Wasteful Spending

I've bitched and moaned many times (most recently HERE) re: the absurdity of our defense budget in lieu of how it could be better spent (particularly during a time a massive WPA-style effort would be incredibly useful.) Of course the answer is that Republicans don't see it as anyone's "right" to not die from lack of healthcare or a collapsed bridge like it is for them to not die thanks to the madman efforts of a guy halfway across the globe who's great on the monkeybars. And of course the only thing more patriotic than not paying taxes for anything useful is paying ALL your taxes towards defense.

But I wonder how "patriotic" someone feels after hearing this line, however:

I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the quote, but someone told me he heard a Chinese official tell him “over the past decade you’ve spent $1 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan, we’ve spent $1 trillion building the future of China.”

Funny. The more we spend on defense, the less there is worth defending. Irony, wrapped in wonton.