The Military as a Jobs Program

We could bring the NATIONAL Guard back to help patrol our borders, but that isn't on Obama's radar.

Since 9/11, 2001, the military has essentially been given a blank check, and a gradual drawdown would be a good thing. Too bad the bloated budgets for new superweapons like fighter aircraft will most likely continue since Congressmen like those R&D jobs in thier districts. Surprised to see Barack not pushing for another peace dividend now that OBL is dead.

The military isn't just used for war. It is used in humanitarian aid (earthquake in Haiti; hurricanes; flooding; Jim Jones' Guyana massacre, etc.) and there are training missions between allied countries and the U.S., as well as other missions, such as using Military Working Dogs and their handlers during presidential election years to sniff for explosives.

When The Vietnam War ended in the mid-70's and there was a huge drawdown in active-duty personnel because the only war we were fighting at that time was The Cold War...it ended up hurting the military because it was too much too quickly and the corporate knowledge needed to fight a war was gone and wasn't replaced.

After Vietnam was over and the drawdown, it took about 5 years for active duty military to get a pay raise...

A gradual drawdown of active duty personnel (the Air Force is in the process of RIFing officers in certain ranks and career fields as I type this) and maybe more base closures...though since the first round in the late '80's there have been a lot of stateside closings and just as many overseas closings...would realize a savings in several years, after the cost of closing and deactivating the base and cleaning it up environmentally. When Pease AFB in New Hampshire closed in 1991, the numbers of jobs lost were: 3,461 active duty; 741 civil service; and 347 non-appropriated fund employees. That's over 4500 lost jobs and doesn't include the estimated 2400 secondary jobs lost. Some of these jobs were moved to a different location; however, a lot of these positions were eliminated.

I have no idea of the total amount of jobs affected by all the base closures since the late '80s, but these closures affect more than just the jobs on the bases/installations. In small communities, these installations a lot of times are the largest employer in the area and so all of the civilians that do not have jobs are looking along with all of the secondary jobs that are lost because of the drawdown. And those civilians that chose to relocation will take someone else's job...

Yes, I do agree that there are programs within the DoD that could be and should be cut; but I've seen where they blindly cut programs to save money and it hurts in the long run.

Where the DoD needs to cut is in the higher officer ranks and higher rated civilians. When I was stationed in Turkey during Gulf War I, it seemed like every Air Force Major Command Commander visited. Each one had their own private aircraft that they flew to the country in, with the full contingent of crew (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, crew chiefs, military flight attendants). The four-star general that was the Space Command commander came with a three-star, a two-star, a couple of one-stars, at least one colonel, and a lieutenant colonel as his assistants...and his wife, and each military member was paid travel pay for this trip and they stayed in a four-star hotel in Ankara while they were there for 3 or 4 days. That is the stuff that can be cut to save money.

But does Obama really want to release a bunch of servicemen onto the already bad job market?

Government spending - even military spending does not create jobs- the military should never be used for that purpose. Every dollar used for government and military has to be taken from the private free market or borrowed with interest.

Listen to Yaron Brook on this subject..... this is a good little video clip.

I love his "broken window policy" analogy

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/debate-govt-spending-killing-economy-saving-134625609.html;_ylt=AturqUFjoXHezumiKYaxuY4p2YdG;_ylu=X3oDMTBwdnNsa2ZxBHBvcwMxOQRzZWMDTWVkaWFCbG9nSW5kZXg-;_ylg=X3oDMTFpMm9iMzh1BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANibG9nBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Science Chic wrote: This would be a great first step to take in order to get our financial state restored to healthy.

http://www.truth-out.org/military-jobs- ... 1308752213
The Military as a Jobs Program: There Are More Efficient Ways to Stimulate an Economy
Wednesday 22 June 2011
by: Ellen Brown, Truthout

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.... We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people." -Dwight David Eisenhower, "The Chance for Peace" speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953

When veterans' benefits and other past military costs are factored in, the military now devours half the US budget. Even if "national security" is considered our No. 1 priority (a dubious choice when the real unemployment rate is over 16 percent), estimates are that the military budget could be cut in half or more and we would still have the most powerful military machine in the world. Our enemies (if any) are now "terrorists," not countries; and what is needed to contain them (if anything) is local policing, not global warfare.

Chalmers Johnson estimated in 2004 that as much as 40 percent of the Pentagon budget is "black," meaning hidden from public scrutiny. The black budget is so top secret that Congress itself is not allowed to peer in and haggle over the price. Democratic control of the military has broken down. The military is being used for purposes that even Congress is not allowed to know, much less vote on. The US is no longer a constitutional republic, but is a national security state.

That explains why the country seems to be permanently at war. If we had peace, the war machine would be out of a job. Every year since World War II, the US has been at war somewhere. It has been said that if we didn't have a war to fight, we would have to create one just to keep the war business going. We have a military empire of over 800 bases around the world. What is to become of them when the lion lies down with the lamb and peace reigns everywhere?

Military Conversion
Fortunately, there is a way to solve these problems without maintaining a perpetual state of war: keep the jobs, but convert them to civilian use. Military conversion is a well thought out program that could provide real economic stimulus and national security for people here and abroad. Bases can become industrial parks, schools, airports, hospitals, recreation facilities, and so forth. Converted factories can produce consumer and capital goods: machine tools, electric locomotives, farm machinery, oil field equipment, construction machinery for modernizing infrastructure.

It has been done before.

Well I would love to see where these 800 bases are. I was in the military for 20 years and there wasn't that many then. There is even less now due to the base closure and realignment commission.

I also would love to see where the defense budget takes up 50% of the US budget. I do not believe it. Now do I believe there is cuts that can be made. Yep. There are areas where that can be done. If I had a real say in the defense budget, I would only caution that we do not go back to the massive cuts that cut us down. I believe that the Navies of world will be part of the dominating forces for future conflicts. Also alot of the bases that have been closed down have been turned into housing developments, parks etc. So some seem to be talking about things that have already happened. So sounds like alot of talking without knowledge. I know of two bases that have been converted to some really nice things. Fitzsimmons is one, Orlando Naval Training Center, now a lot of nice homes etc.

I think these bases include consulates and embassies, Marines posted, right?

I would love it if we, for the purpose of discussion (never mind the security implications), would take the DoD budget to near zero and send all our airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines and coast guardsmen home...back to the block. Close all the bases both here and overseas too.

Then we would see that even with a DoD budget of zero, the US budget is STILL heading for the rocks.

Many in here suggest America has no threats or enemies...so we should zero out the DoD budget quickly. After that we can hopefully get to substantive discussions about where else we might cut. The way I see it, we must talk about a lot more than cutting the DoD budget and taxing the hell out of the rich if we hope to avert an economic meltdown.

I believe that 50% of the US budget only covers discretionary spending. Much smaller percentage when you looks at entitlements.
Although I do wish much less of the Pentagon budget was "black". Too much of the budget is opaque or obscured.