From Airforce-Magazine:Under the new regime, weapon buying “is going to be more of a Wal-Mart approach than a Gucci approach.”
Mere days after Barack Obama became President, his budget chief, Peter R. Orszag, pulled out his pen and cut $57 billion from the new Pentagon budget, slashing it from $584 billion all the way down to $527 billion. Orszag returned the plan to its author, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, for a major rewrite.
Gates’ $584 billion plan for 2010 had no real chance. Critics derided it as "bloated." Others saw it as inappropriate at a time of economic crisis. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) wanted a 25 percent cut. The press quoted one unnamed White House aide dismissing it as nothing more than a military "wish list."
Read more ....