxpayers that
their tax dollars are well-spent. Yet DOD and Congress must understand
that even the most optimistic advocates of reform cannot identify sufficient
savings to make this approach a reliable source of real growth in
defense capability.
Addressing Long-Term Fiscal Challenges
This Commission is under no illusions about the magnitude of the resource
investments it advocates. Moreover, we recognize that in any discussion
of resources, there are larger fiscal pressures squeezing defense
and other national security priorities such as diplomacy, foreign aid, and
homeland security. As Secretary Mattis noted in his confirmation hearing,
the growing national debt itself constitutes a significant national security
threat. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that
continued deficit spending will take the amount of federal debt held by
the public to roughly 100 percent of gross domestic product by the end
of the 2020s. Without changes to revenues or expenses, this ratio would
climb to an unprecedented 152 percent by 2048. Such unconstrained
growth in federal debt would imperil both the creditworthiness and economic
stability of the nation and undermine its ability to adequately fund
any number of national priorities.
Looking ahead, policymakers must address rising government spending
and decreasing tax revenues as unsustainable trends that compel hard
fiscal choices. Net interest payments to service the growing debt are rising
rapidly, and the retirement of the baby boomers will exacerbate the problem
caused by exploding entitlement costs. As for revenues, over the
past two decades there have been several significant tax cuts (President
Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, President Obama’s payroll tax cuts, and
President Trump’s 2017 tax reform bill) that have decreased resources
available to fund defense and address broader fiscal challenges. No serious
effort to address growing debt can be made without either increasing
tax revenues or decreasing mandatory spending—or both. Without such
an effort, it will be impossible to stabilize the nation’s finances, and to
fund and sustain an adequate defense. Rather than viewing defense cuts as
the solution to the nation’s fiscal problems, Congress should look to the
entire federal budget, especially entitlements and taxes, to set the nation
on a more stable financial footing
What is the Petrodollar and Why Does It Matter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNr1LWgIyiE
> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46219481
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon , Monday, September 10, 2001
The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America. This adversary is one of the world's last bastions of central planning. It governs by dictating five-year plans. From a single capital, it attempts to impose its demands across time zones, continents, oceans and beyond. With brutal consistency, it stifles free thought and crushes new ideas. It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk.
Perhaps this adversary sounds like the former Soviet Union, but that enemy is gone: our foes are more subtle and implacable today. You may think I'm describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world. But their day, too, is almost past, and they cannot match the strength and size of this adversary.
The adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120103220058/http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=430
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1536135.stm
https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/providing-for-the-common-defense.pdf
As important as reform is, however, it is an illusion to believe that savings
from efficiencies alone will provide sufficient funds for near-term
reinvestment in modernization. Every previous attempt to subsidize
modernization through internal reform has come up well short of expectations.
We believe the Department should continue to pursue reform on
its own merits, to enhance competitiveness and assure taxpayers that
their tax dollars are well-spent. Yet DOD and Congress must understand
that even the most optimistic advocates of reform cannot identify sufficient
savings to make this approach a reliable source of real growth in
defense capability.
Addressing Long-Term Fiscal Challenges
This Commission is under no illusions about the magnitude of the resource
investments it advocates. Moreover, we recognize that in any discussion
of resources, there are larger fiscal pressures squeezing defense
and other national security priorities such as diplomacy, foreign aid, and
homeland security. As Secretary Mattis noted in his confirmation hearing,
the growing national debt itself constitutes a significant national security
threat. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that
continued deficit spending will take the amount of federal debt held by
the public to roughly 100 percent of gross domestic product by the end
of the 2020s. Without changes to revenues or expenses, this ratio would
climb to an unprecedented 152 percent by 2048. Such unconstrained
growth in federal debt would imperil both the creditworthiness and economic
stability of the nation and undermine its ability to adequately fund
any number of national priorities.
Looking ahead, policymakers must address rising government spending
and decreasing tax revenues as unsustainable trends that compel hard
fiscal choices. Net interest payments to service the growing debt are rising
rapidly, and the retirement of the baby boomers will exacerbate the problem
caused by exploding entitlement costs. As for revenues, over the
past two decades there have been several significant tax cuts (President
Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, President Obama’s payroll tax cuts, and
President Trump’s 2017 tax reform bill) that have decreased resources
available to fund defense and address broader fiscal challenges. No serious
effort to address growing debt can be made without either increasing
tax revenues or decreasing mandatory spending—or both. Without such
an effort, it will be impossible to stabilize the nation’s finances, and to
fund and sustain an adequate defense. Rather than viewing defense cuts as
the solution to the nation’s fiscal problems, Congress should look to the
entire federal budget, especially entitlements and taxes, to set the nation
on a more stable financial footing
What is the Petrodollar and Why Does It Matter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNr1LWgIyiE
thinbl...@gmail.com
Nov 15, 2018, 11:09:16 AM11/15/18
to
The empire is dying. After decades of burgeoning bloated Pentagon spending the US debt is coming home to roost. The only way to maintain the empire's military power and supremacy is to reduce entitlements. In other words the Eisenhower prediction that the military industrial complex will hang Americans on a cross of iron so it can continue to bomb brown people in far away lands, is coming to fruition.
Gawd Blesh Uh-mer-ka !
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