Your Part in $680 Billion

Without much national discussion, a new $680 billion annual military spending bill was just signed by President Obama. This, all while we're screaming about spending $96 billion, equal to 14% of the military budget, on healthcare reform. Priorities, people!

Anyway, Mike Konczal has a Nudge of the Day where he proposes breaking each taxpayer's portion of the defense budget in his/her paycheck. A person making $60,000 a year, for instance, would contribute about $97 every two weeks toward our national defense. Each year. Which could ostensibly keep going up every year. Contrast that to the $14 each two weeks this taxpayer would be spending on healthcare reform.

Let's see: $2,521 a year on wasteful defense contracting, like Blackwater, and KBR, and Halliburton, or $356 a year on helping more Americans get affordable health care insurance. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.