Happy Fucking Memorial Day (Sorry About Pay Cuts Being On The Table)

[unhappycamper]

Gates Puts Pay Cuts on the Table
May 26, 2011 • Terry Howell

Under pres­sure to reduce the DoD bud­get, Defense Sec­re­tary Robert Gates has – until recently – avoided ask­ing for a reduc­tion in mil­i­tary pay and ben­e­fits. How­ever, the Wall Street Jour­nal has reported that increas­ing pres­sure on law­mak­ers to make big­ger cuts in the fed­eral deficit has con­vinced defense bud­get plan­ners that Con­gress is will­ing to look at cut­ting mil­i­tary com­pen­sa­tion.



unhappycamper comment: Of course Mr. Gates (or some congresscritter with a pair) could say "I don't want any more of those $5+ billion dollar destroyers" or "Let's cancel the $40 billion dollar USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier" or "The F-35 is a piece of shit and we should cancel that program" or "Maybe we don't need another $7 billion dollar submarine this year", but no, let's go after the troops' pay.

Fucking right-wingers.

[xchrom]

1. ...

:mad:

[rasputin1952]

2. Congresscritters should work for minimum wage...

no perc's, and we should be far more adept at rotating these jerks out of office...we might actually see some good for the nation as a whole in a relatively short period of time.

And...if they start or support a war, they should put their bodies on the line...nothing quite like taking a few rounds close to one's head to underscore the value of a life.

[n2doc]

3. The troops don't "pay back"

Defense contractors do. It is pretty simple. Mr Gates and his ilk know that the contractors will bribe provide political donations to him and his friends, hire his relatives, and so on. Your average soldier is too busy just trying to make ends meet and survive to buy a cabinet member.

[RB TexLa]

4. There is nothing that shouldn't be on the table. You can throw it off he table

when the discussions begin but everything has to be open to cuts. Remember when we talk about the deficit we are talking about stealing money from future generations.

[hobbit709]

5. Let's start at the top. Leaders are supposed to lead by example.

Of course we don't have any actual leaders anymore.

[Obamanaut]

6. Cutting those things you mention could work. Another idea would

be to stop tossing bombs and bullets at people and bring the troops home.

Shut down all the military sites of various size worldwide - that would cause an immediate savings in just the lease payments to the host countries. Not to mention the salaries of the local civilian employees at those sites.

Bring home all those personnel and their families from the closed sites and spread them out among the various bases in the US. This would cause an immediate influx of money into the local economies.

Gradually reduce the overall number of personnel on active duty via normal attrition as enlistements expire and reduced recruiting efforts.

Reduce the pay of all congress people, staffers, and the like.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Why not just cut the Security Contractor's pay

they out number the troops

[msongs]

8. all of the above, and first eliminate retirement programs and benefits for the brass nt