A Country With A Future or The Sacred Cows?

         The United States of America has long struggled to keep its budget and debts in check, and recently it has failed to do just that. The country's debt is now $13.8 trillion dollars. According to David Walker, former chairman of the Congressional Budget Office, "[the Country is] accumulating debt burdens that will rival those of a third world nation within 10 years. Alone, the cost of the Defense department, home-mortgage interest deduction, and social security takes up about 40% of the nation's budget for 2010. Now the country is at a junction in which it must choose to either make the necessary, yet unpopular, budget and program cuts or let the national debt reach an even higher level.

         The government needs to take responsibility for its part in the deficit and work to fix the country's ailing budget. The government must reel in its spending, especially in terms of the defense department's budget. The defense department is spending money on things that they do not have a significant possibility of ever needing. The Navy recently spent on $600 million littoral combat ship; the Marines just finished construction on a $13 billion fleet of amphibious landing vehicles. Many people in government have questioned the spending habits of the department, but have refused to do anything more than that for fear of rocking the boat. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma  believes that "taking defense spending off the table is indefensible. We need to protect our nation, not the Pentagon's sacred cows." I concur.