Cause of ballooning US budget deficit not what you might think

The linked report from the US Treasury shows that monthly spending on Social Security and Medicare, along with the "Other Non-Defense" category spiked up since January. Defense spending has been essentially flat on a month to month basis since October 2007.

US anti-terrorism spending not necessarily effective

GCN has an article today titled "CRS: Mission creep at fusion centers" which describes "state intelligence fusion centers" which are intended to "fuse federal, state and local intelligence against terrorism." Unfortunately, apparently the money being spent on this is not being used for the intended purpose. Surprise, surprise!

The article is based on the findings of a report by the Congressional Research Service which concludes that "Antiterrorism information-sharing and analysis is taking a back seat to criminal intelligence at the more than 40 state intelligence fusion centers"..." While many of the centers have prevention of attacks as a high priority, little ‘true fusion,’ or analysis of disparate data sources, identification of intelligence gaps and pro-active collection of intelligence against those gaps, which could contribute to prevention, is occurring”...according to the report.

While I think that the concept envisioned by these centers is good, we shouldn't be spending the money if the desired function of the program is not being met. It makes sense that local agencies would tend to focus more on domestic crime, as that is what they have to deal with on a day to day basis, but at the same time I can see where local law enforcement agencies have seen this as an opportunity to exploit the federal budget for local issues. So I say the program should be canned.

It reminds me of some of the absurd projects that money was spent on in the first couple of years after 9-11. At our local airport, there used to be a small parking lot where one could come and watch airplanes land and take off. That was closed off with concrete barriers and fencing. Well, about fifty feet away was a parking lot for a city golf course that had been developed next to the airport. If someone wanted to launch a shoulder fired missile at an airliner, the golf course parking lot would have worked just as well as the now-closed viewing lot. So a bunch of money was wasted on a knee-jerk idea...

South Korea's defense sector

According to Wikipedia, "The Republic of Korea has one of the highest defense budgets in the world (though second lowest in East Asia), regularly making the list of top ten." The 2005 number was about $21 billion. The country is able to produce a majority of the supplies and weaponry it uses, as "in 1990 South Korean industries provided about 70 percent of the weapons, ammunition, communications and other types of equipment, vehicles, clothing, and other supplies needed by the military."

Further, "the current administration has initiated a program of self-defense, whereby South Korea would be able to fully counter the North Korean threat with purely domestic means within the next two decades." I think that is a very important goal, both for South Korea and the US. First, achieving that goal would provide support for the South Korean economy. Second, with the unrest in South Korea regarding the presence of US forces in their country, I think that the US should withdraw all of its forces from the country eventually and let the South Koreans defend themselves.

Potential revision of Japan's constitution re military

The VOA has a story titled "Japan Considers Amending Pacifist Constitution" that leads by stating "After years of talking about it, Japan's governing party has moved ahead this month with plans to revise the country's constitution. The changes would expand the role of Japan's military - a significant break from its post-World War II pacifist era." The article then goes on to quote some notables on the issue:

-Proponents of the changes, such as Osamu Nishi, professor of constitutional law at Komazawa University in Tokyo, say Japan needs to be able to project force commensurate with its economic power. "Japan is not the same country as it was 60 years ago," he said. "It has become a big country with a responsibility to keep world peace"...I agree with this 100%...

-"Law professor, Pema Gyalpo, of Toin University in Yokohama is a constitutional advisor to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He says a change in the military's role is necessary to meet any threat caused by China's growing military might. "Because in recent years it has been very obvious that China is increasing their military budget by double digits, and this is very great concern for the Japanese," Gyalpo says. Gyalpo also believes that if Tokyo wants to become a global player and a member of the United Nations Security Council, it has to take a more active military role"...again, I agree 100%...

Japan needs to take greater responsibility for its own defense. As things now, Japan is generally dependent on the US for protection should a crisis arise.

The Pentagon has no idea how much it spends

See the post titled The Pentagon's Broken Book-keeping at Defense Industry Daily which explains in some detail and points to further info...a must read for anyone interested in how the US government spends its money.