Form The Baltimore Sun:
Where will Obama find the money for his ambitious programs? Look no further than the bloated Department of Defense
We hear every day that the crises President-elect Barack Obama will inherit are even worse than we knew. During his news conference Monday to present his new economic team, Mr. Obama spoke of the need for "meaningful cuts and sacrifices" in the federal budget. But where will a nation almost $10 trillion in debt find the cash to save the banking system, invest in "green collar" jobs, insure every American, keep our bridges from collapsing and make certain that - this time, really - no child is left behind?
Mr. Obama and Congress should look no further than the military. Of the $873 billion in discretionary spending last fiscal year, more than half was on national defense. And that doesn't count the nearly $800 billion we've spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nor does it include the Department of Veterans' Affairs' $37 billion annual budget, the legacy of the senseless military occupations of the past 40 years.
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My Comment: Eliminating the Defense Department will still result in a huge deficit. In otherwords .... the problems of the deficit are far more complex and deep rooted than saying that it is because of the Defense Budget that we are in the situation that we are in today.
But the argument can still be made that there must be elements of the Defense Department Budget that can be eliminated or downgraded. Will this analysis proceed .... yes .... but the politics that will come into play on this "downgrade" is going to be amusing to watch.