That's a good point. People on both sides of issues tend to exaggerate stuff...looks like those numbers are exaggerated on closer inspection.
But I will say this...didn't we WIN WWII? Yet we are still in Japan and Germany.
That costs a damn fortune.
Okay, Germany made sense during the Cold War. But not now. It's a lot of money that basically does nothing but prop up the economies of Germany and Japan where the bases are located.
Also...don't get me started on Iraq. And as for Afghanistan? We just had some young soldiers killed this last week there.
Didn't we originally invade them because the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden (because he was married to the leaders daughter)?
We won that war in about a week. Bin Laden is now DEAD. But we NEVER leave. Ten years later and we are STILL there.
Another thing we waste money on...the war on drugs. We send troops and money down to countries in South America trying to force them to fight drug cartels. Yet the drug crop is the main money maker for millions of farmers down there. "We're gonna send troops in and helicopters to drop poisonous herbicides all over your country to kill your coca plants. You're all gonna get very sick and have birth defects. But when you feel a little better we COMMAND you to stop planting coca and start planting corn."
It's all a big fucking waste of money. And not what we are supposed to be doing or what we claim to stand for (freedom).
And then of course there is the new giant (expensive) TSA bureaucracy and all the horse shit of the "Patriot Act"
Yeah, if our govt. was this great beneficial organization that did nothing but build roads and "innovate" to allow us all to have a job (you own a business? you didn't build that!) then I would say "yeah" income tax is great!
But that isn't what's happening. While I typed this sentence we probably sent another multi-million dollar drone over some village and bombed the fuck out of it.