NBC: President Trump Says Military More Important Than Balanced Budget
President Donald Trump said Thursday night that he is willing to subordinate balancing the federal budget in favor of strengthening the military, possibly putting him on a path to clashing with his own pick for budget director.
"Our military is more important to me than a balanced budget," the president declared in an interview with commentator Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel.
Prioritizing the military over balancing the budget isn't at odds with positions Trump expressed during the campaign. While he said on the campaign trail that he did want to balance the budget, he also said that he knew it would take time and that rebuilding the military and America's industrial infrastructure were equally as or even more important.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The number one priority for any government is the security of its citizens. Having said that .... I grew up in the Soviet Union where Soviet leaders always pushed the mantra that national security was the number one priority .... even if it meant sacrifices and shortcomings for everyone else. In the end .... this emphasis on military spending only accelerated the implosion of the economy and the Soviet Union itself. I guess there has to be a balanced .... but the U.S. has postponed finding this balance for a long time, and if President Trump's remarks are to be believed .... and if the economy does not boom when his economic and tax policies are implemented .... this balance will not happen during his term.
More News On President Trump's Remarks That The Military More Important Than A Balanced Budget
Trump: Strong military matters more than balanced federal budget -- Washington Post
US Military More Important Than Balanced Budget, Trump Says -- Sputnik
Fear the great controller.
ReplyDeleteCutting taxes and regulations should help the economy to grow or to "boom" however if certain trade partners no longer want to trade this could offset any bains. The best way to find a "balance" with regards to military spending is probably to vastly scale back foreign committments. This should not only save money but it will help the United States to be more secure as these military assets and personnel eill not be tied down in places that don't contribute to America's defense needs.
ReplyDeleteSince the top priority of a government is the defense of it's citizens, the top priority of the US government should be to renegotiate the various defense agreements that are undermining it's security. Chief among these is NATO.
LMAO,
Delete"Cutting taxes and regulations should help the economy to grow or to "boom"
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/262438/?client=safari
"Tax Cuts Don't Lead to Economic Growth, a New 65-Year Study Finds"
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-prexy.4.16321064.html
LMAO
BTW,
ReplyDelete"In summary: Most US imports from Mexico are intermediate and investment goods, not consumer goods. A tariff on Mexican goods is more likely to raise costs for US businesses — including for US exporters — than to lead people to substitute American-made goods for Mexican ones."
http://jwmason.org/slackwire/what-exactly-does-the-us-buy-from-mexico/
Jay,
ReplyDeleteI was careful to point out that "should" all things being equal. They aren't always equal. I'd be curious to know the parameters of the so called study. I do know from experience in my local area that when regulatuons are streamlined and taxes cut that the locals control economic growth ensues.
No laughing matter. The US economy is in terriible shape. Frank discusdions on how to address it are appreciated. Of course to Canadians who are used to a life of ease and comfort that few Americans can ever hope to have perhaps such things seem funny.
For what it's worth, the biggest issue seems to be over regulation. Higer taxes to pay down debt and build infrastructure may be an equitable trade off.
I also doubt that Mr. Trump is going to get through Congress a tariff on Mexican goods and should he try theexecutive order route, that would likely end badly for him.
ReplyDeleteLMAO,
ReplyDelete" I do know from experience in my local area that when regulatuons are streamlined and taxes cut that the locals control economic growth ensues."
LMAO, you should submit the imaginary town you live in to all of the top Schools of Economic's for study.
"The US economy is in terriible shape",
Nope, The BushII years saw anemic growth of the GDP, (1.1% to 3.8%) ending of course, with the trillions of dollars wipe out called the Collapse, but despite only minor adjustments to taxes and regulations, under Obama the GDP went back into growth quite quickly, and while anemic at around the 2% level, it's still growth.
Stll, as Paul Krugman* has noted, "you can't eat GDP", and that growth has been very unequitably distributed. The Banks that Trump wan't to deregulate have done very well. Wall Street, ( brokers, hedge funds, traders, not "your" 401k), which Trump wan't to deregulate, have done very well. The 1%, who Trump wan't to eliminate taxes on, have done very, very, very well. The Defence sector, whom Trump wan't to give billions of billions of tax dollars to, have done very, very well. Offshore Tax Haven Corporations like Apple, Goldman Sach's and Exxon, who's executives fill his Cabinet, have done very well.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/krugman/2017/01/25/reagan-trump-and-manufacturing/
Main Street's pretty much dead. No surprise there, Walmart and other Box Stores killed Main Street by undercutting Mom's and Pop's, ( often by illegal undercutting), tax evasion and off loading much of the costs of their workforce, onto the social safety net. Of course, a Mom and Pop, that paid real wages, real taxes, couldn't compete.
https://www.thenation.com/article/walmart-wages-are-the-main-reason-people-depend-on-food-stamps/
The funny thing is online virtual shops like Amazon, that have almost no employee's and a web front, not a storefront, and evade taxes are now killing box stores.
"Of course to Canadians who are used to a life of ease and comfort that few Americans can ever hope to have perhaps such things seem funny."
LMFAO. Canadians have better lives than American's for 5 basic reasons.
- comprehensive healthcare
- low cost, subsidized post Secondary Education
- comprehensive government regulations protecting our heath, air, water, employment, employment safety, our bank accounts and mortgages, etc
- a willingness to pay taxes to ensure that happens
- a greater share and more equitable distribution of productivity gains.
That's all economic heresy in the US, where a sub par post secondary education creates life long crippling debt, a health crisis cost's you everything you own, often resulting in bankruptcy, or death, while HMO's and Hospitals rake in billions, why entire Texas towns blow up, you can't drink the water and your bridges and highways are falling apart, while the Banks defraud you with fees and services you didn't sign up for and robo sign away your house, and you have the "Right to Work" for less than the costs of living wage until you die on the job because yoir employer get's to ignore basic Health and Safety rules.
"For what it's worth, the biggest issue seems to be over regulation."
LMFAO
Even though economic growth, strealining of regulations, and tax cuts were positively correlated where I live there may have been other factors that caused the economic growth. It seems that perhaps the United States should try and copy the Canadian model.
ReplyDeleteLMAO,
DeleteThe US can't follow the Canadian model,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/behind-closed-doors-republican-lawmakers-fret-about-how-to-repeal-obamacare/2017/01/27/deabdafa-e491-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-banner-main_goptapes-138pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.29744f84c60a
The Canadian model is Peace, Order and Good Government.
That's completely anti-American.
BTW,
ReplyDelete“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
The number one priority for any democratic government is the wellness of all his citizens.
ReplyDeleteTax cuts only deserve rich people and damage national security.