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Old 01-25-2010
kootenay kootenay is offline
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Quote:
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote in January 2009 that the U.S. should adjust its priorities and spending to address the changing nature of threats in the world: "What all these potential adversaries—from terrorist cells to rogue nations to rising powers—have in common is that they have learned that it is unwise to confront the United States directly on conventional military terms. The United States cannot take its current dominance for granted and needs to invest in the programs, platforms, and personnel that will ensure that dominance's persistence. But it is also important to keep some perspective. As much as the U.S. Navy has shrunk since the end of the Cold War, for example, in terms of tonnage, its battle fleet is still larger than the next 13 navies combined—and 11 of those 13 navies are U.S. allies or partners."[30] Secretary Gates announced some of his budget recommendations in April 2009.[31]
The Defense budget is some 700 billion of which 100 billion is a war budget. You pay some 30-120 billion in interest on past war debt depending on how you slice it. I suspect that every dollar you save closing overseas bases probably wont affect US employees to a great degree. Ending Iraq/Afganistan would save a ton. Also reducing government spending can only have a positive impact on the US economy as a whole.
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