Balance the Budget

The NYTimes has a game you can play, balance the budget!

One potential aspect of balancing the budget is basically to cut military spending. This could potentially save around 262 billion by 2030. This is a very strict cut most people would most likely agree with, along with myself. Though, I do believe some cuts can and should be made. Here is a quote from Wired about the relationship between the deficit and military.

 Whether Washington politicians will actually cut defense is uncertain, even with the giant federal deficit and weak economy. The incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Buck McKeon, said on Monday that defense cuts were a “red line” for him. And the Pentagon leadership is focused on spending its cash more wisely, not necessarily spending less of it. Adams noted that the military wasn’t immune to cuts during the deficit-slashing attempts that defined the late 80s and most of the 1990s. But that was before the U.S. got attacked on its own soil and launched two wars with murky endpoints.

If we start pulling out more troops, we will eventually be able to save more than 100 billion. Military is a major investment that we need to have until there is world peace, which will most likely never happen in our lifetimes. However, where we are almost 14 trillion dollars in debt, so saving money is a high priority. Who knows what will happen though, we can only try to make a difference and watch.