Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
Yet, it is investments in America's long-term human resources that have come under the fiercest attack in the current budget environment. As the United States tries to compete with China, India, and the European Union, does it make sense to have almost doubled the Pentagon budget in the last decade while slashing education budgets across the country?
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Federal spending by category (inflation-adjusted):
Defense:
2000: $376.826 billion
2010: $719.179 billion
2000-2010 increase: 91%
Education:
2000: $42.547 billion
2010: $108.337 billion
2000-2010 increase: 155%
http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...e-numbers-2010
And education is also traditionally considered primarily a state, not federal, function, though Washington has aggrandized more and more power in that area. So state budget outlays have to be added to the equation. And notwithstanding the article's claims, there is no evidence that "education budgets across the country" have been slashed. I can't find an up-to-date source for all states, but in the ones I've looked at (CA, FL, IN, IL, NY), the increase in education spending in the last decade has far outstripped the rate of inflation over the same period.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
The paper argues persuasively that the tendency of Americans to broadly label the rest of the world has been hugely counterproductive. The authors point out that the tendency over the last decade by some Americans to view all Muslims as terrorists has made it more difficult to marginalize genuine extremism, while alienating vast swaths of the global Muslim community. In a world where credibility is so central to America's national interest and reach around the globe, the overheated domestic debate about the war on terror has never served it very well.
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Nice strawman you've got there, Mr. Norris. I'm sure there are "some" Americans who view "all" Muslims as terrorists, and I'm sure that "tendency" really honestly characterizes our "domestic debate about the war on terror".
So basically Mr. Norris is singing the praises of some anonymous Pentagon officials who are carrying water for the President's and other Democrat's attacks on defense spending and characterizing the Democratic Party's domestic spending (on education, "green" jobs, etc.) as an investment in your future.