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I’m paired with Taxgirl for B5 Business Channel’s Odd Blog Couple. Here is our question:
If you could increase federal spending in one area and decrease it in another, what would you choose?
First, though, I’ll mention the decrease. Military aid to other countries. We spend billions propping up armies in a variety of countries. 9/11 was used as an excuse to throw even more money at other countries’ military efforts. And has it actually increased our security? Nearly all intelligence says no. Check out the 
Center for Public Integrity’s numbers on military spending on other countries. Just reducing the amount we spend on militaries in other countries by half could help us reap great rewards.
What I’d increase? Well, if we weren’t always throwing money at other countries’ military efforts, we could reform health care in this country. My ideal is a universal health care plan similar to what Mitt Romney instituted in Massachusetts. He proved that you could balance the budget and rein in health care costs.
Bonus: Other areas I’d like to see decreased spending in include Iraq war, pork barrel spending and earmarks, corporate welfare subsidies and preferential tax treatment for large companies.
I’d like to see more spending on education.
1089 days ago
[...] still rank #37 in the world. We don’t even rank #1 (as our leaders would like us to believe). We pour billions upon billions into supporting the military efforts of other countries, but we can’t take care of our own [...]
1552 days ago
[...] If you could increase federal spending in one area and decrease it in another, what would you choose? taxgirl Yielding Wealth [...]
In general, it would just be a nice change if our so-called leaders spent at least some of the money and effort cleaning up our own backyard before they tried cleaning up everyone else’s.
1563 days ago
[...] If you could increase federal spending in one area and decrease it in another, what would you choose? taxgirl Yielding Wealth [...]
While it may make the government happier when the U.S. gives it money and military personnel, many of the actual people are annoyed, I’ve found. My husband lived in the Philippines for a while, and he said many of the people resented the U.S. military presence.
I’m with you on decreasing US military spending in other countries. I just read in today’s paper that more US soldiers were being deployed in Mindanao, here in the Philippines.
1576 days ago
[...] up on my post from yesterday, Miranda at Yielding Wealth offers her perspective on the following [...]