4 ms·

>half the people on these boards step over a homeless person to get to work every morning. But don't you think half the people on these boards would also suppo

>half the people on these boards step over a homeless person to get to work every morning. But don't you think half the people on these boards would also support a vast overhaul of the tax system that prioritizes the military/war over services for the homeless? Currently 60+% of our taxes go towards the military. That's unbelievable. Why not chop that in half and redirect it towards welfare services? Or is that too hard? What possibly can 1 X HN-user do when passing said homeless person? Create a homeless shelter? OR: better to demand the government to stop _squandering_ the thousands in taxes he gives a year and to redirect it to the poor man she/has passes every weekday morning? I think the issue is more complex than you make it out to be, IMHO.

zo1 10y ago
Come on... The budget for military spending in 2016 was 15-17%. What you're regurgitating was actually a hoax/misleading meme photo that propagated that number in order to paint Republicans as war mongers. All it took was one Google search to confirm. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/...
- HeavenBanned 10y ago
  Ok, going purely by 2015 numbers, we spend 609.3Billion on Military. Only 16% of the budget, right? Then how can China (our next biggest competitor) get away with spending only 150-200 Billion? Why are we spending more than three times the amount China is spending on military? How can Russia (our perceived biggest threat right now in the media zeitgeist)...only get by with threatening us with a paltry 66 Billion? Think about that: we as a nation have collectively decided to outmatch Russia by ten fold. This way of spending is out of control, and I'm not sure how else I can get this very simple point across. I think it's clear to anyone that we could easily assuage some of the real problems of homelessness if we just cut our Military budget in half. That would still put us ahead of China, far ahead of Russia, _and_ we'd help those who cannot help themselves immensely. But I know what the response is going to be: "Big Stick" and all that oft-repeated Military-Industrial justification. I'm sorry but there's no excuse no matter how you slice it, even if my initial numbers are wrong (which I concede) it's still a terrible situation.
- notgood 10y ago
  The funny thing is assuming as normal using %17 of the national income in wars ... specially since most of them have been a net negative
AlgorithmicTime 10y ago
It's unbelievable because it's false. Total governmental spending is around $7 trillion. Only about 12% of that is the military, which is 4% of GDP or so. Healthcare, pensions, and education are almost 60%, though. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/percent_gdp http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/percent_gdp

zo1 10y ago

Come on... The budget for military spending in 2016 was 15-17%. What you're regurgitating was actually a hoax/misleading meme photo that propagated that number in order to paint Republicans as war mongers. All it took was one Google search to confirm. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/...

HeavenBanned 10y ago
Ok, going purely by 2015 numbers, we spend 609.3Billion on Military. Only 16% of the budget, right? Then how can China (our next biggest competitor) get away with spending only 150-200 Billion? Why are we spending more than three times the amount China is spending on military? How can Russia (our perceived biggest threat right now in the media zeitgeist)...only get by with threatening us with a paltry 66 Billion? Think about that: we as a nation have collectively decided to outmatch Russia by ten fold. This way of spending is out of control, and I'm not sure how else I can get this very simple point across. I think it's clear to anyone that we could easily assuage some of the real problems of homelessness if we just cut our Military budget in half. That would still put us ahead of China, far ahead of Russia, _and_ we'd help those who cannot help themselves immensely. But I know what the response is going to be: "Big Stick" and all that oft-repeated Military-Industrial justification. I'm sorry but there's no excuse no matter how you slice it, even if my initial numbers are wrong (which I concede) it's still a terrible situation.
notgood 10y ago
The funny thing is assuming as normal using %17 of the national income in wars ... specially since most of them have been a net negative

AlgorithmicTime 10y ago

It's unbelievable because it's false. Total governmental spending is around $7 trillion. Only about 12% of that is the military, which is 4% of GDP or so. Healthcare, pensions, and education are almost 60%, though. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/percent_gdp http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/percent_gdp