Defense Spending

Re "America's 'Pacific pivot' craze," Opinion, July 2 Max Boot calls the Obama administration's proposed military budget cuts "draconian. " Surely he is aware of the concept of the "defense" budget. I emphasize the word due to the fact that, believe it or not, there are some who think the function of theU.S. militaryhas far exceeded its stated purpose (the defense of our country) and is now more about "offense. " Example: The United States has less than 5% of the world's population, but its annual "defense" budget is about 40% of the world's total military spending.

At the height of the wars in the Middle East, AeroVironment Inc. - a drone maker based in Monrovia - soared into the public limelight. In the last decade, AeroVironment became the Pentagon's top supplier of small drones. Its financial balance sheet prospered, its drones delivered results and its technology landed on the cover of Time magazine as one of the year's best inventions in 2011. But these days, not so much. Over the last month the company's shares have plummeted more than 18% as federal spending begins to dry up and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to an end. It lowered its revenue guidance by nearly one-third, to $230 million to $250 million from $348 million to $370 million.

The article depicting wasteful weapon expenditures in the $2-trillion massive defense buildup shows us who were the true "welfare queens" during that decade. BOB BUTLER, Culver City

President Obama and congressional leaders are engaged in high-stakes negotiations over billions in federal budget cuts that could have a dramatic impact on California's economy. But Gov. Jerry Brown refused to say whether or not he supports the reductions, urging lawmakers instead to be wary of the effect decisions in Washington can have on the state's economy.   Billions in cuts to defense, healthcare and other programs are set to go into effect on March 1 unless Republicans and Democrats in Washington can come up with a replacement deal.

Paul D. Ryan insisted in the vice presidential debate that defense spending would not increase under a Mitt Romney administration. Rather, he said, their budget would prevent President Obama's proposed $478-billion defense cut over the decade, as well as the additional $500-billion cuts coming in January as a result of the 2011 debt-reduction deal with Congress. "We're just not going to cut the defense budget," Ryan said. In this case, Ryan may have been airing a slightly different approach than his running mate.

Re "The 'hard power' deficit," Opinion, Sept. 11 Gary Schmitt, who laments the decrease in defense spending by Western governments, writes as if this is another century. Countries no longer field massive militaries, as territorial and ideological struggles have declined. The United States should have learned from the four useless, stalemated Asian land wars that we have fought since World War II. Those small and poor countries chose to not play by our rules and employed hit-and-run, asymmetrical tactics.

Re "Who lost Stockton?," Editorial, June 28 The Times gets it mostly correct, stating that running a city "requires skill, experience and a sense of duty. " Its assertion that this "involves the very business-like practice of taking risks with other people's money" is off the mark, however. The comment also applies to state and federal governments. Ever optimists, we assume that the requisite skills and experience are present to address the issues when, in fact, such an expectation is not realistic.

Re "Romney's arithmetic," Opinion, June 24 When Ronald Reagan ran for office on a platform of avoiding deficits despite lower taxes and greater Pentagon spending, George H.W. Bush, his opponent in the 1980 GOP primary election, called that approach "voodoo economics," and rightly so considering that Reagan tripled the national debt by the time he left office. It looks as though Mitt Romney has adopted Reagan's platform. He proposes to increase defense spending by as much as 50% while cutting nonmilitary programs.

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Sunday that it would be “disastrous” for Congress to allow cuts in defense spending to take place as scheduled in January. In an interview that aired on ABC's “This Week,” Panetta said the Pentagon “has to play a role in trying to be able to achieve fiscal responsibility,” but warned against allowing the cuts, which would take place as a result of the failure to reach a deficit reduction deal last year.  The cuts to Medicare and defense spending are to be made through a process known as sequestration.

WASHINGTON - The American economy grew at a sluggish rate in the first quarter, stirring more doubts about the strength of the recovery and the outlook for jobs in coming months. The economy expanded at a lackluster 2.2% annual rate in the first three months of the year, down from a 3% pace in the fourth quarter of last year, the Commerce Department said Friday. Most analysts were expecting the gross domestic product - the total value of goods and services produced in the U.S. - to increase at a 2.6% rate or more in the January-March period.

A few days ago, on a tranquil spring afternoon, I hugged my only son, holding back tears because he hates sappy stuff like that, and watched him go off to war. With luck, we'll be together again around Christmas. I had hoped that I might see him sooner, but the mid-tour leaves that he and his soldiers had been promised got canceled amid Pentagon budget cutbacks. My sorrow was tempered by great pride as we traded goodbyes. He is a born leader. During recess, he was always the kid who organized the games.