The war budget is spiraling out of control

Biden's military budget is insane, but that's nothing compared to how this will end.

Biden is proposing a $30 billion increase in national defense spending in his fiscal 2023 budget from the current level. Congress already allocated roughly $29 billion more than the commander in chief sought for defense in fiscal 2022, with Democrats and Republicans joining forces to rebuke Biden’s first Pentagon plan.

The $813 billion national defense proposal includes $773 billion for the Pentagon, as well as tens of billions for nuclear weapons programs overseen by the Energy Department.

Progressive Democrats who’ve pushed to constrain military spending will almost certainly put up a fight, and may even push for a level lower than Biden’s proposal. But the party’s left flank has to date been steamrolled by bipartisan majorities that back more money for defense.

Like most years, the president is the least insane in this madhouse.

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday released its version of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would authorize $857.6 billion in military spending for the 2023 fiscal year, a massive increase from the $813 billion President Biden requested.

Out of the $857.6 billion, about $817.3 billion will go to the Pentagon, $29.7 billion will go to the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons program, and $10.6 billion is allocated for military-related spending outside of the NDAA.

The Committee, which has 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats, approved the massive spending bill in a vote of 23-3. The increase from what Biden requested was expected as lawmakers wanted to tack on a 3-5% increase over inflation. Biden’s initial $813 billion request was a 4% increase from what was authorized for 2022.

Why would they need to spend so much on weapons? Because they are planning so much war.

Republican hawks are predictably pushing for many irresponsible aggressive policies towards China. The latest example of this came last week in a speech by Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who called for $1 trillion military budget, an explicit security commitment to Taiwan, and the creation of what he calls a "NATO for the Pacific." Any one of these ideas would be bad for the United States, and all of them together would be ruinous. The US approach to Asia is already heavily militarized, and what Sasse proposes would make it even more so. If Washington did as he wanted, the US would further overstretch itself and put itself on the path to unnecessary war with China.

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Continuing the same behaviors that have brought us to this untenable economic and military precipice, climbing higher only to cling to an even less substantial perch, IS INSANE.

Yet our leaders in government know only ‘up’ and ‘higher’. They are incapable of climbing down to firmer ground and a semblance of sanity. So, the insanity will assuredly continue ….. until the fall arrives.

The weather is going to be delightful for the coming week here. I plan on spending this time outside and enjoying it with family and friends. The apocalypse can wait a bit.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

For mine own good,
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er:
Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

We assume with the huge budget we get a huge superior military. As the pundits I read said, for the last number of decades the West fought basically totally militarily inferior groups such as the Taliban but now run into major problems fighting "peer level" opponents.

Take drones. Those drones with missiles are big and slow. Taliban did not have anti-missile and anti-aircraft systems. But the Russians do and are shooting them down in Ukraine as they really light up their radar.

So yah, spend more money on systems which are really not game changers against what pundits call peer enemies.

Following is interview with Pierre Spray one of the architects of the F-16 and A-10. Interview with Canadian TV about the F-35 and how bad it is. Gives overt and subtle points about the MIC.

BTW, he claims stealth technology is total BS.

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