Obama Breaks Campaign Promise: Cuts Defense Budget

The Whistler • February 2, 2009

As docdave noted over in the Reader Blogs:

The Obama administration has asked the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to cut the Pentagon’s budget request for the fiscal year 2010 by more than 10 percent — about $55 billion — a senior U.S. defense official tells FOX News.
Last year’s defense budget was $512 billion. Service chiefs and planners will be spending the weekend “burning the midnight oil” looking at ways to cut the budget — looking especially at weapons programs, the defense official said.

$512 billion? That’s only half a stimulus program! And Obama wants to cut defense ten percent while spending ten times that on every frivolous piece of pork he can find? Sheesh! But, what about his campaign promise?

Okay, you say, but at least Obama is proposing all this Peace Corps-like activity as a substitute for military power. Surely he intends to cut or at least cap a defense budget soaring over $500 billion a year. Surely he understands there is no military answer to terrorism.
Actually, Obama wants to increase defense spending. He wants to add 65,000 troops to the Army and recruit 27,000 more Marines. Why? To fight terrorism.
He wants the American military to “stay on the offense, from Djibouti to Kandahar,” and he believes that “the ability to put boots on the ground will be critical in eliminating the shadowy terrorist networks we now face.” He wants to ensure that we continue to have “the strongest, best-equipped military in the world.”

-Robert Kagen on a speech by Obama April 2007
To recap, in the one indisputable area where government spending is essential, the defense of our nation, Obama is looking to pinch pennies and cut programs and weapon systems so that he might have more money to spend on contraception? Petty cash for legislators?? Turning SUVs into scrap???
Hang on to your hats, folks! It ain’t even groundhog day yet and the Amateur Hour on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has just begun! People have said that his will be an historic presidency. Unfortunately, history records a lot of things!

Hat tip John Lott
Cross Posted at Proof Positive

Tags: Uncategorized

A Citizen

Barack Obama – Yes I Can Make Us Defenseless–Just Like Dec 7, 1941
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRGru2CPC4E
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

And a 49% cut in all non defense spending would cut nearly half the waste in those programs.
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

Why does one grandmother need $55,000,000 worth of condoms?

Oh, San Francisco, never mind.
Hannitized

Nobody said anything about cutting the budget across the board. They said they would focus especially in weapons development programs.

This is something Obama promised to do from the beginning.

Now, I work with large companies, who have several different departments. Not only do they have several different departments in IT, but they have….several different departments.

You can have PC and LANS division, Database and Web Hosting and Networking, ect. ect.. All of which have separate budgets.

In a budget crunch, it is usually the marketing department that gets its budget crunched. That does not mean that you cut the IT budget.

The budgets that are use to hire people do not come out of IT, Marketing or any other “budget”.

This is getting silly now.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Please. First, I help those companies figure out their budgets.

Now you’re an accountant? I thought your claim to fame was in IT? If by “presenting them with a bill for your services” you are “helping” them with their budgets, it is certainly a novel use of the language!

Or are you just lying to hear your lips flap?
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Did Obama call for a ten per cent cutback in the “petty cash” budget of Congress? Those turkeys are getting an extra $93,000 each to squander on who knows what. Multiply that by four hundred and some and it starts to add up to real money!
If the CinC wants to be “fiscally responsible” Capitol Hill is a target rich environment for him to do so, more than national defense!
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Now, I work with large companies, who have several different departments

Yes! McDonalds has the retail outlet where you work and also a corporate office!
“I work with large companies” is scarcely a ringing endorsement of your understanding of budgets, multimillion dollar or otherwise!

You didn’t mention any experience with personnel matters, though, other than being a wage slave yourself. Here’s a simple fact: It costs more every year simply to maintain the levels of personnel you already have, not less. Raises for time in grade and promotions add to your personnel costs and continue to grow over time, not shrink. Add to this the concomitant costs of housing, training, and logistical support. The more personnel, the higher the costs.

What kind of incentives or signing bonuses are you going to be able to provide if you are making hard choices as to what items in your budget you are going to have to do without?

Then you also need to factor in the uncertainty factor: If your boss does not wholeheartedly support your “division” of the “company”, is this cut only the first of many? What kind of cut will the CinC ask in 2010? 2011? 2012? A prudent manager does not enlist personnel that he will not be able to sustain long term. How would you like it if you were hired by a company that made promises to you and then was to lay you off or go back on those promises a year or two or even four years later?

Unlike business, the military has to balance its resources to accomplish the mission of keeping this country secure, regardless of the “bottom line”.

I don’t see why the commander-in-chief is so niggardly with his support of his Constitutionally mandate responsibility of national defense and so generous with all the pork laden and sometimes extraneous social programs.

Yes, it is theoretically possible to increase personnel levels while cutting back on R&D. In the real world, where real men make real choices, your fantasy football view of the military is the nonsensical one.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

I am not helping them with their budget?

It does not show an expertise in overall budget creation, particularly when it comes to personnel issues. I spent several years doing outside sales and “helping” people find room in their budgets for my products.
It ain’t the same thing as being responsible for the whole enchilada!

But if an overinflated view of what you do gets you through the night…you’re helping!
http://suitepotato.blogspot.com/ sayanything-4808

Rugby Reader:

Our over-bloated defense budget needs cutting. Don’t count on Obama to do it. He wants to grow the military. He wants to continue the Afghanistan occupation.

1. Our defense budget isn’t bloated and doesn’t need cutting.

2. He clearly doesn’t want to grow the military when he orders a 10% budget cut unless he insanely thinks soldiers are slaves and work for free and bullets cost nothing.

3. No one occupies Afghanistan. One visits Afghanistan. Our success there is due to having an understanding of this the Soviets and every other army which came through there has failed to grasp. Visit, shoot, leave, come back, shoot, leave. Keep minimal numbers, keep them moving, be more annoying than the locals. Stay and the terrain alone will demoralize never mind the people being more bloody minded than Brits.
http://norseberserker.blogspot.com/ Rugby Reader

Our over-bloated defense budget needs cutting. Don't count on Obama to do it. He wants to grow the military. He wants to continue the Afghanistan occupation.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

So our defense budget that bush grossly inflated by 62% since 2001 and does not include parts of his was because it has been funded though supplementals, is going to be cut by 10% and that money will be use to help dig us out of the bush recession, sound OK to me.

What a panty twister for the nutters!
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

Trillions for defense, not one damn cent for stimulation.
Neiman

There is always room to get rid of excess spending, even in the military, such money being used elsewhere more wisely for the military budget; But, like Clinton, Obama hates the military, he will gut it and our intelligence services as he speedds us on tghe way to a policy of appeasement of and unilateral surrender to our enemies.
sc

Having, a long time ago, been involved in seeing how the military spends money, a 10% cut would be about 1/2 of the waste. Good for Obama.
Brent

Don't worry… spending won't be reduced anywhere. At least not until the economy is run so hard into the ground that no one will lend the feds anymore money.
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

Brent,

That won't stop this crow, they'll just print more.
crshedd

…in the one indisputable area where government spending is essential, the defense of our nation…

because we all know that the military spends money so wisely, there is not an ounce of fat (or pork) in the military budget.

although, i did notice that you did not mention that obama told the military to cut their budget but not to include iraq or afganistan costs. but then you couldn't accuse him of hating our country as much.
bill-tb

Jive talk, you mean you didn't know, the whole campaign was all jive talk, a shuck and jive act. Most people would call it just outright lying, but you have to be polite with the Jimmy Carter replacement. After all, he is going for the crown, the dumbest of the dumb, and it's going to be hard to top Carter.
Hannitized

I don't see how indicating you are going to put troops in the ground is related to cutting defense budget on weapons programs?

Obama had promised to cut spending on weapons development. He received wide criticism from you for it.

You are either lying, or showing your terrible reading comprehension abilities again.
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

eunuchized the beardless catamite of the "freudian projections" and severe reluctance bordering on inability to admit error demonstrates once again that he knows nothing of the armed forces and the out year consequences of budget cuts.
Mickey

$55 billion will buy more condoms for Pelosi's population control plan.

Get used to it. This is Clintonian budgeting.

Replace him in 2012.
Kurt

Money could be saved by pulling out most of the military in Germany, (let them defend their own country if they think it deserves defending…why spend US dollars?) Japan, they have their own defensc force. Just a thought.
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

Rugby moron said: Our over-bloated defense budget needs cutting. Don't count on Obama to do it. He wants to grow the military. He wants to continue the Afghanistan occupation.

Well gee I am sold now.
SHADY

I heard through the grape vine that obama-bin-laden was going to invite the leaders from the countries that are our enemies to the white house for a metting.

He wants to get the signing of the surrenders to each country out of the way, then he can cut the defense buget to almost nothing!!
It may be just a rumor though!!
http://norseberserker.blogspot.com/ Rugby Reader

We have no clue what the hell we are doing in Afghanistan, just like we have no clue what the hell we are doing in Iraq. Both are total wastes of US blood and treasure, not to mention the unnecessary loss of civilian lives in both countries as a result of our military occupations.
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

Rugby Reader projects:

We have no clue what the hell we are doing in Afghanistan, just like we have no clue what the hell we are doing in Iraq.

Which should substitute the first person singular vice the first person plural. Rugby Reader, since you have no clue, why don't you go share it with others who have no clue and leave those of us who do have a clue to work things out.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Our over-bloated defense budget needs cutting. Don't count on Obama to do it. He wants to grow the military.

He wants to grow the military? Ruh-roh! How is a ten per cent across the board budget cut the way to do that?
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

BTW, anyone who thinks we will be increasing the size of our forces while simultaneously slashing ten percent out of the military budget, please line up over here to have your lobotomy scars checked for infection!
docdave

We have no clue what the hell we are doing in Afghanistan, just like we have no clue what the hell we are doing in Iraq.

'WE' don't have a clue? It's obvious that YOU don't have a clue on almost everything which certainly doesn't give you the right to speak for the rest of us who do have a clue.
Hannitized

Obviously people on this site have no idea how budgets work.

You CAN reduce the budget for spending on weapons development, while increasing your budget to spend in other areas, or not.

This will all be obvious in the months ahead.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

You CAN reduce the budget for spending on weapons development, while increasing your budget to spend in other areas, or not.

But in the real world, it is highly unlikely.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

Obviously people on this site have no idea how budgets work.

Obviously Hannitized is talking through his ass again! I managed a multimillion dollar budget for years. If my boss had told me to cut ten percent across the board, I would not have been hiring new personnel, regardless of whatever other cuts I might have made!
erick1740

Hannitizooey, you are so full of crap (by the way it is etc) constitutionally defense is governments top priority…thats all..no social programs
http://magyartruth.blogspot.com/ Chief RZ

Clinton tried this in the mid 1980s and almost ruined our military, but thanks to many good patriotic men, we survived.
http://www.sayanythingblog.com/ electnixon

You CAN reduce the budget for spending on weapons development, while increasing your budget to spend in other areas, or not.

So we should halt development of MRAPs, UAVs, Warlock G/R, and other life saving technologies since they don't add to the number of boots on the ground?

Weapons development is typically the most efficient way to spend funding as it represents a one-time capital cost and often reduces long-term O&M costs.

Speaking on spending efficiently, was the last round of BRAC not carried out under Republican leadership?
http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

electnixon,

There you go talking sense to the senseless…
Hannitized

Weapons development is typically the most efficient way to spend funding as it represents a one-time capital cost and often reduces long-term O&M costs.

That is a good argument, but the discussion is not about what is most effective. The argument is that you can not cut weapons development budget and still increase troop levels.

It is a nonsensical argument.
Hannitized

As it turns out President Bush Department of Defense budget in 2008 was less than 500 billion.

But, you know…..let's whine and complain because Obama is trying to be fiscally conservative.

The President's 2008 Budget:
Provides $481.4 billion for the Department of Defense's base budget–a 62-percent increase over 2001–to ensure a high level of military readiness as the Department develops capabilities to meet future threats, defends the homeland, and supports the all-volunteer force and their families;

Supports operations in the Global War on Terror by providing an additional $93.4 billion in supplemental funds for 2007 and $141.7 billion for 2008, including funds to accelerate efforts to train and equip Iraqi and Afghan Security Forces;

Continues ground force modernization and the expansion of Special Operations Forces;
Enhances missile defense capabilities by adding additional interceptor missiles and sites to expand coverage against new threats;

Provides a 3.0-percent increase in basic military and civilian pay; and
Aligns military health care premiums and copayments for retirees under 65 years of age with general health insurance plans.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/defen…
Hannitized

"I work with large companies" is scarcely a ringing endorsement of your understanding of budgets, multimillion dollar or otherwise!

You didn't mention any experience with personnel matters, though, other than being a wage slave yourself.

Please. First, I help those companies figure out their budgets. If they have objectives and plans for their infrastructure that year, or the next, who do you think they call to understand what they will need, and how much it will cost? They go to their partners and vendors.

So I work with companies who cut overall budget spending, but may increase it in other departments, based on one years figures compared to another.

Yes, it is theoretically possible to increase personnel levels while cutting back on R&D

Thank you. Now how are you going to explain Obama increasing troop levels in Afghanistan while he cuts defense spending on weapons programs?

By the way, defense spending on weapons programs can come in the form of University research….that benefits greatly from government funding.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

No, wait! You were in sales pining for a larger territory! Talking people into buying your stuff isn't "helping them with their budget", either!
Hannitized

Proof,

Yes, working in IT requires that you assist your customers forming their budget costs.

If their plan is to focus monies on COOP/DR, how do you think they get their figures? Maybe their goal is to go green or do more with less?

Do you think they just Google the cost of a clustered SAN (running a multitude of software features and licenses) that they can boot there blade servers from, running VMWare and then replicate the data to another remote site?

Or, do they need to consider things like VMWare's Site Recovery Manager and just assume that they can do it themselves never having any experience in integrating multiple technologies?

If what you need to accomplish is going to cost you $300,000.00, how do you ask for the money if you have no idea of costs both hardware/software and integration?
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

I guess, according to Hannitized, I "help" the waiters in my local restaurant "with their budgets" every time I calculate the tip on my lunch! Heh.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

working in IT requires that you assist your customers forming their budget costs.

Figuring an ROI is NOT the same thing as planning an entire budget. Nor does it begin to touch on long and short term costs of personnel.
Yes, they may have to "budget" for a particular purchase, but it's hardly the same thing. You flatter yourself if you think it is!

But, keep overinflating your rÃ©sumÃ©! Someday, maybe even you will believe it!
Hannitized

Talking people into buying your stuff isn't "helping them with their budget", either!

Talking people into "buying your stuff" is the first phase of developing a partnership. The second phase is the important part, after you have won their business and actually help them with areas they are not familiar or do not have the expertise. The third phase is integrating and supporting it.

But, do you think large companies such as Telecoms can just make up figures for maintenance renewals? New hardware costs? New investment in infrastructure?

If you are a large service provider and you roll out a new product offering for your customers, but you have no infrastructure. How do you forecast that expenditure? Do you trust the ISV's recommendation for hardware and Google search the costs?

Or, do you contact your parter and ask them to review the hardware requirements and make any modifications to the configuration? Maybe they need high resource utilization in the future, but not immediately? Maybe the hardware architecture provided by the ISV recommends a hardware config that would put your Oracle licensing at 3,000,000.00 (when it should be at 200,000.00) because they have no understanding of how you license Solaris quad-core processors (.75 multiplier) and are not familiar with alternative ways to expand the footprint with minimal investment? Hardware partitions wont work? How about soft partitions? What licensing tricks can you use to reduce your costs? What alternative ways to build in HA/DR in your architecture? Do you buy Veritas Cluster Server software on SUN or do you build HP architecture and use something cheaper?

Cmon Proof.
Hannitized

Figuring an ROI is NOT the same thing as planning an entire budget. Nor does it begin to touch on long and short term costs of personnel.

Nobody said anything about an ROI, or that it relates to budget planning.

Yes, they may have to "budget" for a particular purchase, but it's hardly the same thing.

So when all of the CIO's, Directors of IT meet with me, and tell me that they are tasked with 6 projects this year and the top 3 are related to our area of expertise and ask me to help them figure out what they need and help them create a number for their budget request, I am not helping them with their budget?

The solution we create, the number we provide is the number they submit to the board is meaningless?

Ok.
Hannitized

It does not show an expertise in overall budget creation, particularly when it comes to personnel issues.

I never claimed to be an expert in overall budget creation. I merely spoke of my first hand experience helping customers create their budgets, in separate departments within a large organization.

I spent several years doing outside sales and "helping" people find room in their budgets for my products.

It ain't the same thing as being responsible for the whole enchilada!

No, but that has nothing to do with the argument that you can have separate departments responsible for their own budgets, within a larger organization.

My argument supports the one mentioned above and your argument doesn't deal with it at all.

But if an overinflated view of what you do gets you through the night…you're helping!

Your focus is meant to trivialize my personal experience, not to address the argument.

After all of this, I still saw no argument from you that would suggest you can not have different departments who are responsible for different pieces of an overall budget.

Now, as Obama increases the overall budget, watch him chop certain areas of it, such as certain weapons programs.

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