Saturday, May 08, 2010
Major defense contractors are worried
Worried that the slops in their trough are being diverted to the benefit of actual human beings, also known as the troops. At their behest the Pentagon is now asking Congress to stopp wasting so much money on mere soldiers.
Through nine years of war, service members have seen a healthy rise in pay and benefits, with most of them now better compensated than workers in the private sector with similar experience and education levels.How can we afford to buy more carriers and boomers and Ospreys if we pay the troops a living wage before they get blown up and provide proper health care for them after? Never forget, people don't win wars, hugely expensive technological wonders do.
Congress has been so determined to take care of troops and their families that for several years running it has overruled the Pentagon and mandated more-generous pay raises than requested by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. It has also rejected attempts by the Pentagon to slow soaring health-care costs -- which Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said are "eating us alive" -- by raising co-pays or premiums.
Now, Pentagon officials see fiscal calamity.
In the midst of two long-running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials are increasingly worried that the government's generosity is unsustainable and that it will leave them with less money to buy weapons and take care of equipment.
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