2/15/12

Koch Brothers Hate the Military and Want to Cut Defense Spending

According to the right wing argument that being fiscally responsible with defense spending is anti-military or anti-defense, the Koch Brothers fit the description. Not exactly a organization I'd cite, but if a right winger won't listen to me, maybe they'll listen to the guys running their movement. How much do conservative, liberal/progressive, and libertarian organizations want to cut the defense budget? Lets see:


Now in this cute graph (above), the Heritage Foundation is making the case that we don't spend all that much on defense by comparing it to domestic and entitlements spending. Look at that small seemingly insignificant red dotted line. It doesn't look like defense spending has increased all that much and therefore their is no spending problem in defense.

Here are the less abridged versions of our defense spending from the libertarian Cato Institute and the progressive Center for American Progress.





Even the conservative Koch Industries funded Americans for Prosperity has said defense cuts should be on the table. In their October 2011 Policy Paper, one of their suggested spending cuts includes $611 billion in defense cuts over ten years.

From the AFP Policy Paper
Because AFP focuses on economic policy, we strive to avoid discussion of specific
equipment, facilities, and personnel decisions in the Department of Defense (DOD).
However, considering DOD funding makes up more than half of all discretionary
spending
, any credible attempt to reduce deficits must carefully consider this part of the
budget. [AFP October 2011 Policy Paper]
What about President Obama's budget? Here's how Obama ranks:
  1. Cato Institute ($1.2 trillion over 10 years)
  2. Americans for Prosperity  ($611 billion over 10 years)
  3. Center for American Progress ($559.6 billion over 10 years)
  4. President Obama's Budget  ($487 billion over 10 years)
 Kind of factually inconvenient for the right wing narrative isn't it?

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