The World's Top 7 Military Spenders in 2010

[John Manning]

The World's Top 7 Military Spenders in 2010


SEE CHART:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/208f1c66f6b0db78d61f05ee48ccca75.png

~~ Figures sourced from the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute military expenditure database
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures#SIPRI_Yearbook_2011_-_World.27s_top_15_military_spenders



President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and
are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."


President John F Kennedy, 1961:

"We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent
nor omniscient; that we are only 6 percent of the world's
population; that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94
percent of mankind; that we cannot right every wrong or reverse
every adversity; and that therefore there cannot be an American
solution to every world problem."

[dsharavi]

On Apr 23, 12:43 pm, John Manning <jrobe...@terra.com.br> wrote:
> The World's Top 7 Military Spenders in 2010

Who cares?

[Davej]

Uh, the Republicans are crying that a vast number of social programs
need to be cut in order to get the US deficit under control -- but
they don't want to cut defense spending.

[Frank Galikanokus]

The most extreme in the republican party believe that military spending is the only
legitimate spending.

JAM

[chibiabos]

In article
<95f9846a-ddbc-4ffd...@a8g2000pbe.googlegroups.com>,

I do.

-chib

--
Member of SMASH
Sarcastic Middle-Aged Atheists with a Sense of Humor

[John Manning]

Exactly. They support the US Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower
warned us about:

"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 D. Eisenhower, in his Farewell Address to the Nation on
January 17, 1961

And Now...


Defense Industry Shifts Campaign Dollars To Republicans

-- The defense industry is known as a major
lobbying power in Congress but the industry’s sharp uptick
in campaign contributions, the majority of which are designated
to Republicans, in the 2012 political cycle indicates that
defense contractors are making a strong rightward shift in
their political giving.

Defense industry contributions to individual candidates
and PACs reached nearly $13 million earlier this month. That
number, only $11 million short of the $24 million contributed in
the 2008 political cycle, suggests that the defense industry
will contribute more in this political cycle than in any
previous election.

And the increase in funds is matched by a dramatic partisan shift
in the industry’s contributions.

In 2008, 51 percent of contributions went to Democrats
while 49 percent were designated for Republicans.

In 2010, that trend continued with 53 percent going to Democrats
and 47 percent to Republicans.

But the 2012 cycle appears to mark a shift in partisan bent
as a whopping 60 percent of defense industry campaign dollars went
to Republican campaigns.

When contacted by Politico, General Dynamic spokesman Kendell Pease
explained that the Republican majority in Congress could explain the
shift in campaign dollars toward the GOP:

Those are the folks that are here. Those are the folks that are
making decisions now, today, and it’s very easy to figure out where
they stand on issues that we feel are most important. We continue
to support those folks, both House and Senate, who support those
issues that we feel are most important.

Indeed, supporting Republicans has paid off.

A budget proposal put forward by Mitt Romney would add
$100 billion to the Pentagon’s budget by 2016, while imposing cuts
on health care for the poor and disabled and reductions in funding
for food inspection, border security and education.

And a House Republican budget proposal calls for $554 billion
in defense spending in 2013, a $29 billion increase over the
White House’s proposal.

As chairman of the House Armed Services Committee,
Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) has found himself the
biggest recipient of defense industry dollars, taking in
over $393,000 in the 2012 political cycle.

The defense industry, apparently eager to repay McKeon
for fearlessly defending the defense industry from budget cuts,
has extended its largess to his wife, Patricia McKeon, who took in
at least $19,200 in defense industry campaign contributions for
her California State Assembly campaign (where national defense is
not at issue).

But McKeon denies the contributions were the result of
arm twisting or repayment for his work in protecting the defense
budget as budget cuts sweep across Washington. "She's made lots
of friends [in Washington]," McKeon told the Los Angeles Times.
"When they found out she was running, they offered to help."

~~ Multiple links included:
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/04/24/469862/defense-industry-campaign-dollars-republicans/

[linuxgal]

Defense spending IS a social program, in the Bible Belt, where all the
contractors are located.

[Frank Galikanokus]

It's also a jobs and education program for people that cannot find jobs or go to school.

It worked for me.

JAM