Listen closely. Replay if necessary, but turn your volume up. If you catch it, congrats, you pass...er, bad choice of words.
I'm sure it was just the chair. But wouldn't it be great if it wasn't? Disclaimer: I'm no fan of Congressman Barney Frank. Especially since he thinks that the first place to gut funding is the Department of Defense, and that "no good purpose" has come from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yes, we're spending $140 Billion a year on these operations....but, currently, the debt is increasing by $3.8 Billion per day. In July of 2009, we paid $19 billion just in interest on our debt.
By my math (using old 2009 numbers), that's approximately $230 Billion a year just in interest. Almost double what we paid in military operations. While he may think we're not getting much out of these operations, I think he would privately admit it's a lot more than we're getting by paying interest.
Or not. He is a politician. But back to my original point, I do feel sorry for that chair.
Update:
And one more thing for the Honorable Congressman from Massachusetts (that's a hard state to spell...and I'm from Mississippi!).
Since 1967, our spending on the DoD has fallen from 45% of the budget to 20%. Social Security has risen from 14% to 21%. The payment on the interest (to our debt) has risen from 7% to 9%.Medicare and Medicaid has risen from 2% to 21% of the federal budget.
You tell me...which is the growing beast? Defense or entitlements? Which is the growing problem, defense or entitlements? Which, if left unchanged, will consume the federal budget...that which is shrinking or that which is growing?
It's a pretty simple answer, but a very complex solution.
I'm sure it was just the chair. But wouldn't it be great if it wasn't? Disclaimer: I'm no fan of Congressman Barney Frank. Especially since he thinks that the first place to gut funding is the Department of Defense, and that "no good purpose" has come from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yes, we're spending $140 Billion a year on these operations....but, currently, the debt is increasing by $3.8 Billion per day. In July of 2009, we paid $19 billion just in interest on our debt.
By my math (using old 2009 numbers), that's approximately $230 Billion a year just in interest. Almost double what we paid in military operations. While he may think we're not getting much out of these operations, I think he would privately admit it's a lot more than we're getting by paying interest.
Or not. He is a politician. But back to my original point, I do feel sorry for that chair.
Update:
And one more thing for the Honorable Congressman from Massachusetts (that's a hard state to spell...and I'm from Mississippi!).
Since 1967, our spending on the DoD has fallen from 45% of the budget to 20%. Social Security has risen from 14% to 21%. The payment on the interest (to our debt) has risen from 7% to 9%.Medicare and Medicaid has risen from 2% to 21% of the federal budget.
You tell me...which is the growing beast? Defense or entitlements? Which is the growing problem, defense or entitlements? Which, if left unchanged, will consume the federal budget...that which is shrinking or that which is growing?
It's a pretty simple answer, but a very complex solution.
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