Rise and Reign of the 2nd Galactic Empire

*To all those who are throw by the title, that is a Star Wars reference and shame on you for not knowing it.

Hello again blogisphere. It is that proverbial time again.

Time's are tough today. Worst economic times since the Great Depression. Unemployment is at 9.6% at time of posting this, but that number could easily be 10% or higher depending on all the variables. The national debt is a whopping 13 trillion dollars. Yes children, thats trillion with a 't.' And as I could do a whole segment on that first fact, I think for the majority of this rant, I think I will stick with the latter of the two and stick with the growing debt and how the pork barrel and just gross gross over spending on the defense budget alone is turning America into the De facto 2nd Galactic Empire.

Now, people hear debt and automatically go to blaming our current president. And yes he does deserve partial blame. He is keeping up a war in Afganistan and a "training excerise" in Iraq that alone drain 4 billion dollars a month. 4 billion a month does not seem like much in the sceme of 13 trillion, but after 10 years, it has added up. Added the stimulus package as well as the health care legislation (which i myself am a fan of) and you get a fiscal resume' looks bleak. But I really he doubt he had any other choice and is playing the hand he got dealt, mostly due to the 12 previous administrations, mainly the Republican ones.

Going back all the way to Pres. Truman and the end of WWII, you can see a very obvious trend when you look at the National Debt as percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product.) Here is a graph to support. The most obvious thing that jumps off to me is the polar difference between the Dems and GOP. Starting with Truman and Ending with Obama, there are 6 Presidents of each party. Of the 6 Dem's, only Obama is on pace to have raised the debt. 1 out of 6. Flip side, 4 of the 6 Presidents of the GOP raised the debt, 3 of them dramatically. You should not have to dramatically raise the debt to get your policies and your ideas across.

Here is a chart showing the unemployment rate since 1948 to 2008. Clinton dropped unemployment from 7.8% at its peak during his administration down to around 4% by 1999. Then under Bush 2, it rose over 3% than what Clinton had it lowered to. And by time Obama took office, the recession was already rolling and holding the level under 12% was a feat it itself. So people who want to bash the current administration for failed economic policies and rampant unemployment, your anger is misplaced. Yes, more possibly could have been done. But the fact is that the president and his whole political party have a fantastic track record of reducing debt and also decreasing unemployment.

Whew, ok, got that out of the way. Now on to my main point. Let me throw some numbers out at you.
$670 billion - U.S budget for Defense.
$611 billion - Budget for Defense for for the next 14 in spending (China, France, UK, Russia, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and Spain) COM-FUCKING-BINED!!! Anyone eles have a problem with that besides me?!?!?!? What kind of threat are we under that it takes us outspending nations with a combined 3.3 billion people!?!?!?!?!?!? That is around half of the entire world's population!?!?!?!?!?

Trivia time. Who can name, in terms of planes alone, the top two air forces in the world? Give up. The United States and The United States. The USAF and USN control the two largest air forces in the world. I guess we got tired of being number 1 in everything, so we must be number 2 as well i guess. The United States control at least two bases (Army, Navy, Air Force) in Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Spain, United Kingdom, Israel, Bahrain, and the Philippines. Not to mention the, at least, dozen more countries where we have just one base. PLUS the over 100 camps, bases, naval yards, air fields, ect that are here in the USA. The United States spends per capita $2,115.71 on defense spending. That is double every other country in the world except Israel. That is absolutely ridiculous. It is gross over-spending caused mostly by America's Imperialism view towards foregin policy and its also driven by fear. Fear of a enemy who really is not there.

Now, people might take this as some kind of anti-american rant and some extremist view on policy. Where in fact it could not be more opposite. I love America. More than most. I love that I live in a country where I have the freedom to question my leaders and have a voice.

Here is what I want:
1. Cut defense spending by at least 33% over the next 5 years.
2. Pull 75% of the troops off of bases in countries we are not in a war or "operation" against within the next 10 years.
3. Use the now $333+ billion in new funding to rebuild every interstate highway, school, and hospital in the United States and our territories. That not only updates our crumbling infrastructure, but it creates jobs, which reduces unemployment.

Those 3 things happen, relations all across the world improve because America is leaving area's she is not wanted. Unemployment would drop from the high 9's to at least the high 6's. Guaranteed. Will this ever happen, no. Because America thinks she must patrol the world, and to a extent, we do. As a superpower we do have a responsibility. But no where near the level we patrol things now.