...the discretionary spending of the United States, which has grown by at least 40% since 2002 (heritage.org). A key reason as to why the Budget Control Act mainly targets discretionary spending is because it is viewed as being a more flexible fiscal tool than mandatory spending. Discretionary spending covers costs such as federal and military wages and salaries, the purchase and development of public assets, education programs, transportation maintenance and development, etc. To summarize, the Budget Control Act establishes caps on discretionary spending through 2021, as an attempt to reduce the national deficit by more than $2.5 trillion. In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if the parties cannot agree on methods to cut spending, about $1 trillion in automatic, arbitrary cuts would begin in 2013 (whitehouse.gov). The proposed cuts include a fixed 2% per year decrease of Medicare, cutting non-defense spending such as education by 7.8% in 2013 to 5.5% in 2021, and reducing defense spending to a total of $454 billion (Congressional Budget Office). In FY 2013, military spending accounted for 56.94% of discretionary spending (City Data). That astoundingly large fraction, coupled with the current administration’s shift towards a more hands-off foreign policy, and a survey that shows that 37% of Americans think the government is spending too much on defense, has unsurprisingly steered the government towards attempting to reviewing national defense spending (Gallup). There...
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...Optional Spending Opting for the Military (revise) In the American culture, value is often dictated through the money one has and the possessions one owns. There is a constant goal to have more. The more things you have, the more you are worth, and the more you can rest safe and assured that you are doing well. Like a bubble, your infinitive collection of things acts as a safety net. Perhaps this mindset contributes to the lack of equivalence in the discretionary spending of the national budget. Money is aimed towards excessive military efforts, which could provide a sense of stability and protection for the American people as the military is given money and remains heavily stocked and prepared for battle. The national budget is a distribution of money from the government to various publicly funded areas such as international affairs, veterans’ benefits, social security, and other areas like Medicare and health or even the government itself. The federal spending is broken down into mandatory spending, discretionary spending, and money from interest on debt. Mandatory spending is not regulated like a typical budget, and is instead derived from...
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...several areas in which the U.S. can reduce spending. The Federal Government is projected to spend $925.2 billion on their Department of Defense budget. Those funds include but are not limited to costs of military combat equipment, installations, salaries, retirement, and healthcare. Among those, the Active Duty, Retirees, and Military families’ healthcare is currently proposed to be cut saving the Federal Government approximately $1.8 billion by 2013. TRICARE, the health care program for active duty, retirees, and military families, was enacted May 1997. TRICARE replaced Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services “CHAMPUS” and was intended to increase quality of care for eligible beneficiaries. TRICARE has several different plans that make up the overall TRICARE health care program. TRICARE Prime the plan for active duty, their dependents and retired personnel. TRICARE Prime is a HMO style plan with no enrollment fee. Beneficiaries have a primary care provider, typically at a military installation’s medical facility; they see and attain referrals from for all specialty care. TRICARE Reserve Select is available to all military reservists. TRICARE Reserve Select has a monthly premium and allows beneficiaries to see civilian healthcare providers that are payable under TRICARE regulations. In May 2001 TIRCARE for life was added for retired military personnel and their families who prior to TFL lost their TRICARE benefits once enrolled in Medicare. TRICARE for Life...
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...The use of music has been an integral part of American military services since the American Revolutionary war. Before evolving into the modern day band to provide ceremonies and entertainments, music was mainly used for signal, communication, and physiological effects (The Music of War). During the Revolutionary War, the most commonly used traditional instruments were the flutes, trumpets, bugles, and drums. After the establishment of present day small group ensembles and marching bands, musicians began to perform for the public, state ceremonies, parades, and pass and reviews (History of Military Music). However, with the economic downturn and increased military spendings in the past decade, politicians are becoming more skeptical of the annual...
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...1980s. These policies were based on fours pillars namely; reduction of the growth of government spending, reduction of income and capital gains marginal tax rates, reduction of government regulation of economy, and controlling of the money in supply so as to reduce inflation. Their basic aims were to lower taxes and create a leaner government. According to Reagan his decision was informed on stimulation of the economy taxes, financed by borrowing. Lowering taxes was aimed at reviving the economy, which in turn would see the increased tax revenues being used to offset the debts incurred (Niskanen 1988). By excluding military, Reagan argued for the broad slicing in government spending which to him were the main drains of the economy. Reagan went further to raise military spending which he considered an integral part of the government undertakings, especially in relation to the cold war. Although there was great taxes cut, a neoclassical theory, the enormous spending in the Reagan era created an enormous budget deficit. This kind of deficit spending defied neoclassic economic theory which emphasized on a balanced budget (Niskanen 1988). Reaganomics comes in two types; actual historical experience, and two the theory. Historical experience is based on an increased defense spending and large federal deficits. For the theory part, initiative of smaller government and cut in spending was never implemented, majorly due to lack of political will. Reaganomics idea was influenced...
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...Limit the Military Spending? There is a product, each country only have one. To buy it, everybody in this country should dig their pocket. This product is named military spending. With the large amounts of research and the development of high technology weapons, regional warming of local wars, armed conflicts, and intensified arms race, the series of a new arms race, military deployment and new high-growth military spending boost are being performed on the international stage. However, governments are concerned about seeking “peace via war”. As the arms trade is the major cause of suffering for human beings, governments should limit their military spending; nobody in the world wants war. Under such rhetoric combined with powerful lobbying of the military industries, governments are intentionally aiding military, because the military spending is an important indicator to reflect the dimension of a country’s military strength, and also a major factor of the military strength. As it is a serious issue in the world and so important for every country, every country values this issue as a primary one and pay special attention on it. As each country has different situation and government systems, there are different views towards military spending. Some people suggest increasing the military spending while some people suggest governments to cut the military spending. Some people think that government should keep increasing the military spending, the reasons...
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...tax that we have is the right option. Besides the tax policy, government spending is also a major factor that increases the national debt. We have to choose where the money should go to make sure we keep the debt down. Last year 53.71% of the discretionary spending went to the military and I feel that we need to reduce that and put the money towards education. I believe that the public would agree with my plan to go with the progressive tax and also my plan of decreasing spending on military to increase spending on education. The progressive tax policy takes a larger percentage of income from high-income earners compared to low-income individuals. This tax will help our economy by making sure that even low income earners will have income left behind to spend on goods and services. The consumption tax would lead to less demand for goods and services which would not help our economy. When consumers see that the product price is very high they would choose to save instead of spending their money. Flat tax is an unfair way to tax the public even though it proposes that everyone pay the same rate. This would hurt low income earners because...
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...ways Congress can control the statutory budget in order to prevent tax and mandatory spending legislation from increasing the deficit that constricts the discretionary budget. In 2010, the Statutory Pay-As-You Go (PAYGO) Act was passed which maintains that any changes to taxes or mandatory spending, which increase the multi-year deficit must be offset in an equivalent amount through other changes which in turn decrease the deficit. Any violation of this act results in a sequestration across select mandatory programs in order to restore the balance in the budget. The second way Congress may control the budget is through discretionary funding caps. Through the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), Congress imposed limits on the amounts...
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...attend Capstone which validates and verifies that the service member is prepared to be successful following their military service by producing documentation that they meet all Career Readiness Standards. J - Entrepreneurship Track Service members pursuing self-employment in the private or non-profit sector will learn about the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, the benefits and realities of entrepreneurship, and the steps toward business ownership. I - Technical Training Track Service members pursuing further technical training will receive guidance and help in selecting schools and technical fields. H - Education Track Service members pursuing college education will receive guidance to prepare for the college application process. The Education track addresses such topics as identifying one’s educational goals, education funding, and researching and comparing institutions. G - DOL Employment Workshop Address the nine key factors that contribute to a successful employment transition. F - VA Benefits I & II Inform transitioning Service members of their Veterans benefits options. E - MOC Crosswalk Translates military skills, training, and experience into credentialing appropriate for civilian jobs D - Financial Planning Provide information and tools needed to identify financial responsibilities, obligations, and goals after separation from the military. C - Join...
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...Singapore is a small country that emphasise strongly on the military. Due to her size, Singapore requires her military to be a ‘weapon’ so as to be able to prevent and protect the country from threats. Since the split with Malaysia in 1965, Singapore has to be self-reliant in terms of military. As stated by Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia-Pacific Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, William Choong, Singapore’s greatest fears as a small country are being pressured by bigger powers and the strategic uncertainty that will arise from conflicts between great powers (Ranasinghe, 2014). Thus, Singapore should increase their defence spending to ‘up’ their military. As tensions arise in the region, there is no doubt why Singapore place a high emphasis on security. Singapore’s international relations with countries such as the United States...
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...Military expenditures in the US and compared to Russia Name: Institution: Tutor: Course: Code: Date: Write a paper about 7-10 pages, single space about military expenditures in the US and compared to Russia (or any other country), Then we can ask how much military expenditure is optimum. It means beyond a point more military expenditures brings us no more security but less security in terms of not spending for education, health and infrastructure. Introduction. There has been a controversial and growing concerns in the recent years about the harmful effects of military expenditures in the developed countries. According to the studies conducted they reveal that these expenditures disrupts and worsen the balance of payments deficits, hinder economic growth and social sector. These effects of the military expenditures seem to have the adverse effect to the overwhelming majority of the poor and in general the whole nation (Aizenman, Glick, & National Bureau of Economic Research. (2003)). This paper set to compare the military expenditure of the US and that of Russia. These two countries are among the world super nations and therefore it will be crucial to study trends in military expenditures over time. The paper will also highlight the effects of military expenditure on economic growth. The chief purpose to study military expenditure data, is to clearly to have an appropriate way to identify and measure the resources absorbed by the military over time in various countries...
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...Referring to my FY2021 Defense Budget, I maintain the position of spending 67% on infrastructure and 33% on war-fighting systems, which includes any marginal spending. Since infrastructure is a critical element of warfighting capability, maintaining the stated proportions is vital for consistency and effectiveness. In fact, treating trade-offs at the margin in the same manner as budgeted spending indorses future defense budget spending levels. Relative to infrastructure, while some employees consider infrastructure important for their performance, some others feel the work itself is more central to their performance. In fact, infrastructure allows a person and their loved ones to have an improved quality of life, yet also leverages the...
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...Military draft is a system for selecting young men for compulsory military service, administered in the United States by the Selective Service System. At present, the United States relies on a volunteer military and does not have a draft, though young men are required by law to register with the Selective Service. This policy was eliminated in 1973 and most American were happy to have it gone because they did not have to fear the military draft. There are current arguments though that wish to bring back this policy and think it would benefit the country. The military draft is seen as a bad thing because it tears apart families, but some believe it brings the world closer to peace and settlement. A military draft brings men into the service through the selective service. The men are assign specific places among the military based on their skill level. The military draft helps improve the skills of the men, which would help in the workforce. The military draft improves foreign policy with all nations. It also improves our countries safety. It also helps us in times of a crisis. So as a citizen being drafted with a basic skill level. A draftee is bound to gain more knowledge and build on their skill levels. This makes the draft helpful to the U.S. as a country and to its citizens....
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...The Democratic Party was established in 1824 by anti-federalists during the time of America’s independence from Britain. First of all, the symbol for the Democrats is the donkey and the party color is blue. They believe that “society is best served with an expanded role for the government” (http://www.diffen.com/difference/Left_Wing_vs_Right_Wing). This is also known as a liberal view on life. Second of all, the Democrats, supported by poorer people, believe that poor people should pay less taxes, while the rich people compensate with higher taxes. They believed this would work because the higher taxes from rich people would cover the lower taxes from the poor people. Finally, the Democrats believed that the U.S. should decrease spending on...
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...survival is based on getting consumers to spend money so they may stay in business and outperform their competitors. When consumers purchase groceries this affect, the government due to the taxes included in the prices that could impose a limit a person may purchase. Tracking consumers spending habits can help the government determined if the economy is strong or headed toward a recession. The groceries consumers purchase were produced on farms, which means a farmer or a company sold a product for themselves or a business that paid taxes on the revenue received. A company or farmer must pay taxes for equipment and products that are being used to produce their product and for employees. A consumer not only pays for the product they receive but government taxes. Massive layoffs of employees can have negative effects, not only on the company and individuals but also the government. When a company or business must lay off employees, this affects the economy due to the fact individuals will have less household income to spend in the economy. The past employer along with the government will have to pay unemployment benefits to the laid off employees. When the government and companies pay unemployment benefits to the mass of past employees, revenue is being lost, and the government may consider raising taxes as an option. Massive layoffs can hinder a business production by slowing down production resulting in missing...
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