kane

There in is the root of he problem. There was an article I read yesterday about a company in Alabama (I think, but might be wrong about the state) that basically takes the old beat up Humvees the military uses and rebuilds them so they can continue to use them. It is cheaper than buying new ones. The story was how the company has 4,000 employees and will lay off 400 of them next week if the cuts that are scheduled go through. One guy, who makes an average of $45K per year there was featured saying that he was worried because he didn't know what he would do if he lost his job.

I can understand his fear and nobody wants to lose their job, but the reality is that if there are going to be cuts some people will lose their jobs. Nobody wants to volunteer for it so each politician fights to keep the government supported businesses in their areas open. It is one of the main reasons many Republicans are against defense cuts. It isn't because they are afraid that we will be invaded, they know that many of these defense contracts are based in red states and there would be big layoffs in those areas if the military cut spending.

In a way it reminds me of something that happened in my state several years ago. There was a ballot measure to build a big new state prison. It passed easily, most people wanted it. When it came time to build it there was lawsuit after lawsuit from communities not wanting it built near them. Everyone wanted it, so long as it wasn't in their area.