You can have balance, Lets say we settle for 3-4 times more spending then the next guy and use that 6-7 times to have free if not super cheap healthcare and education for our people. Also we could save some from helping the European Union protect themselves I think they have had plenty of time after world war II to recover. We can keep a force there but they really need to step up their spending in NATO.

[quote]You can have balance, Lets say we settle for 3-4 times more spending then the next guy and use that 6-7 times to have free if not super cheap healthcare and education for our people. Also we could save some from helping the European Union protect themselves I think they have had plenty of time after world war II to recover. We can keep a force there but they really need to step up their spending in NATO.[/quote] For balance to happen you have to make sacrfices to achieve that. With health care you have to get rid of the private provider system we have in order for a "socialized" one to work. I say that because for that to work effectively everyone has to participate in funding it. It won't be a cheap service if you have 10-20 million on it while the rest of the working population is with a private provider. It isn't unreasonable to give people affordable care, because having everyone covered should eliminate people having to pay for the uninsureds treatments. Im not opposed to more affordable education. The problem i have with people demanding free education is that they don't think thoroughly into what that entails. (One of my other posts) France has free education, with higher taxes, and LESS people are accepted into the higher education system to keep taxation reasonable. If college were to be free in the United States less people would have to be accepted if taxes were the outlet used to fund college educations (to keep taxes reasonable). Higher education was only intended for people who will succeed in it, it isn't intended for everyone. That's a harsh realization, but it it's the truth. College doesn't guarantee people high paying jobs, and frankly the message of "you need to go to college" is a bad message parents, schools, etc have been giving over the years. I say that because the trades are in need of people, and not every trade job pays poorly.

On medicine we are agreed, though I think private insurance can live on as a supplement to the primary care received through the government program. Like people can carry a second plan to cover a nicer hospital room, to cover family members hotel stays if i need to travel for care, some basic cosmetic surgeries, and other luxuries. On education that is one hell of a knot we have tied here. I mean most of the people I am in college with cannot tell me where England is on a map. So I sometimes feel we need to rebuild the system all together. It seems to fail the majority of students in providing even the most basic knowledge. As far as needing a college degree I agree, but it is still the line towed by many employers so what can you do?

I am aware you can't have both. That is what I am saying. There is no reason why we need to spend that much on military compared to other things that should come first. I guarantee that all that money is not being used to fund the military personal i.e. they are a large portion of the US's homeless population.

[quote]I am aware you can't have both. That is what I am saying. There is no reason why we need to spend that much on military compared to other things that should come first. I guarantee that all that money is not being used to fund the military personal i.e. they are a large portion of the US homeless population.[/quote] Veterans are the ones who make up the homeless population, they are not apart of the active service. Unless someone put their 20 years in they aren't getting a pension. Everyone knows the veterans receive rather poor treatment, due to the VA having a slew of problems. I would say personnel cost the most old numbers but in 2012 the pentagon stated the cost for 1 soldier on duty in afghanistan was anywhere from 850,000 to 1.4 million USD. When you multiply that by however many troops are deployed it easily becomes the most expensive expenditure. Employees are always the highest expenditure in anything, thus why jobs are among the first things cut.

Interesting thought on veterans, if we spend 6-12 months teaching them to kill why cant we at least spend the same amount of time helping them to live in society after they get back. A lot of vets have trouble reintegrating into society upon return and you know since they did such a solid for us going into hell itself so that I can sit here and argue with you fine people about nonsense, we should do a solid for them and make sure they have the care and support they need to feel whole again.

Again that's the problem with the VA, veterans deserve better care and no one disagrees with that. The problem is that the organization in charge of doing that has been doing a poor job giving medical and psychological care to veterans. At this point it isnt even so much how it is funded but it's the incompetent decisions made by people working in the VA.

I would love to know why it costs so much for one person. -_-