Trump budget expected to seek historic cuts to federal workforce

[Spike]

Squeal!

Squeal!

Hysteria!

Squeal!

Squeal!


President Trump’s budget proposal this week would shake the federal government to its core if enacted, culling back numerous programs and expediting a historic contraction of the federal workforce.

This would be the first time the government has executed cuts of this magnitude — and all at once — since the drawdown following World War II, economists and budget analysts said.

Aides say that the president sees a new Washington emerging from the budget process, one that prioritizes the military and homeland security while slashing many other areas, including housing, foreign assistance, environmental programs, public broadcasting and research.

Simply put, government would be smaller and less involved in regulating life in America, with private companies and states playing a much bigger role.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...d727b644a0b_story.html?utm_term=.366d267bc968

 

[Roy92040]

Making the Government smaller is one of the reasons he got elected. And I like the idea making the military healthy again. It seems that in the past the military has taken too low of a priority. Get r done.


Sent from my iPad using Steeler Nation mobile app

 

[deljzc]

The military spending thing is really important that democrats just don't understand (and aren't willing to learn about).

While our defense spending has stayed flat/naturally increased over Obama's administration, over the last 15 years we have spent a vast amount of our Military budget on expendable items. Transportation costs, barracks, food, fuel, ammunition, day-to-day gear.

The investment part of our defense budget - buying and upgrading big equipment, research and development, high-tech gadgetry, computer infrastructure, ships, planes, tanks - has just decreased like crazy over the last 10 years.

And that's a real problem long term. The cost of fighting wars has stagnated the cost of PREPARING for wars.

Our country will never be able to fight a war of attrition with LIVES and succeed. Hell, I'm not even sure we can win a war of production anymore (especially against China). We have to maintain our technological and logistical advantages in order to fight if necessary.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I would like to see massive unemployment in Northern Virginia. Tens of thousands of people put out of work and losing their houses, cars, and pensions.
Kind of like they did to us the last 8 years. Feel my pain.

 

[Sarge]

Military spending isn't going to fix what is wrong with our military. As someone who works with our military on a daily basis, I can assure you of that.

 

[Stewey]

Military spending isn't going to fix what is wrong with our military. As someone who works with our military on a daily basis, I can assure you of that.

Let us in on it. What exactly is wrong with our military?

 

[IndySteel]

Military spending isn't going to fix what is wrong with our military. .

Start asking and telling?

 

[hamster]

Military spending isn't going to fix what is wrong with our military. As someone who works with our military on a daily basis, I can assure you of that.

Why don't yo tell us what the media and our elected officials aren't?

 

[DBS1970]

Military spending isn't going to fix what is wrong with our military. As someone who works with our military on a daily basis, I can assure you of that.

Only a stand down and time spent retraining and reconstituting will do that.

Stewey, Indy, Hamster,

The problem is that we have spent all our time fighting far flung wars against an enemy that has no strategic assets or at least not ones we are allowed to attack. As a result we have been had aircrews flying missions to drop bombs and putting lots of wear on their aircraft and getting lots of flight hours but not training to fight other airforces. Remember much of our CAS is done by F15/F16 fighters and while they are multirole planes their primary mission is still air superiority. On the naval front its much the same way our ships are experiencing lots of wear and tear but they are not training to fight other navies. Our naval helicopter crews are woefully under trained in their primary mission, Anti Submarine Warefare, because they are doing SAR and ferrying troops and supplies. Same thing with the Army and Marines, the equipment is seeing lots of wear and tear but the men are not training due to lack of time and funds. Plus like the end of every conflict we start shedding trained and experienced troops to cut budgets.

 

[hamster]

Only a stand down and time spent retraining and reconstituting will do that.

Stewey, Indy, Hamster,

The problem is that we have spent all our time fighting far flung wars against an enemy that has no strategic assets or at least not ones we are allowed to attack. As a result we have been had aircrews flying missions to drop bombs and putting lots of wear on their aircraft and getting lots of flight hours but not training to fight other airforces. Remember much of our CAS is done by F15/F16 fighters and while they are multirole planes their primary mission is still air superiority. On the naval front its much the same way our ships are experiencing lots of wear and tear but they are not training to fight other navies. Our naval helicopter crews are woefully under trained in their primary mission, Anti Submarine Warefare, because they are doing SAR and ferrying troops and supplies. Same thing with the Army and Marines, the equipment is seeing lots of wear and tear but the men are not training due to lack of time and funds. Plus like the end of every conflict we start shedding trained and experienced troops to cut budgets.

Sounds very much like the Soviet Army after Afghanistan. Sad, and pathetic.

Thank you President Obama. But at least, you can get an abortion if you want one.

 

[Stewey]

Only a stand down and time spent retraining and reconstituting will do that.

Stewey, Indy, Hamster,

The problem is that we have spent all our time fighting far flung wars against an enemy that has no strategic assets or at least not ones we are allowed to attack. As a result we have been had aircrews flying missions to drop bombs and putting lots of wear on their aircraft and getting lots of flight hours but not training to fight other airforces. Remember much of our CAS is done by F15/F16 fighters and while they are multirole planes their primary mission is still air superiority. On the naval front its much the same way our ships are experiencing lots of wear and tear but they are not training to fight other navies. Our naval helicopter crews are woefully under trained in their primary mission, Anti Submarine Warefare, because they are doing SAR and ferrying troops and supplies. Same thing with the Army and Marines, the equipment is seeing lots of wear and tear but the men are not training due to lack of time and funds. Plus like the end of every conflict we start shedding trained and experienced troops to cut budgets.

Yep, fighting an unconventional war, but I would assume that training and an increase in manpower would be a part of military spending. My daughter is an officer in the Army and she has felt the cuts in a lot of different areas.. The Army is in the process of cutting 40,000 soldiers by 2018. Officers being let go.
Maybe this comes to a screeching halt under increased funding

 

[Sarge]

Only a stand down and time spent retraining and reconstituting will do that.

Stewey, Indy, Hamster,

The problem is that we have spent all our time fighting far flung wars against an enemy that has no strategic assets or at least not ones we are allowed to attack. As a result we have been had aircrews flying missions to drop bombs and putting lots of wear on their aircraft and getting lots of flight hours but not training to fight other airforces. Remember much of our CAS is done by F15/F16 fighters and while they are multirole planes their primary mission is still air superiority. On the naval front its much the same way our ships are experiencing lots of wear and tear but they are not training to fight other navies. Our naval helicopter crews are woefully under trained in their primary mission, Anti Submarine Warefare, because they are doing SAR and ferrying troops and supplies. Same thing with the Army and Marines, the equipment is seeing lots of wear and tear but the men are not training due to lack of time and funds. Plus like the end of every conflict we start shedding trained and experienced troops to cut budgets.

Sorry, I never got back on after my original post.

This is the jist of it right here. Add to it that Soldiers are woefully under-trained, they do not have equipment or the equipment they have is unserviceable, leadership has all but disappeared and it seems like no one really gives a ****.

For example, I will go into a motor pool and spend say 3 hours training 4 NCO's on a task that is mission critical. A month later, I will get a call from that same unit needing the same training because "no one knows how to do that task" even though I just trained the unit. What is worse, they will send mostly the same guys that you just trained. All I can say is WTF?

Soldiers are worn out. Too many deployments in a short period. Sure it has slowed down a lot, but the effect is still there. Then you get new guys coming in, and they see a unit full of Soldiers that just don't give a ****. Pretty quick, the new guys just don't give a ****. Then, no one gets trained, no one knows what right looks like, equipment is all ****** up, Soldiers are all ****** up, and our Army is a mess.

In my day, NCO's were on the hangar floor, motor pool bays, wherever, showing Soldiers how to do the job right. Now, you are lucky to find an NCO, and the ones you do find are more clueless than their Soldiers. I had a SFC ask me to give a M4 PMI to his Soldiers. A ******* M4 PMI. I was teaching that **** as a E4, now we have E7's senior NCO's, that do not know how to give a ******* PMI. It is sad.

The Army that won Desert Storm is gone. Billy Clinton's draw down purged the Army of so many great young officers and our Army still hasn't recovered. Add to all the stupid cuts the Obama tards made and I am not sure we can win a war. They succeeded in dismantling the finest fighting force the world has ever seen. What is worse, you look at the generations that are coming and will be coming into military age. They have no desire to serve. Most have been raised to hate the profession of arms. So what do we do in 10 years? 20 years? Soon we won't have a military capable defense, much less power projection. Money alone ain't gonna fix that.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

Hell, I'm not even sure we can win a war of production anymore (especially against China). We have to maintain our technological and logistical advantages in order to fight if necessary.

Take this for what it's worth.

I worked for a company and we hired a technical guy straight out of the Marines. Great guy, super smart, lower-level officer. He told me in the late 90s that our defense departments often run simulations. In every simulation they'd run of the US v China, we'd lose. No derivation provided a win. We simply run out of bullets before they run out of people. 1.325Billion people v 320Million people is a distinct advantage.

 

[IndySteel]

Take this for what it's worth.

I worked for a company and we hired a technical guy straight out of the Marines. Great guy, super smart, lower-level officer. He told me in the late 90s that our defense departments often run simulations. In every simulation they'd run of the US v China, we'd lose. No derivation provided a win. We simply run out of bullets before they run out of people. 1.325Billion people v 320Million people is a distinct advantage.

Yeah, but nukes are the great equalizer. Drop a few in and around Beijing and it's game over.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

Yeah, but nukes are the great equalizer. Drop a few in and around Beijing and it's game over.

Yeah, save for the fact that China has 260 nuclear warheads of their own.

 

[Roy92040]

I noticed one thing from working for the navy, they love their training. The Navy spends a lot of money on training sailors to maintain their equipment but when the need arises they contract some civilian to do the work. I can remember times that there was no liberty until the equipment was fixed. But now they hire civilians to accomplish the repairs and the sailors are on the beach by 1300.

 

[ark steel]

The Army that won Desert Storm is gone. Billy Clinton's draw down purged the Army of so many great young officers and our Army still hasn't recovered. Add to all the stupid cuts the Obama tards made and I am not sure we can win a war. They succeeded in dismantling the finest fighting force the world has ever seen. What is worse, you look at the generations that are coming and will be coming into military age. They have no desire to serve. Most have been raised to hate the profession of arms. So what do we do in 10 years? 20 years? Soon we won't have a military capable defense, much less power projection. Money alone ain't gonna fix that.

I felt some of the effects of the "peace dividend". I was in the reserves rather than FT. We had a few awesome training facilities that we could no longer use. One was shut down because it was designed as a shipboard bunk area for damage control training. It was set up for flooding, fake electrical issues, etc. We had to stop using it because "someone may get injured". We had access to base forklifts and several members of our units were actual forklift trainers in civilian life. We had to quit using those because someone might get hurt. We had a nice modular building we used to simulate shipboard communications as part of damage control training. It wasn't an authorized building. Rather than get it authorized, it was torn down.

For each billet in the unit, we had a set number of items for that person to be fully trained. A lot had to do with Damage control which we could no longer do. Others required going to other bases or to a ship for training. Outside of our required 2 weeks, those requests were denied. Our readiness was barely at 50% for which we were bitched at. We, of course, complained and demonstrated why. By the time I got out, those "requirements" had changed. With no more training we were at 90%+ "readiness".

Several officers were taking part in the monthly 2 day drill sessions, without pay, just so they could get those last couple of years of retirement. Without pay seemed to hinder their eagerness to take part...

 

[Superman]

to add to Sarge's post, military spending will likely go "back" to the days of the $9,000 gold toilet seats if we focus too much on the equipment and not on the use.

 

[Stewey]

Sorry, I never got back on after my original post.

This is the jist of it right here. Add to it that Soldiers are woefully under-trained, they do not have equipment or the equipment they have is unserviceable, leadership has all but disappeared and it seems like no one really gives a ****.

For example, I will go into a motor pool and spend say 3 hours training 4 NCO's on a task that is mission critical. A month later, I will get a call from that same unit needing the same training because "no one knows how to do that task" even though I just trained the unit. What is worse, they will send mostly the same guys that you just trained. All I can say is WTF?

Soldiers are worn out. Too many deployments in a short period. Sure it has slowed down a lot, but the effect is still there. Then you get new guys coming in, and they see a unit full of Soldiers that just don't give a ****. Pretty quick, the new guys just don't give a ****. Then, no one gets trained, no one knows what right looks like, equipment is all ****** up, Soldiers are all ****** up, and our Army is a mess.

In my day, NCO's were on the hangar floor, motor pool bays, wherever, showing Soldiers how to do the job right. Now, you are lucky to find an NCO, and the ones you do find are more clueless than their Soldiers. I had a SFC ask me to give a M4 PMI to his Soldiers. A ******* M4 PMI. I was teaching that **** as a E4, now we have E7's senior NCO's, that do not know how to give a ******* PMI. It is sad.

The Army that won Desert Storm is gone. Billy Clinton's draw down purged the Army of so many great young officers and our Army still hasn't recovered. Add to all the stupid cuts the Obama tards made and I am not sure we can win a war. They succeeded in dismantling the finest fighting force the world has ever seen. What is worse, you look at the generations that are coming and will be coming into military age. They have no desire to serve. Most have been raised to hate the profession of arms. So what do we do in 10 years? 20 years? Soon we won't have a military capable defense, much less power projection. Money alone ain't gonna fix that.

Someone somehow someway get this message to President Trump.

 

[Spike]

White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations

State Department staffers have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs

The White House is scheduled on Thursday to release its 2018 budget proposal, which is expected to include cuts of up to 37 percent for spending on the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign assistance programs, including the U.N., in next year’s budget. The United States spends about $10 billion a year on the United Nations.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/13/white-house-seeks-to-cut-billions-in-funding-for-united-nations/

 

[Steelin]

White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations

State Department staffers have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs

The White House is scheduled on Thursday to release its 2018 budget proposal, which is expected to include cuts of up to 37 percent for spending on the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign assistance programs, including the U.N., in next year’s budget. The United States spends about $10 billion a year on the United Nations.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/13/white-house-seeks-to-cut-billions-in-funding-for-united-nations/

The UN is a huge waste of money. That's on top of the fact that they are anti-American scum. Why should we give them so much money?

 

[Ron Burgundy]

The UN is a huge waste of money. That's on top of the fact that they are anti-American scum. Why should we give them so much money?

White guilt. Although personally I don't have any.

 

[21STEELERS21]

There never will be a war between nuclear powers. Main reason: stock markets would collapse immediately.
Wealthy people don't like that and wealthy people rule the world.

 

[hamster]

There never will be a war between nuclear powers. Main reason: stock markets would collapse immediately.
Wealthy people don't like that and wealthy people rule the world.

Iran isn't motivated by wealth. Either is Israel.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

Iran isn't motivated by wealth. Either is Israel.

But, but, but, 21 just told you, wealthy people rule the world.