Anti-War Demo in Washington

@Northwest nope, billions to ukraine.

Yes please, would like to be educated on yemen

@gol979 You don't know which war they're protesting?

@Northwest its an anti war protest, ie giving billions to the war machine, for example the billions going to ukraine. Also the over £800 million budget for war.

Yemen education?

@gol979 [quote]for example the billions going to ukraine.[/quote]

The problem with abstract protests is that they ignore reality. The alternative to trying to block Putin, is 1984.

@Northwest eh? So you support sending billions of war money to ukraine? You support £800 billion (sorry i put million in previous message) budget for war?

Educate me on yemen too 👍

@gol979 [quote] eh? So you support sending billions of war money to ukraine? You support £800 billion (sorry i put million in previous message) budget for war?
[/quote]

Again, with your half-assed assumptions.

[quote]Educate me on yemen too 👍[/quote]

This was a test. It's amusing, when people announce a protest against something, when they don't understand the first thing about it.

@gol979 So now suddenly conservatives want to cut military spending? I thought that’s the only government function you approve of, besides book burning and stopping gay weddings and abortion.

@LeopoldBloom nope. Blues have imposed £800 billion of tax payer money to go to military and the reds are in agreement.

Are you for a military budget that outstrips all other spending combined?

@gol979 I think our military budget should be cut by at least a third, with the money redirected toward infrastructure and social welfare programs. Our military spending is around 3.5% of GDP; it should be no more than 2%.

However, that's not going to happen as everyone in Congress knows how much money goes back to their own states or districts. My state has one of the highest military presence in the country, and both of my senators are Democrats who are very aware how dependent the state is on that money.

@LeopoldBloom we disagree on the amount that should be given to the war machine but at least we can both acknowledge that in its current form its grotesque

@gol979 How much do you think it should be cut? 2% of GDP is the minimum for NATO members.

@LeopoldBloom how about the defence department return the multiple trillions it cant account for then lets agree a figure?

@gol979 Can you cite a source for that claim? "Trillions?"

@LeopoldBloom you sound incredulous. Like you cannot believe that they cant account for that amount of tax payer money?

@gol979 Billions, maybe. Trillions, no way. That's an extraordinary claim that requires a credible citation.

That being said, a lot of that money goes to private contractors. It's not like it's sitting in a vault at the DoD or going into some general's Swiss bank account. As I mentioned before, most of that money is plowed back into the economy. Here in Georgia a few years ago during sequestration, some people were concerned about a mini-recession because the state's economy is so dependent on the federal military expenditures at all the bases here. That's money that eventually makes its way into citizens' pockets.

@LeopoldBloom "trillions, no way". You have the internet at your fingertips. Just type in "pentagon cant account for trillions" and you will have a raft of what you will deem credible sources. Have a read, let me know what you think

@gol979 Wow, you're right. One of the first articles was on in Forbes (a credible source as far as I know) that said $21 trillion in DOD and HUD spending is unaccounted for. AOC has also pointed this out as it would fund 66% of Medicare for All even before premiums were charged. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the money was stolen; it could just be sloppy accounting. What's interesting is how OIG has audited this and isn't releasing the results.