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About the troop surge in Afghanistan...and other matters
I'm sure that everyone is aware that President Obama has given his approval to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. That's bad enough in itself, especially considering his campaign promise to bring our troops home, but has anyone considered the dollar cost of this surge and who will pay for it? According to recent news articles, the cost will add $30 billion to the already existing expense of waging this undeclared war. Think about it - that is $1 million per soldier! The current pay for an Army private first class, with two years or less service (E3 pay scale) is $1649.70 per month. Add to that $225 per month for combat pay, for placing their life on the line, and that brings the sum to $1,874.70 a month, or $22,496.40 per year. A far cry from $1 million, huh? Now of course we realize that it costs the government to feed and house a soldier, and to provide transportation, uniforms, weaponry, ammunition, and other gear, but are we supposed to be so naive as to believe this is going to cost the government (and we the people, of course) an additional $977,503.60 per soldier? Well, the government, and the Ruling Class, knows that the American public is very gullible and can't seem to remember anything that happened more than a week ago.
You will probably recall that during the 1980's the ABC TV show 20/20 ran an expose concerning fraudulent military spending, such as the expenditure of $435 a piece for claw hammers, $640 each for toilet seats, and $7,600 each for coffee makers. You may have thought that this exhorbitant and fraudulent padding of expenses was curtailed after that scandal, but that isn't so. A recent study of Air Force billing practices concerning 200 items, selected by the Air Force, discovered that not a single one had been invoiced properly. That certainly points to how pervasive the problem actually is. It also brings up the question of why it seems apparent that no one is watching out for this widespread and obviously common abuse. Well, there are government accountants and fiscal oversight officers who are specifically assigned these duties, so are they simply stupid, or are they just looking the other way as this fraud is carried out? Let's consider the case of Mark Krenik, a Pentagon fiscal oversight officer, who created a phony company and then billed himself $504,000. He was caught in this scam, and had to repay the money, but was not sentenced to prison. Probation only, and a $495 fine. He told the federal judge that he did it because everyone else in his section was doing the same, but he was not required to name names. In the case of military accountants, it is of course not in their best interest to uncover corruption, as that would paint a target on their back. And no one in higher military command wants to have to deal with a scandal, so everyone turns a blind eye. And when outside auditors come in, they often find that it is nearly impossible to reconcile government expense accounts and determine what is really going on. A 1999 Department of Defense Inspector General's report, for example, stated that there was between two and three trillion dollars in "unsupported accounting
adjustments" on the books. That doesn't prove that all that money has been stolen or wasted - it just means nobody knows for sure where it is. A lot more of the same has been heard during the Iraq war, of course. It seems like everyone is in on it - the military, the contractors, the government, and the corporations. And let's not forget the Ruling Class, which enables all this sordid activity, and actually encourages it. Such graft at lower levels (supply depot, and shipping and receiving clerks) and all higher command levels is encouraged, because it keeps all the participants beholden to their higher-ups, which ultimately is the Ruling Class.
Now here's a better idea than sending 30,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan, a deployment that no one has any idea how we will pay for:
1. Instead of sending the 30,000 additional troops, let's immediately pull all our current 170,000 troops out of Afganistan and Iraq and bring them home.
2. Release any of those troops from further obligation to service who so wish to be excused, and give each of them a $10,000 severance pay and a $10,000 home buyer tax credit. If 50,000 chose to end their service, the severance pay and tax credit would cost a total of $1 billion, but that would be a $49 billion savings over the cost of keeping these troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for another year.
3. Give those returning troops who wish to stay in service a $20,000 bonus and a one month furlough. After that, reposition those troops to guard our borders. We can afford the $20,000 bonus, because having these troops at home in non-combative operations would result in massive savings.
4. Round up all illegal aliens currently residing in the US (about 15 to 18 million is a conservative estimate), and deport them. This is estimated to be at a cost of close to 100 billion, which is a hefty amount, but the cost of letting the illegals stay is around 75 billion per year. Rapid deportation, and border enforcement to prevent illegals from returning, would therefore save us about $50 billion within a two year period, and around $1 trillion over a 12 year period (perhaps far more, considering the constant influx of new illegals if nothing is done to halt and reverse this trend).
5. As the illegals leave, this will have a profound and beneficial effect on US healthcare costs, since illegals are currently eligible to receive free medical care at virtually all hospital emergency rooms nation wide, and do so in large numbers at staggering costs. Real Healthcare Reform accomplished without additional taxing and spending! In fact, the 75 billion in annual savings, by deporting illegals, could be used to make healthcare more affordable to legal citizens.
6. All jobs vacated by deported immigrants should be filled by legal citizens who are currently out of work. There are currently about 154 million persons in the US work force, and our unemployment rate is said to be 10.2%, so the roughly 16 million who currently have no gainful employment could immediately be put to work, replacing the deported illegals. Businesses which had hired the illegals would be required to hire legal replacements for at least a 1 year period, and pay at least legal minimum wage, or a higher fair wage for the work to be performed if a certain skill or knowledge level above minimum is required.
7. Those who accept full time employment in jobs that replace deported illegal workers, and who had currently been receiving unemployment benefits, should be allowed to keep receiving 60% of their current monthly benefit amount for the remainder of the time period they were eligible to receive payments. These people would, therefore, be better off financially even while working at lower paying jobs than they may be accustomed to working at. Those who refuse to work in jobs that replace deported illegals should lose eligibility for any further unemployment benefits. Unemployment resolved! Notice that the reduction in cost to government, in paying benefits. would immediately be reduced by 40%. I'm not sure what the average person receives in monthly unemployment benefits, but let's assume $1,500. The monthly savings, then, would equal $24 billion. That amount could be spent on creating new and better paying job opportunities. Some of those opportunities might well be an expansion of US Customs and Border Patrol personnel, so as to pick up slack when military personnel are eventually withdrawn from border positions. Remember, $24 billion a month could do a lot of good, and that amount would grow as more and more better paying jobs are created, thus further reducing the payment of unemployment benefits.
Just a few ideas from the man in Maine. Feel free to add some of your own.
Best regards,
Rick
I'm sure that everyone is aware that President Obama has given his approval to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. That's bad enough in itself, especially considering his campaign promise to bring our troops home, but has anyone considered the dollar cost of this surge and who will pay for it? According to recent news articles, the cost will add $30 billion to the already existing expense of waging this undeclared war. Think about it - that is $1 million per soldier! The current pay for an Army private first class, with two years or less service (E3 pay scale) is $1649.70 per month. Add to that $225 per month for combat pay, for placing their life on the line, and that brings the sum to $1,874.70 a month, or $22,496.40 per year. A far cry from $1 million, huh? Now of course we realize that it costs the government to feed and house a soldier, and to provide transportation, uniforms, weaponry, ammunition, and other gear, but are we supposed to be so naive as to believe this is going to cost the government (and we the people, of course) an additional $977,503.60 per soldier? Well, the government, and the Ruling Class, knows that the American public is very gullible and can't seem to remember anything that happened more than a week ago.
You will probably recall that during the 1980's the ABC TV show 20/20 ran an expose concerning fraudulent military spending, such as the expenditure of $435 a piece for claw hammers, $640 each for toilet seats, and $7,600 each for coffee makers. You may have thought that this exhorbitant and fraudulent padding of expenses was curtailed after that scandal, but that isn't so. A recent study of Air Force billing practices concerning 200 items, selected by the Air Force, discovered that not a single one had been invoiced properly. That certainly points to how pervasive the problem actually is. It also brings up the question of why it seems apparent that no one is watching out for this widespread and obviously common abuse. Well, there are government accountants and fiscal oversight officers who are specifically assigned these duties, so are they simply stupid, or are they just looking the other way as this fraud is carried out? Let's consider the case of Mark Krenik, a Pentagon fiscal oversight officer, who created a phony company and then billed himself $504,000. He was caught in this scam, and had to repay the money, but was not sentenced to prison. Probation only, and a $495 fine. He told the federal judge that he did it because everyone else in his section was doing the same, but he was not required to name names. In the case of military accountants, it is of course not in their best interest to uncover corruption, as that would paint a target on their back. And no one in higher military command wants to have to deal with a scandal, so everyone turns a blind eye. And when outside auditors come in, they often find that it is nearly impossible to reconcile government expense accounts and determine what is really going on. A 1999 Department of Defense Inspector General's report, for example, stated that there was between two and three trillion dollars in "unsupported accounting
adjustments" on the books. That doesn't prove that all that money has been stolen or wasted - it just means nobody knows for sure where it is. A lot more of the same has been heard during the Iraq war, of course. It seems like everyone is in on it - the military, the contractors, the government, and the corporations. And let's not forget the Ruling Class, which enables all this sordid activity, and actually encourages it. Such graft at lower levels (supply depot, and shipping and receiving clerks) and all higher command levels is encouraged, because it keeps all the participants beholden to their higher-ups, which ultimately is the Ruling Class.
Now here's a better idea than sending 30,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan, a deployment that no one has any idea how we will pay for:
1. Instead of sending the 30,000 additional troops, let's immediately pull all our current 170,000 troops out of Afganistan and Iraq and bring them home.
2. Release any of those troops from further obligation to service who so wish to be excused, and give each of them a $10,000 severance pay and a $10,000 home buyer tax credit. If 50,000 chose to end their service, the severance pay and tax credit would cost a total of $1 billion, but that would be a $49 billion savings over the cost of keeping these troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for another year.
3. Give those returning troops who wish to stay in service a $20,000 bonus and a one month furlough. After that, reposition those troops to guard our borders. We can afford the $20,000 bonus, because having these troops at home in non-combative operations would result in massive savings.
4. Round up all illegal aliens currently residing in the US (about 15 to 18 million is a conservative estimate), and deport them. This is estimated to be at a cost of close to 100 billion, which is a hefty amount, but the cost of letting the illegals stay is around 75 billion per year. Rapid deportation, and border enforcement to prevent illegals from returning, would therefore save us about $50 billion within a two year period, and around $1 trillion over a 12 year period (perhaps far more, considering the constant influx of new illegals if nothing is done to halt and reverse this trend).
5. As the illegals leave, this will have a profound and beneficial effect on US healthcare costs, since illegals are currently eligible to receive free medical care at virtually all hospital emergency rooms nation wide, and do so in large numbers at staggering costs. Real Healthcare Reform accomplished without additional taxing and spending! In fact, the 75 billion in annual savings, by deporting illegals, could be used to make healthcare more affordable to legal citizens.
6. All jobs vacated by deported immigrants should be filled by legal citizens who are currently out of work. There are currently about 154 million persons in the US work force, and our unemployment rate is said to be 10.2%, so the roughly 16 million who currently have no gainful employment could immediately be put to work, replacing the deported illegals. Businesses which had hired the illegals would be required to hire legal replacements for at least a 1 year period, and pay at least legal minimum wage, or a higher fair wage for the work to be performed if a certain skill or knowledge level above minimum is required.
7. Those who accept full time employment in jobs that replace deported illegal workers, and who had currently been receiving unemployment benefits, should be allowed to keep receiving 60% of their current monthly benefit amount for the remainder of the time period they were eligible to receive payments. These people would, therefore, be better off financially even while working at lower paying jobs than they may be accustomed to working at. Those who refuse to work in jobs that replace deported illegals should lose eligibility for any further unemployment benefits. Unemployment resolved! Notice that the reduction in cost to government, in paying benefits. would immediately be reduced by 40%. I'm not sure what the average person receives in monthly unemployment benefits, but let's assume $1,500. The monthly savings, then, would equal $24 billion. That amount could be spent on creating new and better paying job opportunities. Some of those opportunities might well be an expansion of US Customs and Border Patrol personnel, so as to pick up slack when military personnel are eventually withdrawn from border positions. Remember, $24 billion a month could do a lot of good, and that amount would grow as more and more better paying jobs are created, thus further reducing the payment of unemployment benefits.
Just a few ideas from the man in Maine. Feel free to add some of your own.
Best regards,
Rick
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