David Stockman, former Office of Management and Budget Director under President Reagan, recently criticized ACA when I watched Aljazeera America at home as a furloughed Federal employee. Mr. Stockman characterized the ACA as a flawed hybrid piece of socialism (all can enter) and capitalism. Regarding the latter, Mr. Stockman said that doctors, hospitals, Big Pharma and even “wheelchair manufacturers” are lining up to profit. This comes from a man who said during the same interview that America must decrease spending and increase taxes. He was especially critical that the “war machine is bloated” and is “utterly unnecessary.”
Bloated, in my opinion, is an understatement. According to the Wall Street Journal (9/18/13), the U.S. spent $682 BILLION dollars on “military spending” in 2012 whereas the second country on the list, China, spent $166 billion. Countries 2-10 (China, Russia, U.K., Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, and Italy) spent a total of $619 billion.
I agree with the former senior Reagan official. America needs to significantly decrease military spending.
