See this:U.S. military spending in 2006, over $528 billion, was 46 percent of the entire military spending in the world and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States#Foreign_relations_and_military
I mean, how much is enough? Think we can't defeat a couple thousand terrorists hiding in caves and assorted kitchens?
How many tanks does AQ have? How many planes? Why do we need such a big defense build up now?
Big govt. can be constrained in its attempts to change by sacred cows (like defense) who refuse to give up a pound of flesh, even though it may be in the best interest of the nation. The combination of bureaucracy and greed holds us back.
You have to pick your priorities wisely and you can't fund them all. When we have 1/2 of the total world spend on defense, I think we've got enough, especially if we were smart enough not to get involved is unnecessary wars to begin with. Then we have to replenish the arsenal, then the defense contractors are smiling, the fat cats win, and our kids have a harder time affording college. Its all about priorities and hard choices. We can run up the deficit some more, the dollar will fall some more, and gas can go to $5 a gal, but we'll pay one way (directly through higher taxes) or we'll pay the cowardly indirect way (through a devalued currency and higher import prices). But you always have to pay.
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