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Apr 26, 2004, 02:37 pm

http://slate.msn.com/id/2099425/

"The budget is busted; American soldiers need more armor; they're running out of supplies. Yet the Department of Energy is spending an astonishing $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year, and President Bush is requesting $6.8 billion more for next year and a total of $30 billion over the following four years. This does not include his much-cherished missile-defense program, by the way. This is simply for the maintenance, modernization, development, and production of nuclear bombs and warheads.

Measured in "real dollars" (that is, adjusting for inflation), this year's spending on nuclear activities is equal to what Ronald Reagan spent at the height of the U.S.-Soviet standoff. It exceeds by over 50 percent the average annual sum ($4.2 billion) that the United States spent—again, in real dollars—throughout the four and a half decades of the Cold War."

do we spend too much on nuclear weapons? do we misallot our military budget? we spend many billions on single planes, but cannot spare the $650 a vest for our soldiers on duty? what kind of leader is this bush character if he makes decisions like these?

Apr 26, 2004, 02:37 pm	#1 (permalink) (top)
Bob_Dobbs Guest Posts: n/a	http://slate.msn.com/id/2099425/ "The budget is busted; American soldiers need more armor; they're running out of supplies. Yet the Department of Energy is spending an astonishing $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year, and President Bush is requesting $6.8 billion more for next year and a total of $30 billion over the following four years. This does not include his much-cherished missile-defense program, by the way. This is simply for the maintenance, modernization, development, and production of nuclear bombs and warheads. Measured in "real dollars" (that is, adjusting for inflation), this year's spending on nuclear activities is equal to what Ronald Reagan spent at the height of the U.S.-Soviet standoff. It exceeds by over 50 percent the average annual sum ($4.2 billion) that the United States spent—again, in real dollars—throughout the four and a half decades of the Cold War." do we spend too much on nuclear weapons? do we misallot our military budget? we spend many billions on single planes, but cannot spare the $650 a vest for our soldiers on duty? what kind of leader is this bush character if he makes decisions like these?