On the other hand, I am rather unimpressed by their alternate solutions. The only one I'm enthusiastic about is the program to safeguard nuclear material in former USSR states. Adding two divisions to the army is just stupid. If we want to "relieve pressure on the NG and reservists..." why don't we let Germany and Japan protect themselves? We really don't need that many troops on that many military bases around the world. The money for "rebuilding Afghanistan" commits the same folly as the invasion of Iraq - thinking that we can create stable government just by spending money. The central government is powerless against the warlords, and building more roads isn't gonna do jack to change that.
The crop conversion plan is even more idiotic. If farmers make more money on opium, they are going to grow opium again the moment you stop paying them. There is nothing you can do about it. Why not be happy that they have an income stream which is unusually profitable for such a poor country?
The whole plan is all about blindly throwing money at the problem, instead of carefully considering effective solutions.
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robbbbbb recently wrote that conservatives think liberals are stupid, and liberals think conservatives are evil. Well, I think that conservatives try to fix problems by throwing men with guns at them, and liberals try to fix problems by throwing money at them. If only more people would try to fix problems by understanding them, analyzing them, and then picking the most effective means to address their causes and symptoms, maybe some problems would actually get fixed.- Music:Steeleye Span-Bedlam Born-The Connemara Cradle Song
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Sure, those are things we could theoretically (in a dream world) have spent the same money on. But is there any way that the money could politically have been spent on those things?
If not, it's not "the right general idea."
For the record, I don't know the answer to my question, though it's far from obvious to me that the answer is yes.
The things I think we should do, OTOH, are much less politically feasible.
Unless 100% of the population is willing to approach things this way, those who do will always have to consider the less rational bits of the populace when calculating effectiveness. Which is what they do now, and why frequently when nobody knows all the variables the people in charge get criticized for missing some. Not that they shouldn't be criticized, and not that they don't frequently miss some of the big obvious variables. Just sayin.
I also want big chunks of money diverted from some projects to other projects which are politically infeasible. In fact, getting the government to cut spending in many arenas that need it is also infeasible. I could spend the rest of my life fighting for a few relatively minor changes in this country. I wish I could find a country that came closer to all of my ideals (political, economic, ...).
Thanks for posting that link... very intersting, and angering. The choices on what to spend the money on may all be debatable, but I think every choice on their list is preferable to war in Iraq.
Yes and no. If we're not involved in Iraq, then it's a bad idea. Right now, the Army is overstretched, and needs the relief. (Well, maybe. Interestingly enough, the Army has been arguing against the expansion in the recent past, saying that by the time the troops came on-line that the reason for expanding the force would have expired. I don't know if they're sticking to that position.)
Should Germany and Japan shoulder responsibility for their own defense? You betcha. However, I will note that our bases in Germany and Japan provides us a certain strategic flexibility. We need staging areas for logistics purposes if we're going to operate in Southwest Asia, and it looks like we are for the forseeable future. I think we ought to move out of Germany, and into Poland (or other Eastern European nations), where operating costs are lower and there's less anti-Americanism.
"I think that conservatives try to fix problems by throwing men with guns at them, and liberals try to fix problems by throwing money at them. If only more people would try to fix problems by understanding them, analyzing them, and then picking the most effective means to address their causes and symptoms, maybe some problems would actually get fixed."
Well, yeah, but I don't doubt the sincerity of liberals, nor conservatives, regarding their use of money and/or power to solve problems. We're looking at problems and addressing them best as we see fit. There are ingrained biases in folks' solutions (and who doesn't have those?), but I don't think liberals are being dishonest about their desire to use money to solve problems.