[Vision2020] Military spending

[Bob Hoffmann]

At 04:43 PM 1/10/2003 -0800, Robert Probasco wrote:
>More spending is not answer
>By Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense.
>
>
>No idea in politics has hurt our sense of well-being more than the false 
>and misleading
>idea that the our security is determined by how much we spend.
>
>For three decades, our nation and our political parties have debated and
>contentiously fought over the issue of money in defense. But the facts
>are simple: What determines our nation's future isn't how much is spent, but
>how wisely we choose and implement our foreign policy.
>
>If there is no accountability, or military uses unproven fads, it doesn't 
>matter how much money is thrown at a problem; it will be wasted, or worse 
>yet, prove counterproductive.
>
>Worse, wasteful spending and the debates about money have masked the
>problem.  The 1980s were marked by an unprecedented peacetime increase in 
>military spending. National security Budget Authority (including the 
>Defense Department and the Energy Department) peaked in FY 1985 at $413 
>billion (in inflation-adjusted FY 1996 dollars). Outlays peaked in FY 1989 
>at $376 billion (FY 1996 dollars). This represented a 25 percent increase 
>over the Cold War peacetime average of approximately $275 billion dollars. 
>(http://www.fas.org/pub/gen/mswg/situatn.htm) And since the 2001 terrorist 
>attacks in America, military spending is again in an upward spiral.
>
>Yet, citizens must ask, what have we gotten for all this?
>
>Terrorist attacks on US embassies and commercial interests around the 
>world, not to mention attacks on the World Trade Center and the 
>Pentagon.  An international reputation as a bully, so prevalent that even 
>our closest allies abroad are openly questioning our sabre-rattling.
>
>No, the problem isn't — and never has been — money alone. This is just
>the most tired of all excuses.
>
>Most Americans support spending more to fight the war on terrorism but do 
>not favor an increase in the overall defense budget, according to a new 
>poll by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy 
>Attitudes (PIPA) 
>http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/DefenseSpending/presrelease.htm

Well, OK, Donald Rumsfeld is not responsible for the above viewpoints.  But 
I do believe that he and the rest of the Bush administration should adopt 
can learn something from the approach of Rod Paige, US Secretary of Education.


Bob Hoffmann
820 S. Logan St.
Moscow, ID  83843

Tel: 208 883-0642