2016 Postmortem

Recursion

(56,582 posts)

12. I suppose it depends on what "the war budget" is

Mon Mar 7, 2016, 02:10 AM

Mar 2016

The budget for "war" per se is the Overseas Contingency Operations Fund, which is budgeted and accounted separately from normal defense spending.

The OCO authorization is about $55 billion as compared to an overall defense budget of $550 Bn; so roughly 10% of our defense spending is for "the wars" (though OCO also gets slushed around to fund some normal operational expenses, which I'm against).

In terms of our overall defense budget, I'd like to cut it by maybe 10% or so, so that basically defense + OCO = defense currently. I'm not sure whether you would consider that "moderate" or "slight" but I can tell you the US electorate would call it "extreme".

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Which direction do YOU think the war budget needs to go? [View all] Ken Burch Mar 2016 OP

A huge decrease Kalidurga Mar 2016 #1

A lot of the big bucks the saltpoint Mar 2016 #2

About the same metroins Mar 2016 #3

Question: is it healthy to see ourselves as a "great empire"? Ken Burch Mar 2016 #7

I don't think so. metroins Mar 2016 #8

It's not that we don't need a military. The question is how much is enough? RichVRichV Mar 2016 #11

We could save billions just by cutting waste in the DoD and military Cheese Sandwich Mar 2016 #4

It needs to go DOWN, WAY DOWN. n/t CaliforniaPeggy Mar 2016 #5

Talk about a 'no-brainter' ... Where the fuck is our $1 Trillion ????? nt 99th_Monkey Mar 2016 #6

A big AUDIT is what I'd like, and a strict prohibition on no-bid contracts as well as loosey-goosey JudyM Mar 2016 #9

Back to the country Old Codger Mar 2016 #10

I suppose it depends on what "the war budget" is Recursion Mar 2016 #12

Roll the VA into the defense budget? Basic LA Mar 2016 #13