Stop Wasting Money Overseas
Time for the first substantive blog post on our new Stop Wasting Money blog.
When I ran in 2004, I found an issue that really seemed to hit home with people I met. I would speak at events. If I talked about taxes, people would applaud politely. Mass transit would get a lot of yawns. Few topics seem to get people interested. But one topic really got people going.
My line was this: "We've got to stop wasting money overseas defending rich countries, like France." This worked for a few reasons. First, people don't like the government wasting money. They especially don't like sending money overseas. The thinking there is that we've got enough problems at home. But the kicker in the line is, of course, France. Seems Americans really don't like the French.
I actually do like France. Je parle un peu de Francais, et j'ai voyage en France deux fois. J'aime la cuisine Francaise. yada yada yada. But it was such a good line.
Anyway, there's real substance behind the line (unlike so much else in politics). First we need some historical perspective. Before World War I, our country spent very little money overseas, and our troops rarely went anywhere. When World War I came, it took a lot of effort for our leaders to persuade the people that we should send our troops to Europe. And when it was over, our troops came home.
Fast forward to World War II. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and that was it. Our troops have been in Europe since the early 1940s, and have occupied Japan since 1945. We've had troops in South Korea since the 50s.
It's hard to quibble with the decision to enter WWII. And in the 50s and 60s it was certainly reasonable for us to stay, what with that darn Cold War and all.
But at some point, Europe and Japan became wealthy. This was clearly true by the end of the 1970s. South Korea took a little longer, but they're clearly wealthy now.
With the current situation in Iraq, we often hear talk about having an "Exit Strategy". Same was true in Somalia, and probably other recent conflicts.
So what's our exit strategy for Europe, Japan and South Korea? There is none. I challenged the incumbent on this issue in our debate in 2004. He had no answer. None. He completely dodged the question. I'm not picking on him. No one in Washington has an answer to this question.
The funny thing is, almost everyone I met had an answer. It's time. Let these rich countries defend themselves.
I haven't forgotten that this is the Stop Wasting Money blog. This issue is quite possibly the biggest waste of money in the federal budget. If you look at our military spending over the last 10-20 years, and you review the mission of our military, it's obvious that roughly half of our military spending is devoted to defending rich countries. The reason we have troops and tanks in Germany is to defend Europe from a Soviet invasion. The reason we have troops in Japan is to counter the Soviet position in the Pacific. Japan was once called our unsinkable aircraft carrier. And we have troops in South Korea to defend South Korea from North Korea.
For the first two, there is no longer a Soviet Union. Europe is far wealthier and far more techologically advanced than Russia. Japan is also far wealthier and far more advanced. South Korea's economy is 40 times the size of North Korea's economy, and their technological advantage is similar to comparing a 2006 Hyundai Sonata to a bicycle - an old bicycle with one speed and no handbrakes.
This waste amounts to roughly $200 billion a year. My opponent has been in office for nearly 18 years now. In that time we've spent nearly $4 trillion defending countries who don't need our help. A little math here ... $4 trillion divided by 300 million Americans equals ... well over $12,000 per person. If you go by households, you get more in the ballpark of $40K per household.
Imagine how much better off your family would be today if you had $40,000 more in the bank than you have now. Or, more common in today's world, if you had $40,000 less debt.
That's why we need to stop wasting money. And we need to start the process by not wasting money overseas.
When I ran in 2004, I found an issue that really seemed to hit home with people I met. I would speak at events. If I talked about taxes, people would applaud politely. Mass transit would get a lot of yawns. Few topics seem to get people interested. But one topic really got people going.
My line was this: "We've got to stop wasting money overseas defending rich countries, like France." This worked for a few reasons. First, people don't like the government wasting money. They especially don't like sending money overseas. The thinking there is that we've got enough problems at home. But the kicker in the line is, of course, France. Seems Americans really don't like the French.
I actually do like France. Je parle un peu de Francais, et j'ai voyage en France deux fois. J'aime la cuisine Francaise. yada yada yada. But it was such a good line.
Anyway, there's real substance behind the line (unlike so much else in politics). First we need some historical perspective. Before World War I, our country spent very little money overseas, and our troops rarely went anywhere. When World War I came, it took a lot of effort for our leaders to persuade the people that we should send our troops to Europe. And when it was over, our troops came home.
Fast forward to World War II. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and that was it. Our troops have been in Europe since the early 1940s, and have occupied Japan since 1945. We've had troops in South Korea since the 50s.
It's hard to quibble with the decision to enter WWII. And in the 50s and 60s it was certainly reasonable for us to stay, what with that darn Cold War and all.
But at some point, Europe and Japan became wealthy. This was clearly true by the end of the 1970s. South Korea took a little longer, but they're clearly wealthy now.
With the current situation in Iraq, we often hear talk about having an "Exit Strategy". Same was true in Somalia, and probably other recent conflicts.
So what's our exit strategy for Europe, Japan and South Korea? There is none. I challenged the incumbent on this issue in our debate in 2004. He had no answer. None. He completely dodged the question. I'm not picking on him. No one in Washington has an answer to this question.
The funny thing is, almost everyone I met had an answer. It's time. Let these rich countries defend themselves.
I haven't forgotten that this is the Stop Wasting Money blog. This issue is quite possibly the biggest waste of money in the federal budget. If you look at our military spending over the last 10-20 years, and you review the mission of our military, it's obvious that roughly half of our military spending is devoted to defending rich countries. The reason we have troops and tanks in Germany is to defend Europe from a Soviet invasion. The reason we have troops in Japan is to counter the Soviet position in the Pacific. Japan was once called our unsinkable aircraft carrier. And we have troops in South Korea to defend South Korea from North Korea.
For the first two, there is no longer a Soviet Union. Europe is far wealthier and far more techologically advanced than Russia. Japan is also far wealthier and far more advanced. South Korea's economy is 40 times the size of North Korea's economy, and their technological advantage is similar to comparing a 2006 Hyundai Sonata to a bicycle - an old bicycle with one speed and no handbrakes.
This waste amounts to roughly $200 billion a year. My opponent has been in office for nearly 18 years now. In that time we've spent nearly $4 trillion defending countries who don't need our help. A little math here ... $4 trillion divided by 300 million Americans equals ... well over $12,000 per person. If you go by households, you get more in the ballpark of $40K per household.
Imagine how much better off your family would be today if you had $40,000 more in the bank than you have now. Or, more common in today's world, if you had $40,000 less debt.
That's why we need to stop wasting money. And we need to start the process by not wasting money overseas.
posted by Albany Lawyer at 9:49 PM
2 Comments:
Go Warren!
How about we stop wasting money buying oil we should not need. Put our resources behind new fuel development.
Go Warren!
How about not wasting money buying oil we should not need? Devote resources to developing an altenate fuel system.
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