Reply #19: Actually, as the nations largest employer it sure as hell is a jobs program.

[Ozymanithrax]

And to control the deficit, you would have to pour that money into cutting borrowing from foreign nations and buying back our debt. The 2010 DOD budget was about 663 Billion. If you cut 331 billion from that, you only reduce the amount we borrowed as of August this year (1.3 trillion) by about a quarter.

If you spend that 331 billion on jobs programs, you have to hire as many DOD employees as you fire, and continue to borrow money at a record and unsustainable rate.

What they should do is:

(1) end the tax breaks, all of them. Even just tax breaks for the middle class and poor will be paid for by borrowing money. Raise taxes on the to 2% to levels from 1964 (75% on the top tax bracket).
(2) Cut the military budget by withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, and renegotiate treaties with NATO and various nations.
(3) Rebuild manufacturing base in the U.S., probably through targeted tax breaks based on new employees. You could also require that everying bought by the U.S. government must be made in the U.S. of A., whiether it is a paper clip or a Coast Guard Cutter. Even the steel used in this stuff would have to be made in the U.S. of A.