The Pentagon Budget and the Deficit!

[Jake Martinez]

What’s wrong with this picture?

Editorial Posted on The New York Times-On September 26, 2011:

“It was not just two mismanaged wars and trillions of dollars in misconceived and poorly supervised weapons contracts that drove Pentagon spending to unsustainable levels over the past decade — about $700 billion for last year alone. Military pay, benefit and retirement costs rose by more than 50 percent over the same decade (accounting for inflation). Leaving aside Afghanistan and Iraq, those costs now account for nearly $1 out of every $3 the Pentagon spends.

Much of that is necessary to recruit and retain a high-quality, all-volunteer military. The men and women who risk their lives to keep us secure deserve decent pay while they serve and ample benefits once they retire. But current military pay, pension systems and retiree health care benefits are unsustainable and ripe for reform.

President Obama has proposed two changes that would save $27 billion over 10 years: increasing co-payments for some prescription drugs for retirees and dependents of active-duty soldiers and charging a modest fee for policies supplementing Medicare coverage for retirees. That would still leave insurees paying substantially less than most other Americans.

Working-age military retirees also pay too little for basic family coverage. The current annual premium of $460 has not been increased since 1995. The Pentagon hopes to raise that to $520 for new enrollees once Congress approves financing bills for the new fiscal year that starts on Saturday. That is still barely a tenth of what federal civilian workers pay for comparable insurance.

Another $45 billion to $50 billion could be saved by adjusting the formula for pay increases to take account of special allowances and benefits worth about $5,000 a year.

The retirement system is both unfair and increasingly expensive. Most veterans, including many who have served multiple combat tours, will never qualify for even a partial military pension or retiree health benefits. These are only available to those who have served at least 20 years. Those who do qualify can start collecting their pensions as soon as they leave service, even if they are still in their late 30s, making for huge long-term costs.

Mr. Obama called for a commission to study possible reforms. But the change the Pentagon reportedly has in mind, phasing in a 401(k)-type plan for future retirees, is the wrong way to go. Military pensions should not be held hostage to stock market gyrations. Partial pensions should be made available to those serving less than 20 years. Payments should begin at normal retirement age.

The Pentagon needs to contribute at least $400 billion in 10-year budget savings if the Congressional deficit panel does reach an agreement by December and as much as $900 billion if it does not.

To find those savings, the Pentagon must also sharply prune the tens of billions it spends every year on building new versions of cold war weapons systems ill suited to America’s 21^st-century military needs: aircraft carriers, nuclear attack submarines, stealth destroyers and manned aerial combat fighters. The United States already has a comfortable margin of dominance in all these areas. The Pentagon’s ambitions expanded without limit over the Bush era, and Congress eagerly wrote the checks. The country cannot afford to continue this way, and national security doesn’t require it.

The White House and Congress must find the courage to proceed. Reforms of pay, benefits and pensions must be phased in fairly and commitments already made must be honored. But they, too, cannot be deferred any longer.”

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/opinion/the-pentagon-budget-and-t...

Note: The following articles and/or blog posts relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:

I. The Pentagon Budget, Under Scrutiny!-MOAA President Letter to Editor-Posted on The New York Times-On September 29, 2011:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/opinion/the-pentagon-budget-under...

II. MOAA Fights Admin Budget Proposals To Make Military Retirement and Healthcare Programs More Closely Mirror Plans for Civilian Workers!-Posted on MOAA.org-By MOAA President-On September 28, 2011:

http://www.moaa.org/action/lac_issues/lac_issues_major/lac_issues_m...

III. Obama vs. GPS!-Posted on National Review Online- By Arthur Herman-On September 21, 2011:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/277939/obama-vs-gps-arthur-herman

IV. Armed Services chairman: Obama is anti-military!-Posted on The Washington Times-By Shaun Waterman, The Washington Times-On September 12, 2011:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/12/armed-services-buck...

V. WH Minimizing Beijing’s Military Threat, Denying its Expansionist Intentions!-Posted on WND.com-By Aaron Klein-On July 23, 2011:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=324577

VI. Two never-finished Navy ships head to scrap heap!-Posted on PilotOnline.com-By By Scott Harper, The Virginian-Pilot-On July 15, 2011:

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/07/two-neverfinished-navy-ships-head-s...

VII. Can the U.S. Cut Defense Spending Wisely?-Posted on The Brookings Institution-By Michael E. O'Hanlon, Director of Research and Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, 21st Century Defense Initiative-On June 10, 2011:

http://www.brookings.edu/multimedia/video/2011/0610_at_brookings_po...

VIII. Ten Questions for Defense Secretary Nominee Leon Panetta!-Posted on The Weekly Standard-By DANIEL HALPER-On June 9, 2011:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ten-questions-defense-secretary...

IX. Active military and veterans hold less favorable view of Obama’s performance as president-Posted on The Daily Caller-By Alexis Levinson-On May 30, 2011:

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/30/active-military-and-veterans-hold...

X. Obama Administration Wants To Cut Troop Pay!-Posted on Canada Free Press-By Move America Forward-On May 27, 2011:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/36951#When:10:54:51Z

XI. Gates Targets Retirement, Health Care!-Posted on MOAA.org-On May 27, 2011:

http://www.moaa.org/action_update_110527.htm

XII. Push for Pentagon cuts tops Panetta’s agenda-Posted on Idaho Stateswman-By DONNA CASSATA - Associated Press-On April 27, 2011:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/04/27/v-print/1625708/push-for-p...

XIII. Apples to oranges: Military vs. civilian health premiums-Posted on The Washington Post-By Norb Ryan Jr., President of the Military Officers Association of America-On January 24, 2011:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/24/AR2...

XIV. Podesta: Obama Can Use ‘Armed Forces’ To Push Progressive Agenda!-Posted on The Blaze-By Jonathon M. Seidl-On November 18, 2010:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/podesta-obama-can-use-armed-forces-...

XV. Is U.S. Air Superiority ending? Top USAF General says “Yes”, Gates says “No”-Posted on The Coach is Right-By Jim Emerson, staff writer-On September 18, 2010:

http://www.coachisright.com/is-u-s-air-superiority-ending-top-usaf-...

XVI. How to Defend America in the 21^st Century! (Part 1)-Posted on Floyd Reports-By Guest Writer-On August 5, 2011:

http://floydreports.com/how-to-defend-america-in-the-21st-century-p...

XVII. How to Defend America in the 21^st Century! (Part 2)-Posted on Floyd Reports-By Guest Writer-On August 12, 2011:

http://floydreports.com/how-to-defend-america-in-the-21st-century-p...

XVIII. Wife of White House mouthpiece behind Petraeus attack: ‘Lee given new post to battle ‘negative’ reporting about president’-Posted on WND.com-By Aaron Klein-On May 25, 2011:

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=303121 

XIX. MoveOn.org Ad Takes Aim at Petraeus: “Ad From Liberal Activist Group Takes on Petraeus and the GOP Finds a New Talking Point”-Posted on ABCNews.go.com-By JAKE TAPPER-On September 10, 2007:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/story?id=3581727&pa...

Note:  The following eye opening article and/or blog post reveals a George Soros funded unincorporated association by the name of “Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG)”, which was established in 1999 and consists of more than 50 private and public foundations that give a portion of their $27 billion in combined assets to leftist organizations that undermine the war on terror in several interrelated ways: (a) by characterizing the United States as an evil, militaristic, oppressive nation that exploits vulverable populations all over the globe; (b) by accusing the U.S. of having provoked, through its unjust policies and actions, the terror attacks against it, and consequently casting those attacks as self-defensive measures taken in response to American transgressions; (c) by depicting America’s military and legislative actions against terror as unjustified, extreme, and immoral-You Decide: 

Funding the War Against the War on Terror!-Posted on FrontPageMagazine.com-By: John Perazzo –On October 6, 2006:

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=2309

Note:  The following articles and/or blog posts reveal that the president is an Alinskyite, so steeped in the ideology of the seminal community organizer that he became a top instructor in Alinskyite tactics for other up-and-coming fifth-column radicals, whose single, animating ambition is to overthrow the capitalist social order, which they claim to see as racist, corrupt, exploitative, imperialist, etc. He also frames national security as a distraction from his more important work socializing our economy and thus knows that as long as he is tepidly supportive of a military mission, even one that neither aims to achieve nor can possibly achieve victory over America’s enemies, conservatives will not only overlook the slights, but will anxiously commend him and help the New York Times take the lash to those who won’t-You Decide:

Alinsky Does Afghanistan! (Part I)-Posted on National Review Online- By Andrew C. McCarthy-On December 4, 2010:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/228741/alinsky-does-afghanis...

Alinksy Does Afghanistan! (Part II)-Posted on National Review Online-By Andrew C. McCarthy-On June 23, 2011:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270378/alinksi-does-afghanista...

Note:  My following blog posts contain numerous articles and/or blog posts and videos that relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:

The Military Pays the Price for Obama's Agenda!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/the-military-pays-the-pric...

Veterans and members of our Armed Forces under attack!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/veterans-and-members-of-ou...

Treason in America: Move Over 'Hanoi Jane'!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/treason-in-america-move-ov...

Rules of Engagement Killing Marines and U.S. Soldiers!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/rules-of-engagement-killin...

Shocking New Report! Obama’s Real Terrorists: Targeting Patriots and The Right!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/shocking-new-report-obamas...

It's Getting Very Serious Now!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/it’s-getting-very-serious-...

Kagan spit in the eye of America’s Armed Forces!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/kagan-spit-in-the-eye-of-a...

Who owns our supposedly fair and balanced airwaves and news outlets?

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/who-owns-our-supposedly-fa...

Is it important to understand the Marxist assault on the foundations of our system?

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/is-it-important-to-underst...

Note:  If you have a problem viewing any of the listed blog posts please copy web site and paste it on your browser. Be aware that some of the articles and/or blog posts or videos listed within the contents of the above blog post(s) may have been removed by this administration because they may have considered them to be too controversial.  Sure seems like any subject matter that may shed some negative light on this administration is being censored-What happened to free speech?-You Decide.

“Food For Thought”

God Bless the U.S.A.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related

Semper Fi!

Jake