Defense Secretary Gates Announces Deep Cuts in Many U.S. Weapons Programs - Complete Video 4/6/09

Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | April 6, 2009 | BrianinMO

[Federalist Patriot]

Here is video of Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlining deep cuts in many of the nation's biggest weapon's programs. Gates made the proposed cuts as part of a Defense Budget proposal ordered by President Obama, who pledged during the 2008 campaign to cut back on many of America's defense programs.

One of the casualties of the cuts will be the F-22 Fighter Jet which will soon be halted. At the same time, the U.S. will move forward with the F-35 Fighter Jet. . . . . . . (Watch Video)

[unkus]

Home viewing.

[skeeter]

Announcing a 20% cut in SDI the day after the North Korean launch.

Brilliant.

[Frantzie]

Hope and Change. Some idiots voted for this.

[Thunder90]

This is just the beginning. Obama wants the F-35 cut, and he will let Westley Clark do it. The 2011 budget will probably include a 25% defense cut on top of this years cut. Bases will be closed, aircraft carriers will be mothballed, and hundreds of thousands of service personnel will be let go.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Some really unpleasant facts are that the US economy is sliding over a precipice. This means that until the totally unrealistic debts the USG and the private sector have incurred are gone, it’s going to be a downhill ride.

To start with, there are four enormous parts of our federal budget. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Defense. Before all is said and done, the first three are gone. Done. No more largesse for anyone.

The largest, Social Security, has only a year or two of life left, and though a few insist that it will somehow be kept solvent, using the same tricks that were used before, the truth of the matter is that there is no money left to support the very idea, and hasn’t been for some time. The end result is some lump sums of money being given to the States, to divide among those utterly dependent on this support.

This leaves Defense. The one of the four that cannot be entirely eliminated. Barney Frank has already said that he expects it to be reduced by 25%. This is probably an underestimate, since the other big three cannot just be ended abruptly.

The Defense budget has seven major categories, of which the top four are the majority. These are Operations and Maintenance, Personnel, Procurement, and R&D.

Of these, the easiest to cut is Personnel, with a reduction in force of married personnel with children, and slashed paychecks. Because of the depression, many of the lowest ranks may be working for what amounts to be room and board, with medical care.

Operations and Maintenance means the conclusion of many overseas operations, and consolidation of others, leaving just a critical few. Much of their equipment will be given away to friendly powers, and that which is brought back to the US will be mothballed.

Procurement and R&D will be proportionately cut back as well.

All told, much of the US military will be preserved only because the USG has no choice. Since the rest of the world will be equally depressed, it will make their aggression against each other harder as well. Those that still wish to wage war will do so, but US intervention will be limited to just those fights that show prospect for creating severe international crises.