Analyst William Hartung spells out 6 programs that can be quickly and safely slashed from the Pentagon's budget, saving us $35 B a year without jeopardizing a hair on anyone's head.
Hartung notes that saving this much would almost equal the cost of the Afghanistan war. As a lifelong smart aleck, I'd point out that cutting these 6 programs as Hartung suggests, while also getting out of the dead-end quagmire of Afghanistan would be even smarter! We could save $70B a year, build a lot of schools, provide people health care, weatherize millions of homes. Or we could double our savings!
I'm sure all the Blue Dog budget-cutters will agree with Hartung, since their #1 priority is supposedly the budget deficit, right? Surely they'd like to save $35 B a year, right?
And even better, President Obama could avoid LBJ's fate, where an unwinnable, unpopular war slowly but surely sinks a popular, transformative domestic policy agenda. I know President Obama knows LBJ's history/tragedy--so when do we start to act on that knowledge?
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4018163&c=AIR&s=TOP
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