Pretty awesome graphic on how taxes are allocated and how amazing the budget is for 2009. I would embed it in the post but it's kinda huge. http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/5927/wallstatsdatlarge.jpg
Please note that the entire Marine Corps gets more than a billion less than the Navy allots for just their base support. I would say, taking into account what we do as a Corps on an annual basis, that Marines give the best return on initial investment of all expenditures.
You have to consider, the Marine Corps isn't responsible for housing and maintaining billions of dollars worth of ships -- and that's not including the spiderweb of support networks that come from the personnel living and working on the ships. Also, think how much less the Corps will get once the "overseas contingency operations" wind down and the funding starts drying up. As well as the hassle of any potential post-war rumblings of combining the Marines and the Army. Plus, you know that we Marines pride ourselves on doing better with less. :yelwink2:
what are the conservatives griping about? the GOP favorites are up: DoD 7% DoState 17% VA Affairs 14% Homeland Security 8% Dem favorites, not so much: DoEducation 0% HHS -2% EPA -4% DoE 5% HUD 3%
DOT: -5% and Education no change. That right there should be what stimulus goes to. Fixing the interstates would be big job makers even if it is unionized work What really strikes me as odd is what got cuts. I expected the executive and legislative branch budgets to go up. For example: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Budget: -7% Renewable Energy Budget: -27% (Fossil Fuels are up which is good for the state) Environmental Projects: -38% Forest Service:- 7% Another thing I didn't like seeing was was that in the construction budget for the War on Terror has money for the state of California group in with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Walter Reed.
