Originally Posted by spazlabz

Ok I have to agree with the fact that the biggest part of our Government's economy is what you refer to as 'entitlements'

But the Tea Party is going after the wrong ones. There are three huge expenses that we pay for every single year

Social Security
MediCare/Medicaid
National Defense

all three of those are entitlement programs as far as I am concerned. But none of those are on the table except for the extreme that say privatize the first 2. Defense being the sacred calf no one will touch.

The fact of the matter is that all of those big 3 have horrendous waste and abuse built into the system. All 3 need massive reform, to be put under a microscope and have deep cuts made.

I pointed out in a thread last week that the F22 is one of the biggest wastes of money we have ever paid for as a nation, yet even though it requires 4 hours of maintenance for every single hour of flight time and rain screws it up in a big way, we STILL waste money on that flying turd. Sure it has all the bells and whistles but seriously, they dont fly it in the rain! The defense department has chosen to spend billions of dollars on hi tech toys that serve no useful purpose beyond the cool factor and the private sector jobs instead of taking care of the troops in the field. They have been cutting back on the benefits that I enjoyed when I was active duty to the point now where it is not that good of a job to have.

I would support any politician that talked about reforming those three items in a gradual responsible way...but when you have Lockheed Martin buying you drinks you tend to buy their albatrosses no matter what the cost; because if you dont spend all the money now you get less next year.

Watch Bill Maher sometime, I tried to find a video on youtube about it. But he created a visual of the fed's budget that had two big pieces of chicken, a heaping pile of mashed potatoes, some mac and cheese that took up most of the plate. then a tiny piece of carrot and some parsley. He points out that the cuts that are being proposed are all coming from the miniature corn, carrots and parsley while the three huge items go untouched.

If the Tea Party really is fiscally responsible they would want huge reforms to the big three FIRST, and leave the little things alone like headstart, NPR, PBS and planned parenthood