Tiered minimum wage?

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by Daseal

I think we should look at some of the ways our country spends money, and think about how we could spend that better at home. The military is a double edged sword. Their budget is ridiculously huge, but they create a lot of jobs for some of the lower class we're talking about.

Absolutely. Did you know that we spent over $400 billion dollars on defense alone in 2004? Did you know that our defense budget is more than double the defense budget of the entire rest of the world COMBINED? That means that if we cut our defense budget in half we'd have over $200 billion more dollars each year -- and we'd still have a defense budget larger than the rest of the world combined. Our budget and priorities are seriously flawed. It's like America is full of scared pussies, so we have to spend astronomical amounts of money to "protect" us.

Also, do you remember when the Iraq war started Congress passed $75 billion dollars in a week? What a mockery of the system. We can push through that much money for war in a week, but we can't improve healthcare and education over the course of several years?

I'll tell you one thing: I'm not scared of ANY terrorists -- I'm scared of the government.

Budget of the United States Government, FY 2006

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by GhettoDogAllStars

Absolutely. Did you know that we spent over $400 billion dollars on defense alone in 2004? Did you know that our defense budget is more than double the defense budget of the entire rest of the world COMBINED? That means that if we cut our defense budget in half we'd have over $200 billion more dollars each year -- and we'd still have a defense budget larger than the rest of the world combined. Our budget and priorities are seriously flawed. It's like America is full of scared pussies, so we have to spend astronomical amounts of money to "protect" us.

Also, do you remember when the Iraq war started Congress passed $75 billion dollars in a week? What a mockery of the system. We can push through that much money for war in a week, but we can't improve healthcare and education over the course of several years?

I'll tell you one thing: I'm not scared of ANY terrorists -- I'm scared of the government.

Budget of the United States Government, FY 2006

I think that our defense spending is double that of what any other country spends and not double of all countries put together. I'll pass on the rest of what you stated so not to make this a political thread.

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I think that our defense spending is double that of what any other country spends and not double of all countries put together. I'll pass on the rest of what you stated so not to make this a political thread.

Military budget of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is wikipedia after all, and I didn't confirm their sources, but it looks like the US spends more than twice of all other spenders combined. Just check out the graph.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by GhettoDogAllStars

Military budget of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is wikipedia after all, and I didn't confirm their sources, but it looks like the US spends more than twice of all other spenders combined. Just check out the graph.

It looked to me as they only used around 10 other countries while running the numbers it kind of jumped around alot and was hard to tell. The one thing I did notice is it accounts for only about 4% of our GDP which is not bad. Also alot is spent on technology which protects our troops. It did say that we spend 47% of the total world spending defence. That is not twice what they spend its not even half.

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by firstdown

It looked to me as they only used around 10 other countries while running the numbers it kind of jumped around alot and was hard to tell. The one thing I did notice is it accounts for only about 4% of our GDP which is not bad. Also alot is spent on technology which protects our troops. It did say that we spend 47% of the total world spending defence. That is not twice what they spend its not even half.

From wikipedia:
"Yet some say that to compare government spending on the military to the total sum of all goods and services produced by the national economy in a year (the GDP) is to mislead, since the U.S. GDP has dramatically risen over time, and therefore the military budget can still go up, while simultaneously demanding a smaller percentage of the GDP."

The Defense Budget Is Bigger Than You Think: Newsroom: The Independent Institute:
"Although the public may appreciate that $401.3 billion is a great deal of money, few citizens realize that it is only part of the total bill for defense. Lodged elsewhere in the budget, other lines identify funding that serves defense purposes just as surely as—sometimes even more surely than—the money allocated to the Department of Defense (DoD)"

[hooskins]

Either way that money could easily be spent on directly protecting our country, which is more then open for another terrorist attack. Beefing up technology at all public transportation locations, starting at subway and rail stations because at this point in time there is absolutely no security whatsoever at many major cities like DC and NYC. Airport security is pathetic and lagging behind. How about more money on emergency response teams and connecting local emergency systems with national.

The problem is that these areas receive near minimum funding while overseas adventures for oil and dominance in the Mid-East really do not secure our nation anymore.

[hooskins]

I am NOT talking about welfare I am talking about spending on the real issue, homeland security. That is a typical counter many Republicans bring up, but that doesn't hold when you are comparing the defense budget versus the homeland security budget(which was cut).

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by hooskins

I am NOT talking about welfare I am talking about spending on the real issue, homeland security. That is a typical counter many Republicans bring up, but that doesn't hold when you are comparing the defense budget versus the homeland security budget(which was cut).

Homeland security budget was not cut.

[Beemnseven]

Let's say everybody in the United States all chipped in and gave each poverty-stricken, less fortunate person a one-time payout of $50,000 -- what do you think would happen?

I've always been skeptical of the "working poor" or the "less fortunate". Everybody gets 12 years of free education in this country. After that, there are scholarships, grants, and all sorts of college loan financing options available for higher education.

By and large I think most people who claim they are poor are probably in that state because of one person: Themselves. Honestly, if each of us were to examine the reasons why we haven't made it to where we truly want to be, doesn't the finger ultimately get pointed right back at us? Sure, there are certainly exceptions. And no, I'm not talking about the mentally or physically disabled. I believe the bottom line is, if you are of sound mind and able body, there is NO reason you cannot achieve great success in this country.