January 9, 2023

Republican Jim Jordan says Cutting Defense Spending should be on the table

I've been looking at our national budget and the deficit in spending vs revenue each year. Today I read that R Jim Jordan actually said defense spending cuts should also be on the table (shocking for a R).

https://news.yahoo.com/jordan-says-cuts-military-spending-164045626.html

I've been reading a lot about the B21-Raider nuclear bomber program (the successor to the B2 Stealth Spirit) and the new Columbia missle submarine (the successor to the Ohio class). The B21 Raider program is expected to cost $203b over the 30 years to develop, purchase and operate a fleet of 100 B21s. Originally there were supposed to be a 100 B2 Stealth Spirit bombers but the cost for each ended up being over $2b and they bought only 21 of them. I imagine the B21 is going to have the same problem.

The total cost of the Columbia submarine program is expected to be around $340b. The price of each submarine is estimated to be around $4.2b with the first boat costing over $6b. They are only planning to build 12 of them with 2 currently on order. They have an expected service life of 42 years each. The Columbia boats have 16 missile tubes (vs 24 with the Ohio boats) and will carry the Trident II missile. Each missile can be loaded with up to 14 warheads. The current New Start Treaty means each currently caries 4 warheads. With 12 boats in service that is over 2000 nuclear warheads.

The US operates on a "Nuclear Triad" model. Submarines, land based ICBMs and Bombers. Currently submarines carry 70+% of our nuclear arsenal (there are 14 Ohio submarines). Having been in Navy and having attended Submarine School in the 80s in New London I tend to favor submarines as a "better choice".

So I'm wondering why we're building a new bomber? That $203b cost is only what is public. There are unspecified "black" costs to the development that have been kept secret. Some things I've read lead me to believe its equal to or even higher than the stated $203b cost. If we already have a couple thousand missles in the ground and a couple thousand more warheads on submarines why do we need a bomber? It seems like a waste of money to me.

MADD (mutually assured destruction) has been around since the 50s. It's basically kept the peace thru the cold war. How many missles and warheads do we need? The US is terrified about North Korea and they're estimated to have 30 bombs. I mean how much is enough? Reagan basically bankrupted the Soviet Union by dumping trillions into defense and daring them to try and keep up. I know now the big threat is China but they've got about 5% of the warheads we have (350 vs 5550). Honestly 350 is enough to destroy us and they're actively increasing their arsenal. Another arms race.

While I don't agree with most R policies I'm happy to see someone on thier side actually address the topic of cutting our crazy defense spending.

January 4, 2023

Information is Power

I think the Biden administration should take action now to demonstrate to the American public what the Republican plot to crash the economy by holding the debt ceiling hostage for “entitlement cuts” would entail.

They used to send out a mailer each year with your Social Security statement. They should calculate how much the budget would have to be reduced to balance the budget. Then take that figure and calculate what percentage of it would apply to Social Security (based on each categories share of the budget). Then calculate each beneficiaries share of the cut and mail out a “Republican Adjusted Social Security Payment” statement to everyone.

I’m sure the elderly (who seem to vote Red a lot) and those lower educated lower paid “under educated” supporters of Trump and Co would be happy to see the results of their efforts.

For example, Social Security is about 19% of the budget. The government spent around $6.25 trillion in FY2022. They took in about $4.9 trillion and ran a deficit if around $1.4t. The 19% Social Security share would be around $265 billion. Figure out a percentage each recipient would be cut and send them a statement.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/

They could also include information about other cuts like health, income security, Medicare, defense, veterans, etc. Give the percentages and dollar amounts each would be cut.

Then send out the plans each have. The Sanders plan to save Social Security for 75 years and the Republican plan to CUT benefits because they absolutely oppose ANY tax increase for ANYTHING.

Make the Republicans OWN this. Let people know WHO is at fault.