By William L. Garvin
When President Obama outlined his new defense strategy last week, I turned to television the next day hoping to hear some informed media analysis. Instead, I found the stations running interminable and mind numbing stories on Casey Anthony’s video release. That was interrupted by more detailed information of the body found on Queen Elizabeth’s estate. Then there were glowing reports of how greatly our economy has improved.
The narcissistic Ms. Anthony deserves no attention at all and I have only a fleeting interest in British homicides. However, I have become increasingly frustrated with the governmentally manipulated numbers regarding our economy. One should logically conclude that the opposite of unemployment is… employment! Not so. If you stop looking for work, you are not employed, but in the curious schemes of government things, you are magically no longer unemployed-- you are simply not counted as unemployed. What rubbish!
A simpler way of seeing how much the economy has improved over the last year would be to visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website and ask a simple question: how many people were employed in December of 2010 and how many people were employed in December of 2011? In December, 2010, BLS reported that 153,613,000 people were employed; in December, 2011, BLS shows153,887,000 people were employed. Of that latter number, 8.1million workers are “involuntary part time.” So I have a very simple question: if the President’s economic strategies have created millions of new jobs, why aren’t there more people employed? Until that can be explained, it’s all government media smoke and mirrors. Again it’s been proven that “figures don’t lie but liars figure!”
Back to the main issue at hand, which is, as the New York Times headline read, “Obama takes lead on defense strategy.” Knowing that Senator Obama argued vehemently against the surge in Iraq and then flip-flopped to following the same strategy in Afghanistan; knowing that he dithered for weeks before giving General Petraeus a fraction of the troops he requested; knowing that President Obama used a strategy of “leading from behind” in Libya; knowing that he subjugated American forces to NATO command; knowing that he committed U.S. forces to both Libya and Central Africa without consultation or consent of Congress, it is difficult to see what qualifies him to “take the lead” on the safety and security of the United States and the structure of our military. Another NY Times quote: “White House and Pentagon officials said that Obama spent a substantial amount of time with military officials on the new strategy, which they defined as six meetings he had on the strategy with military leaders and regional commanders from September to late December.” Furthermore, the article quoted Andrew Krepinevich, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments: “Certainly it indicates a level of interest on the President’s part, over and above what we’ve seen from him before.” Now that’s scary if six meetings is a Herculean rampup for what should be the President’s highest priority!
It’s predicted that our military will be cut by tens of thousands. Even so, one might question the wisdom of advertising to the world that we will no longer be able to fight two wars simultaneously. Take a number, adversaries. One at a time. Single file--no pushing! It is comforting to know that this “leaner” military will still be “agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats.” It must be nice to have such Presidential certitude that he already knows the “full range” of contingencies and threats. Apparently the smoke from the employment numbers is contagious.
The media should pay attention to what matters. It is reported that more than half of the $450 billion in cuts will come from increasing the costs to military retirees for their healthcare, their prescriptions and reducing the already less-than-generous military retirement benefits. If we, the American people, allow that to happen, it is a tragic betrayal of the highest order of our men and women in uniform. You can kiss your volunteer military goodbye. Forget trivial pursuits. This is something worth every citizen’s outrage and the media spotlight.
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