As far as government revenue goes, where the money is going is a matter of public record (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/).
But with respect to our soldiers, it was my understanding that it's not so much that we can't afford the armor as much as it is that either (1) we can't produce various types of armor fast enough, or (2) that certain departments don't have that money in their budget specifically. The fact that we don't have the production capacity is not due to money, but rather a long-term downward spiral in warmaking ability, both here and abroad.
Education is a different issue in the U.S. compared to most other first-world countries, as it is not totally centrally administered and funded. Municipal, State and Federal governments all have their hands on each school, resulting in a clusterfuck of administration and funding, with teachers unions thrown into the mix just to assure it remains a complicated enough problem. Funding alone does not make a school worse or better. A public school in a bad neighborhood can spend ten times as much per student as a private school in a rich neighborhood, and still turn out a far worse education. Education as an administrative and cultural issue, not a funding issue.
Not having enough money has never stopped the government from spending. The U.S. government is not as rich as it purports to be, as so much of its spending is from borrowing. What's worse, a lot of what it spends is actually capital sent in by other countries. Forget our reliance on foreign oil. What about our reliance on foreign capital? But that trend is not due to the war in Iraq (a rather significant cost) or to foreign aid (a rather minor cost), or to tax breaks (which we still aren't quite sure were a net cost or income). It's just due to an overall belief by the populace that the government can spend without limit and that the world economy won't eventually come crashing down because of it.
It's not so much that the U.S. is hurting and trying not to show it, but rather that the U.S. is hurting and nobody really believes it, either here or abroad.
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Date: 2004-12-31 07:48 pm (UTC)But with respect to our soldiers, it was my understanding that it's not so much that we can't afford the armor as much as it is that either (1) we can't produce various types of armor fast enough, or (2) that certain departments don't have that money in their budget specifically. The fact that we don't have the production capacity is not due to money, but rather a long-term downward spiral in warmaking ability, both here and abroad.
Education is a different issue in the U.S. compared to most other first-world countries, as it is not totally centrally administered and funded. Municipal, State and Federal governments all have their hands on each school, resulting in a clusterfuck of administration and funding, with teachers unions thrown into the mix just to assure it remains a complicated enough problem. Funding alone does not make a school worse or better. A public school in a bad neighborhood can spend ten times as much per student as a private school in a rich neighborhood, and still turn out a far worse education. Education as an administrative and cultural issue, not a funding issue.
Not having enough money has never stopped the government from spending. The U.S. government is not as rich as it purports to be, as so much of its spending is from borrowing. What's worse, a lot of what it spends is actually capital sent in by other countries. Forget our reliance on foreign oil. What about our reliance on foreign capital? But that trend is not due to the war in Iraq (a rather significant cost) or to foreign aid (a rather minor cost), or to tax breaks (which we still aren't quite sure were a net cost or income). It's just due to an overall belief by the populace that the government can spend without limit and that the world economy won't eventually come crashing down because of it.
It's not so much that the U.S. is hurting and trying not to show it, but rather that the U.S. is hurting and nobody really believes it, either here or abroad.