Abolish The Pentagon?

lobotero

Jun 28

I write a lot about the abuses of the Pentagon and some to think that I would like nothing better than to see an end to the Pentagon.

That is not at all what I am calling for in my writings.

Yes the US has a duty to protect US shores....but for me they do not have a duty to fund and supply endless wars across the globe.

The Congress and the president's admin is ass deep in the pockets of the arms industry....it is all about the cash in their wallets and not what best and moral.

The Biden administration requested $886 billion for national defense for Fiscal Year 2024, a sum far higher in real terms than the peaks of the Korean or Vietnam wars or at the height of the Cold War.

That figure could go even higher under the terms of the debt ceiling deal reached by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as hawks in Congress push for an emergency package that could not only provide aid needed to defend Ukraine but also tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for the Pentagon's regular budget.

This is a terrible idea. There is no reason to add funds to the Pentagon budget, as documented in a report released today by the Quincy Institute.

The enormous sums lavished on the Pentagon are being marshaled in support of a flawed National Defense Strategy that attempts to go everywhere and do everything, from winning a war with Russia or China, to intervening in Iran or North Korea, to continuing to fight a global war on terror that includes military activities in at least 85 countries.

Note to Congress: there is no emergency that would require more military funding

The Defense Department must be re-named to to what it was once called....its true calling....the War Department.

Do not worry...the Biden posse will use every opportunity to get more money for Ukraine (are they working that hard for you or your family?)

The recent 'mutiny' in Russia will help get all that lovely cash for Ukraine.

Yevgeny Prigozhin's brief rebellion against the Russian government has given hawks in Congress more ammunition to argue for additional spending on the Ukraine war, POLITICO reported Tuesday.

...

The crisis in Russia came after House and Senate panels approved their versions of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA is capped at $886 billion under the debt ceiling deal reached between the White House and House Republicans, but the limit does not apply to emergency supplemental funds, which is how spending on the Ukraine war has been authorized.

Three arms industry lobbyists told POLITICO that they believe the Prigozhin uprising will help hawks argue for a supplemental spending package for the Pentagon and Ukraine.

The White House is expected to ask Congress to authorize more spending on Ukraine via supplemental funds, but it's not clear when that will happen. The Pentagon claimed last week that an "accounting error" has freed up an additional $6.2 billion that can be spent on military aid for Ukraine, giving the administration more time before it needs to make the request. So far, Congress has authorized $113 billion to spend on the war.

(antiwar.com)

But not to concern yourself....we have a deal on spending, right?

Congress spared military-related programs any cuts while freezing all other categories of discretionary spending at the fiscal year 2023 level (except support for veterans). Indeed, lawmakers set the budget for the Pentagon and for other national security programs like nuclear-related work developing nuclear warheads at the Department of Energy at the level requested in the administration's Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal — a 3.3% increase in military spending to a whopping total of $886 billion. Consider that preferential treatment of the first order and, mind you, for the only government agency that's failed to pass a single financial audit!

Even so, that $886 billion hike in Pentagon and related spending is likely to prove just a floor, not a ceiling, on what will be allocated for "national defense" next year. An analysis of the deal by the Wall Street Journal found that spending on the Pentagon and veterans' care — neither of which is frozen in the agreement — is likely to pass $1 trillion next year.

Compare that to the $637 billion left for the rest of the government's discretionary budget. In other words, public health, environmental protection, housing, transportation, and almost everything else the government undertakes will have to make do with not even 45% of the federal government's discretionary budget, less than what would be needed to keep up with inflation. (Forget addressing unmet needs in this country.)