US - China war inevitable?

[Benton]

(05-27-2015, 05:29 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: No we should cut each department 5-10% each year.   Maintain defense spending, pull back foreign aid to anyone who violates human rights... Cut off.

To the bolded, they tried that. Defund immigration services and you get a massive immigration problem. Reduce education spending, now we're behind the rest of the world in math and sciences, where the only answer is testing so it doesn't look like we're that far behind the rest of the world. Mental illness costing too much, so defund federal aide to mental hospitals despite the fact that more than half those in mental hospitals in the 70s and 80s had a criminal record, which is believed to have been and still be a chunk of crime we can't seem to get rid of.

Problems don't go away when you stop dealing with them. They just get worse. You don't resolve immigration, crime, education, agriculture, energy, etc just by reducing the budgets of the departments that deal with that.

If you're hungry, do you reduce your grocery budget? If your car breaks down, do you reduce your maintenance spending?

Personally, I'd decrease defense spending by a significant amount. I'd also close bases not strategically significant or not there at the request — and financial support — of an ally. At the same time, I would increase spending for improved equipment. A service member should have the best equipment possible.

But I do agree on cutting foreign aide. Outside of helping countries during natural disasters or helping establish basic services in some parts — potable water, mainly — then we don't need to be there.