Once upon a time, in a land too close for comfort, a land where big government should mean plenty of help for the less fortunate but currently means excessive welfare for corporations, a surprising agent for change is emerging.
Strange times we live in. KBR keeps getting contracts and soldiers are electrocuted in showers in Iraq. Blackwater. Don't get me started. Unions joining contractors to put F22 ads on Drudge, but who reads Drudge, so they put whole page ad in the Washington Post.
Tough decisions need to be made. The economy is in the tank, so who wants to lay off military industry workers? Conversion and retraining would be necessary Many would probably agree that Defense budget probably has some room for cuts. (See what Meteor Blades offered without comment today, if you have any doubts about the need to cut Defense spending.)
Gates has been sending signals that change is coming to the Department of Defense. Perhaps there is a tiny glimmer of hope for change, for more money for things like, say, diplomacy, or, how bout it, healthcare ? We can hope.
Is SecDef Gates an emerging hero for change, in a country whose economy is going up in flames, whose relations with the world are at an all time low, whose citizens are hurting for jobs and health care?
Back in September Gates joined others in a surprising call for change:
At a time when national consensus on anything is rare indeed, here's one example: The balance between our spending on military forces and other security tools - like diplomacy, nonproliferation, foreign aid and homeland security - needs to change.
Here's what U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says: "Funding for nonmilitary foreign affairs programs ... remains disproportionately small relative to what we spend on the military."
Here's what a group of 50 retired three- and four-star generals and admirals, led by former CENTCOM commander, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, says: "Our military mission has continued to expand as funding for the State Department and development agencies has been inadequate to the tasks they have been asked to perform. ... It is time to rethink and rebalance our investments to create a better, safer world."
Wow. What a concept! One of the reasons why Obama chose to keep Gates on? He is open to a new way, to change?
My friends, I am a sore loser.
Ha Ha Ha Ha, more McCain sore loser actions, criticizes Obama :
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to confirm William Lynn as deputy defense secretary, endorsing President Barack Obama's decision to waive ethics regulations by putting a former defense lobbyist in charge of day-to-day operations at the Pentagon.
snip
McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was disappointed that Obama would backtrack on his promise to keep lobbyists out of the federal government. Despite his reservations, McCain voted in favor of Lynn.
On his first day in office, Obama issued an executive order forcing individuals to wait two years before they could be hired for the agencies they had lobbied and to remove themselves from involvement in issues related to their former employers.
"Obviously the American people were promised one thing but delivered another," said McCain, Obama's opponent in the 2008 presidential election.
Maybe its not that funny. Why would President Obama choose Lynn for DepSecDef? This kept me awake last night. Is this part of the mistake Obama admitted to earlier? Probably.
I trust Obama, he won, etc. And, see, the same article closes with a signal that some change may be on the way :
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was pleased with Lynn's confirmation and eager to begin working with him "on the many difficult issues confronting this department, especially the need to devise a responsible and credible defense budget in the midst of this economic crisis," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
Whoa! Now, I could use me some credible defense budget. May not have seen one in my whole baby boomer life.
More Gates signaling?
This week at his press conference some hack asked a loaded question something like how was Gates going to convince the Administration to keep the F 22, the intergalactically expensive jet with no enemy to fight now and none in the future. Go to CSPANand listen to Gates answer.
Aviation Week
Sources close to the budget planning say Gates has been conducting a review of major Pentagon programs to determine possible cuts or terminations to better align the Defense Department's priorities with the goals of President Barack Obama (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 11).
snip
During a press briefing Feb. 10, Gates told reporters that "this department faces difficult choices among competing priorities and programs," though he didn't outline what programs may be dealt cuts. Current discussions are focused on "strategic reshaping to make sure the budget reflects the need to balance current and future capabilities and the President's priorities," he said.
Perhaps some fat will be cut? Maybe? Please.
Unions and military spending
Save the Pitiful F-22
I am a retired AFT union member, and generally support my brothers and sisters on union issues and goals. However, I will have to take a pass on continuing the F 22. Imho, those workers will need government support to be retrained and put to work elsewhere outside of this deadender segment. Military conversion is possible and can be good for the economy. In Austin, TX , even in the face of strong opposition to change, we converted the Bergstrom Air Force base to a cool municipal airport, Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Conversion is possible, but we will have to work for it.
GAO Report
Teh GAO report out is just one indicator that changes needs to come.
Defense Management: Actions Needed to Overcome Long-standing Challenges with Weapon Systems Acquisition and Service Contract Management
GAO-09-362T, February 11, 2009
Summary (HTML) Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 28 pages)
Hearings today in Congress on CSPAN.
And so forth.
Beyond Stimulus: Krugman, Recovery and the New Economy
Yesterday Krugman Think Beyond Stimulus to New Economy
Snip
Speaking to more than 800 participants at the Thinking Big/Thinking Forward conference in Washington, D.C., Krugman said that to prevent the nation’s economic pit from becoming a permanent trench, we will need a combination of fiscal and financial policies. And that will require the government to invest in the economy in a big way to spur demand.
Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2008, disputed Republican claims that the best way to stimulate the economy is through tax cuts.
There’s more bang for the buck from government spending than from tax cuts.
Krugman added that the one thing conservative opponents of the stimulus legislation fear the most is that when the economy recovers, people will look back at the government programs and say they were a good thing. And that would reverse the mantra of the past 30 years that "less government is better government."
We have spent 30 years shortchanging public investment in the name of ‘government is bad’—30 years shortchanging the things government can do to make us richer and our lives better.
snip
Part of the way we have shortchanged the missed public investment Krugman refers to has been in the choice to spend so much of our treasure in the Defense budget, which choice, in light of recent threats to our security, might not have been such a good use of that money.
I am hopeful that out of our current economic miasma there arises a strong possibility for a new economy. An economy in which health care costs for employers and employees are reigned in through health care reform led by President Obama and the federal government, and that part of the money for that may come from changing the way we fund our Defense. Yeah.
BTW, you and I can do something today to make this have more of a chance of happening. Found out about this on the Michael Moore website. Participate in the Progressive Democrats of America Healthcare not Warfare
National Call-in Day for HR 676--February 12, 2009
Leadership conference for Guaranteed Healthcare
TAKE ACTION THURSDAY
The Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare is encouraging everyone to participate in the next National Call-in Day for HR 676. Mark your calendars...
February 12, 2009: Call Congress, and the President
Congressional switchboard: 202-225-3121 (ask for your representative’s office)
If your member is a current co-sponsor, thank your rep. and ask him or her to stand firm for HR 676 and actively seek additional co-sponsors.
If your member was a co-sponsor in the last Congress, ask him or her to sign on immediately as a co-sponsor in this Congress.
If your member has yet to co-sponsor HR 676, ask him or her to please become a co-sponsor, select one or two talking points here. [more]
So,in reality, should we sit back and hold our breath, waiting on President Obama or SecDef Gates to save the day alone? I think not. Can we create a new economy, one that works for more of us?
Yes, we can.
UPDATE: Shining light on teh Bush shortcomings, on CSPAN Radio listen to hearing, and see what GAO has found happened all those weapons and money.
UPDATE 2: For a very incisive look at theft and waste and its effects on the soldier on the ground, see
The Looming Crisis at the Pentagon: How Taxpayers Finance Fantasy Wars