Origin of article summary
Mother Jones (
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/03/you-have-no-say-about-your-military)
March 18, 2010
Author: Tom Engelhardt
You have no say about your military (The article is one page long)
After reading this article, which is about the military budget of the U.S. I recognized a few topics pointed out in the article. The first it is that I already knew of the over bloated and completely unregulated, (to the say the least) budget of the military. The second is that over the years, that budget has steadily increased despite the fact of the progress or setbacks that have resulted from the actions taken from the resources poured into said budget. And three is that there are definitely no signs or actions being taken to curb this tremendously large spending.
The main focus of this article is obviously the tax payers (us) the Feds (because going through all the names/ red tape, would take more patience that I already lack) and to a lesser extent (or not) the manufactures of the air-crafts (F-35s article’s focus). While I am sure of whom the focus of this article is about; I’m not so sure of when this debate on military budget started. I could go far (FAR!) back or maybe to 9/11 when the budget of the military became an even bigger issue than it is today. So to make it simple (very simple) I shall say this event takes place in the time it takes to debate this year’s U.S. military budget to when the feds decides to up the cost again.
As for what exactly is going on in this article (Note, I’m ignoring ‘where’ for obvious reasons) well, as I hinted in the earlier section of this essay, the focus of this article is the military budget and a type of air craft called an F-35, a fighter jet. Now, during 2001 the F-35 jet cost around $50 million dollars to produce, per plane, fast forward eight years and that cost is now $113 million dollars (still per plane); that cost will just keep on increasing. A bit off topic here, but another thing to add, the total amount of money spent on all branches of the military in the last ten years is totaled around one trillion dollars (or 1,000,000,000,000 or 1,000 billions); I hope that's not all on jets. Anyway, the Marines, the Navy and the Air Force plan on purchasing a combined total of two thousand four hundred and fifty of these flying diamonds for a combined total of around $323 billion tax payer dollars.
Now at this point any one person needs to ask themselves why something like this is allowed to happen, right? Because I really hope so! It could easily be cited that an issue like this is not being reported because no one seems to be interested in it, no not us, our representatives and senators that’s who or any other political player! Another reason for this occurring is because of that war that's been renamed about three times so far, I believe it's called "New Dawn" now (Iraq war) than again why we need jets in that conflict now? O.K., I guess it's just for homeland security right? But, I think I'll stop here, it's getting to become preachy.
As for how something like this happens, very good question. Well, one thing is for sure, we like big and expensive toys here in the U.S. and sometimes it seems like cost never really seems like an issue. But in the end I guess this can mostly be summarized into "We need to assume the dominance in the world and that can easily be achieved by buying really dangerous stuff." And I guess that fiscal debt and wobbling economy is something that just doesn’t register to some people.
So in the end it is quite easy to see who this effects, well for one it’s us that must pay for a large amount of this spending. The second would be the chain of companies, who are going to be responsible for manufacturing these jets. And the third to be affected by these decisions would be the world, depending on how the next few years fold out.
Personal reaction: My personal reaction is difficult to describe, on one hand I like explosions and that feeling that I live in one of the most powerful countries. On the other hand I really don’t think this is a very good idea in so many ways. In the end I only feel that something like this could only really be decided if it’s brought into light to be seen by all people. Unfortunately there’s just so much crap on the news it would be a miracle is something like this was brought to our plates.
Most informative lines that I found
*’When was the last time you saw the headline, "Cost of [Pentagon-weapons-system-of-your-choice] halved"? Probably never. Still, the thought came to mind when this recent Associated Press headline caught my eye: "Pentagon: F-35 fighter jet cost doubles."’ (First paragraph)
*”Here's an American reality: the Pentagon is our true welfare state, the weapons makers our real "welfare queens," and we never stop shoveling money their way. Somebody should raise a few tough questions about the Pentagonization of our country and its finances.” (Beginning of last paragraph)
Other sources
USA Today March 19-21, 2010 issue, section 11A, Obama education Doesn’t Go Far Enough: “In the last nearly 1- years, the wars in Iraq Afghanistan have cost us $1 trillion (that’s $1,000 billion, or an average of $100 billion a year). First bullet after fifth paragraph
Author
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