‘Veterans paid the price, cut debt elsewhere,’ says The American Legion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

INDIANAPOLIS (November 18, 2010) – “There they go again,” said The American Legion’s National Commander Jimmie Foster about the recommendations of two debt reduction commissions which would decrease military retirement benefits. “Every time Washington wakes up with a deficit hangover after decades of spending binges, those who study the serious problems of our national debt can’t resist the easy but unfair route of trying to balance the budget on the backs of veterans. It is unfair and if these ridiculous proposals are passed into law, it will hurt America’s ability to defend itself from our enemies.”

One panel, chaired by former Sen. Pete Domenici and Clinton administration Budget Director Alice Rivlin, calls for changing the formula to calculate military retirement pay and delaying payments until the eligible veterans reach age 57. Another panel, chaired by former Sen. Alan Simpson and retired Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, recommends that military retirement checks be delayed until age 60.

“Tell it to the Marines!” was Foster response to the proposals. “I want these commissions to look a 22-year-old Marine in the eye and say that if you retire at age 40, after 20 years of service and three, four or even more tours of being shot at in Afghanistan, that you still have not done enough to receive your retirement. I want these commissions to tell the soldiers in Iraq that the benefits they are receiving are too much. America has a huge debt all right. And it is owed to these men and women who protect our freedoms every day. It is a debt that must be repaid.”

The panels have also recommended cuts to military weapons systems that could hurt American efforts to fight the Global War on Terrorism.

The Simpson/Bowles Commission suggested slashing $100 billion from the defense budget in 2015, closing one-third of the U.S. bases overseas and freezing noncombat military pay. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned that cutting even 10 percent or $55 billion from his budget would be “catastrophic” for the military.

“Cutting the military’s budget while it is engaged in two wars is unconscionable,” said Foster. “When you send American troops to war, you must pay the cost of those wars. Freezing pay and cutting benefits, whether in combat or in garrison, will also make young people think twice before volunteering to serve their country. The United States would not exist if not for the sacrifices of the men and women who have served in our military throughout our history. It is only because of their sacrifice, that beancounters have the freedom to argue about how to balance the budget to begin with.”

With a current membership of 2.4-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

Media contacts: Indianapolis: Joe March, (317) 748-1926; John Raughter (317) 441-8847; Washington: Marty Callaghan, 202-215-8644. A high resolution photo of National Commander Foster is available at www.legion.org.

Deficit Commission to Call for Massive Tax Hikes

It looks like Obama's Deficit Commission (officially National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform) will recommend dramatically huge hikes in taxes to cover the tremendous increase in spending since the Democrats took control of the budget process in 2007.  A token member of the "bipartisan comission," Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, on ABC News,, has hinted that the debt commission will recommend an unprecedented $26.7 trillion tax increase.   He said,

"Everything has to be on the table - there's no question about that... Erskine Bowles, one of the co-chairmen of the commission, has suggested a 75-25 split -- 75 percent of the savings being in spending, and 25 percent in revenues... I think it's likely that there will have to be a revenue component, but it should be significantly, dramatically -- and a 3-1 ratio is pretty dramatic -- dramatically less than the initiatives in the spending side of the ledger."

 I suspect that this is so much bull shit, my self.  What I think will occur is while cuts in spending will be suggested, no such cuts will occur.  Neither the Democrats or the Republicans have ever really cut spending in the past.  Nor have they ever actually cut programs.  The GOP has a history of continuing spending while cutting taxes (Reagans tax cuts of the 1980's)...which has hurt the country nearly as much as the gigantic increases under the Democrats in the past 3 years. 

In addition to a whole raft of new taxes that stem from ObamaCare and the proposed new "fees" and "penalties" in Cap & Trade, we'll see steep increases in capital gains (which will strangle business investment) as well as a sharp increase in income tax rates across the board.  That won't touch the unfunded liabilities that are inherent in Social Security or Medicare. 

Bowles and Gregg can only be talking about cutting $3 in promised Social Security and Medicare benefits in exchange for $1 in tax increases. In other words, 1/4 of the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare would be paid for with tax hikes. So how big is that? According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare Actuaries' Report, the long-run insolvency of the Social Security and Medicare systems is $106.8 trillion (with a "t") over the infinite horizon. To close this gap with one-quarter tax hikes is, therefore, to raise taxes by $26.7 trillion.

All of this will give the Democrats cover (as well as  the GOP for that matter) to enact a Value Added Tax, which the Dem's have been covetting since the 1960's...so the Mad Duck session of Congress in December should be wildly entertaining at the least.