Posted on 08/12/2010 7:59:31 AM PDT by pabianice
On July 22, the Defense Business Board task force recommended that the Secretary of Defense reduce the DoD civilian workforce by more than 111,000, and laid the groundwork for potential future recommendations to cut spending on military retirement, health care, family support, and other programs.
Additionally, the task force recommended drastic reductions in combatant command staffing, hiring freezes, and elimination of organizational duplication. These preliminary recommendations will be followed in October by additional cost-cutting proposals.
For the last year, the Defense Business Board has predicted major problems for the Defense budget as the nation deals with deficit reduction efforts, the economic slowdown, escalating health care and personnel costs, and the potential exit from two wars.
Board members believe that avoiding a looming fiscal crisis will require cutting the Defense budget beyond Secretary Gates’ recently announced target of a $100-billion reduction in “overhead” spending.
The Board’s “Initial Observations” briefing devoted an entire section to costs for military compensation, retirement, health care, veterans affairs, concurrent receipt, commissaries, dependent education, and military family housing. It particularly highlighted costs associated with TRICARE For Life.
A page titled “The ‘Military Retirement’ sacred cow is increasingly unaffordable” cites increases in the number of military retirees since 1980 (as if this weren’t the direct result of decisions by every administration and Congress since the 1950s to induce a large standing career force to protect America and the world) and criticizes the 20-year retirement system (as if the military could have sustained the force over the last 10 years of repeated wartime deployments without it).
Another cites personnel cost growth since 1998 – conveniently overlooking that 1998 was the nadir of two decades of erosion of military pay, retirement, health care, and other benefits and that the resulting retention problems of that era were what sparked Congress to embark on an extended program to fix them.
Unfortunately, the Defense Business Board report is only one of the early shots in what likely will be years of budget battles to reconcile military and other needs with truly daunting deficit projections.
/s
It is expensive...but no more than say...union or teacher pensions or gasp...a Congressional pension. Why single out the military? / rhetorical question...
But UAW retirement is no problem whatsoever.
Go back to "Public Service" being a limited-term position, eliminate Unionization of public sector employees, and limit hiring and wage increases to Government agencies, without SPECIFIC approval of The People.
Because the military will follow orders and actually make reductions. In the meantime, fraud is rampant in the entitlement programs that consume almost half of the federal budget.
What about the rest of the Government?
FUBO
FUBO
Won't be long before we have attritted down to an effete "by-all-means-DO-show-and-tell" military.
Leni
Well what do you expect? After all, military folks are usually REPUBLICAN donors!!!
Instead we will fund UNIONIZED teachers and ALL GOVERNMENT workers. Gee, I though our MILITARY worked for the GOVERNMENT? Guess Obama REALLY HATES our military.
But the Mongrel can cut the food stamp program to pay teachers & replenish their pension accounts.
my new policy is...take yer dough up front—at the end of each day—cuz uncle comrade ain’t good fer it...
Semper U2!
They mostly vote Republican? Just guessing.
Retired Air Force pilot
LOL! Where are all the latrine commandoes on FR who attack LTC Lakin and defend Obama?
The saudi agents job is to get as many American troops killed to entertain the Saudi king.
The military doesn’t contribute to 0’s campaign fund.
The military is a constitutional function of the government. O-hole hates the constitution, ergo, O-hole hates the military. That and he is a homo.
The military is a constitutional function of the government. O-hole hates the constitution, ergo, O-hole hates the military. That and he is a homo.
I guess it isn’t enough to scrap my contractor job with USJFCOM; now he’s coming after military retirements.
Prick.
However, I have a close Air Force relative who served a tour in the Pentagon and came away completely disillusioned.
He said the waste, redundancy, over-staffed problems are great. But what bothered him most was the large number of civilian technicians and managers, so-called experts, whose opinions and decisions on critical matters were seriously skewed, not only on operational issues but on supply and logistics as well. He suggested it was a matter of the intellectual as opposed to the experienced.
I understand Rumsfelt was quietly working the problem trying not to make too many waves. Bureaucracy's are tough to clean up!!
The biggest expense will be when they destroy the military. When this happens, we will all be in a world of hurt. As for our veterans, the government needs to take care of them no matter what. These people have done everything our country has asked of them. Even to the point of putting their lives on the line for them. How can we, the American people, turn our backs on them. Compared to the teachers and unions..........our military is far above them and deserve much more.
As are Congressional and Federal employee pensions...
bookmark
As are state/public workers pensions....as are union pensions....as indicated in this thread, a whole $hit load of them.....that is the next real bubble given the baby boomers getting ready to allegedly retire.
I concur with the other people here though: Why just the military pensions being targeted? Opps, my bad, I know why.... =.=
To: SueRae
“The military is a constitutional function of the government. O-hole hates the constitution, ergo, O-hole hates the military. That and he is a homo.”
you forgot that is is a druggie too.
I think we're gettin’ close to end of that awkward stage Claire Wolfe mentioned. I'm glad I'm too old, too fat and too married to get mixed up in it.
“Let me ask this kinda dumb question...WHEN the pubs take over both houses can they retract all those FREAKIN bills? Of course that is if they find a spine to do it with cause you know the mediaWHORES will give them HELL at every turn calling them racists and sorts! Can they stop any bills the JOKER has signed from taking form yet? “
*************
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Truth Is—nobody ever unscrews anything once screwed—dems, pubs, whatever—all just part of a two-headed coin—pick Mr/Ms Flim or Flam, but don’t expect any real difference—it ain’t coming.
This from the administration that fairly quietly gutted most of the welfare reform provisions that had reduced welfare significantly. Easy to see where Obama’s priorities are.
Military pay and benefits are not affordable. The same is true for all government pay, which now includes many unions now subsidized by the federal government with borrowed dollars. We will stop living like we have unlimited resources and benevolence. Some choose frugality out of a sense of morality and responsibility, others have it thrust upon them in the name of survival. The thrust is underway.
I have to say I agree with this- the days of “20 and out” should be LONG GONE
who in the private sector gets to work 20 years then retire? at age 38? with full pension?
And I mean ALL GOVERNMENT JOBS(state, local, federal- NOT just the military)
Right ON!!!!!!!!!
Food Stamps will never be cut.
“Board members believe that avoiding a looming fiscal crisis will require cutting the Defense budget beyond Secretary Gates’ recently announced target of a $100-billion reduction in “overhead” spending.”
This is the perfect example of the cancer of government spending. How fast has it grown? Well, I’m glad you asked. The Secretary of Defense announced a target of $100 billion reduction of “overhead spending” in The Defense Budget. A reduction, mind you, of an amount equal to the entire federal budget during one year of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency. This nation had its first $100 billion dollar budget in the mid 1960’s and now just one department has enough money budgeted that it can consider the reduction of that same amount.
A cancer that spreads that fast is just as fatal to a nation is it is to humans.
A military member must go through many personal upheavals during their 20 years of service, and their spouse and family must suffer through periods of unemployment and/or off their usual career track to follow them.
What job in the private sector makes you sign years long commitments without any indication of where they will send you and your family?
This is actually a good thing.
When the crunch comes, the military will more readily remember the part in their oath about “...enemies foreign and DOMESTIC....”
And the people say....{{{silence}}}....
This country always betrays it’s honorable men and women who serve their country—always.
It started with the first promises made to the Continental Army on pay and property in return for their sacrifices and hasn’t stopped.
And yet these remarkable men and women continue to step up to the plate. THERE are our leaders for tomorrow but first we have to get by the traitors in DC.
If they touch the retirements of my Dad, who served two tours in VN, and his friends, they are in for a serious blowback.
Well, most of them, really.
The only certainty is that, if you advance to the home office, you know where that will be.
But, in the military, you know that, too.
That’s what happens with an “up or out” system, and a profession that is definitely for people below the age of 50!
The military selects healthy people, trains them to respond to constant crises, expects them to follow any order 24/7 for 20-30 years, expects them to risk being killed, expects them to kill, makes and keeps them them as healthy as possible to do that job, then finally releases them out to pasture when aging hips knees eyes and ears can’t respond anymore the way a crack troop needs to respond.
And now obama wants to complain that they live too long and cost too much.
Democrats, Advocacy Groups Blast Cuts to Food Stamps to Fund $26B Aid Bill
...aid for unionized teachers and government workers.
Sorry but it is not ‘quite just’.
I agree with you that military life is a big committment, but you CHOOSE that committment.
I think they should be compensated differently in many ways. Where in the private sector do you get more pay for the same job only because you are married-vs- single? Try to do that in a private company.
Many jobs in the private sector have much less securty- (you are guarnteed 4 years steady income in the military) in the private sector you can be fired tomorrow.
You CHOOSE to make a long term committment in the miltary- no one forces you. Becase of that you dont deserve retirement at age 38, with a potential 40-50 years retirement pay for 20 years service.
The life expectancy is vastly different than it was when these rule were made. I am 100% pro military- I just think we need to look at the pay of all govt jobs.
“who in the private sector gets to work 20 years then retire? at age 38? with full pension?”
Uh, cops and firemen? and many other state, and local, govt jobs.
I don’t think you want 50-60+ year olds serving in combat, in any significant numbers.
Besides, if it is such a good deal, it is available to any healthy male or female. Go sign up. Check it out.
In almost all civilian jobs, you can transfer your 401K when you leave—its portable. In the military, you get zilch if you leave voluntarily (e.g., you don’t like the transfer they’re giving you).
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