Obama and The Military...and debt

Obama has already begun to cut defense spending. The article, ostensibly about the proposed missile shield in Poland, went on to give some specific numbers. The most specific point is there will be no additional funding. Obama’s proposed budget only funds ongoing operations, with a supplement for Afghanistan and Iraq. The expanding military requirements, coupled with lower financing, does not bode well for the future—much as it did during the Clinton administration.

Meanwhile, a proposed insurance change for Veterans was scrapped by the White House. Despite the number of military families that have been receiving welfare support, the Obama administration had plans to make military personnel pay for their treatments through their own private health insurance. While in this time, I applaud the idea of creating savings, this was appalling. The White House has announced that is no longer under consideration. However, it seems the issue may not be completely off the table:

Having dropped the idea of billing private insurers for the treatment of service-connected conditions, administration officials have told veterans groups that they want to find another way to save a similar amount of money.

(…and people scoffed when Obama was accused of being anti-military…)


In other Obama news, it seems that on top of borrowing huge sums from China, the US will also be giving China money for going green.

Discussions are in the early stages but the EU has been talking to the Obama administration about offering cash for clean technology to countries like China if it agrees in turn to cap emissions in key industrial sectors and adopt cutting-edge technology.

After severely criticizing one US bank for using stimulus funds in China, it will be interesting to see if this is ever explained. This is especially true in light of China’s quiet diversification--a fancy way of saying they are scared about mounting US debt.

(…gee…I wonder why that might be…)