Billions more for Navy? Obscene

http://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/Billions-more-for-Navy-Obscene-4968803.php

Billions more for Navy? Obscene
Mark Weisbrot
Published 7:55 pm, Friday, November 8, 2013

WASHINGTON -- The Budget Control Act of 2011 required automatic spending cuts unless Congress could agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan.

~snip~

It was a dumb idea to reduce the deficit with unemployment elevated, but given that government spending was going to be cut, the fact that this resulted in cutting the bloated Pentagon was good.

Now we hear whining and complaining from the Pentagon spending lobby -- and especially the Navy, which is pushing for a new line of $14 billion super-carriers -- that America's national security will be compromised. Of course that depends on how you define "America" and "national security."

~snip~

No one has explained how the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq made us safer, and it cost the lives of more than 4,400 Americans and several hundred thousand Iraqis. It's tough to see how the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan has increased our security, or the drone killings of civilians in Pakistan, Yemen and other countries -- all of which are creating new enemies every day.