By RU Twisted

Math is one of those subjects that seems pretty fundamental to our educational system—or at least it should be.

But as we all have seen with great clarity, numerous entities have proven that basic mathematical skills are greatly lacking amongst our cultural elite. Government spending, the real estate bubble, and numerous Ponzi schemes by private and publically traded corporations have shown that a solid number of people with a great deal of influence don’t understand the basics of arithmetic.

The latest entry into this list of notable number-challenged groups is none other than the Department of Defense. In trying to determine ways to save money among government budgetary cutbacks, the Joint Staff has proposed a plan to cut stateside commissaries, thus eliminating base grocery stores.

Oh and they also think that military personnel make too much money, so there’s that, too.

The reasons I state that this demonstrates mathematical incompetence are numerous and quite easily discovered with about 15 minutes of Google-jitsu (I personally hold a 37th degree black belt in the art). In fact, the Army Times basically blew the lid off of the DoD’s claims with some very simple and quick research.

Contrary to what the Joint Chiefs are peddling, personnel costs have actually decreased as a percentage of the defense budget. Yes, personnel costs have grown, but not when compared to the rest of military spending, similar to the issue of commissary costs and its relationship to what taxpayers pay for regarding our nation’s military.

There is, of course, a much bigger issue than simply ratios of defense spending—namely, the percentage of what and where taxpayer money goes to. Consider that in 2012, 19% of the budget went to defense spending. While some might say “holy smokes, that’s a huge chunk of change,” in comparison, 21% of the budget went to Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program), 22% went to Social Security, 12% was allotted to “Safety Net Programs,” and 6% was used to pay the interest on our mountain of debt.

Now stop and consider that there are reports surfacing recently stating that the amount of taxpayer dollars given to “assist” already-profitable private corporations is substantially larger than government-funded social welfare programs. The subsidies given to major industries like coal and wind—industries that should succeed or fail on their own due to consumer interest—are done so without any direct return for the expense.

In other words, while our federal government is happy to flush money down the toilet of broken and unsustainable programs like Medicare and Social Security, as well as offering truckloads of money to corporations that….make money, they would like to ask the American Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine to kindly take a cut in pay and lose basic services on their bases that are intended for their families.

Gee whiz, that sounds great!

As a libertarian-minded guy, I can fully appreciate the concept of cutting spending across the board. Our federal government has certainly created a mountain of debt from reckless spending and should be put in check in most every area.

But let me be very clear when I say this: there is a metric ass ton of nonsense that can be cut looonnngggg before the pay of those who actually earned it.

Did you know that the government spent $4.5 billion on “improper food stamp payments”? How about $17.8 million towards environmental programs in China, a country that holds a large part of our debt? Or the $1 billion in tax credits for energy efficient homes that went to….individuals that don’t own a house?

The list of ridiculous things the government wastes money on could turn into an essay on its own. We don’t need to go into detail here about why $27 million on helping the Moroccans make pottery is a really stupid idea because you already know it’s a really stupid idea.

Yet these programs show no signs of slowing down, let alone cut off completely like they should be. While leadership floats the ideas of cutting the pay of military personnel and their on-base services, exotic dancers are still making $85,000 a year off of food stamps (no, I didn’t make that up).

I truly do see room for improvement in DoD spending. There are a number of areas where tax dollars could be more responsibly spent on our military. However, A) not when we are actively engaged in a war, and B) we don’t start with individuals’ income and benefits. The former is chopping the balls off of an engaged fighting force and showing we don’t support them; the latter demonstrates ignorance to how much fraud, waste, and abuse goes on in other areas that can be trimmed or cut first.

Never start cutbacks with Joe’s paycheck. Ever.

The fact that these ideas are even being floated should demonstrate that either the leadership is stupid on a monumental level when it comes to spending and where it’s going, or that they are willing to use service members as political tools. Neither is a bright option for the future of the military, and both scream of poor leadership.

Let us all hope that there is a third choice that I’m not seeing. Because as of right now, my confidence in the Department of Defense is lacking, to say the very least.

Opinions expressed on The Rhino Den are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect that of Rhino Den or Ranger Up. Unicorns do not receive the mythological respect they deserve.

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