European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes May columns Tom Wicker memorial Day a time to Ponder arms buildup memorial when we pay tribute to the americans who died in the civil War and on the Battle Fields of the the Lebanon and was a Good time to think about the vitally important debate on the 1986 military the costly Reagan buildup will be but now and by How much that buildup has focused primarily on new weapons and hardware not All of it necessary or effective rather than on the efficiency and readiness of the armed these facts from the Center for defense information in Washington offer a vivid picture of what has been happening after adjusting for Congress has approved percent of administration requests for the military in fiscal years 1981 through in the last six beginning in the Carter and the military budget More than doubled weapons procurement has nearly tripled from the billion Congress approved in making spending for new weapons the fastest growing element in the Federal outstripping even the growth in debt the Cost of preparing for nuclear War with the soviet Union even under president reagans sensible dictum that such a War can not be won and must never be fought has grown from billion in 1980 to the billion he requested for by his Esti the costs of nuclear War fighting forces will total billion to billion Between now and for eight major weapons systems the my mis George will Sile and the Trident the Pershing ii and the midget Man ballistic sea and ground launched cruise the b1b bomber and reagans strategic de sense initiative costs have expanded from billion in 1980 to a requested billion in Navy shipbuilding costs have expanded from billion in 1980 to billion in with billion More projected for 1986 and to keep these figures in it is necessary to understand what the Center for defense information Calls the funding wedge that costs Are relatively Small in the beginning while weapons Are in the Early stage of but climb very rapidly once production so when Congress approved a number of new weapons systems requested by Reagan in 1981 and it let itself and the taxpayers in for greatly increased spending three to eight years once even As fiscal and International circumstances the momentum of weapons development programs makes them hard to or even slow witness the Many lives of the my even though it has no secure Basing Mode and no real not Only is Congress reluctant to Cut off a new weapon and sacrifice the huge sums already spent on but most such weapons develop powerful constituencies in the Pentagon and among military contractors and de sense workers in numerous states and congressional Dis partially for these the when pro posing new often underestimates their Long term Gid figures show that on the average Dur ing the weapons Price estimates grew 50 per cent Between development and actual Sim the general accounting office estimates that if average historical trends the pentagons 1984 1988 military spending will be at least billion higher than originally these realities suggest that what the Pentagon spends taxpayers Money for is As important As How much it the Gid notes that last year Congress Cut Rea Gans military requests by billion but took no big funding wedges permanently out of the it is easier to Cut personnel costs and appropriations for Rou Tine items like spare parts and ammunition than it is to eliminate big tickets the useless my program billion already spent or the faulty sergeant York Divi Sion air defense gun billion already the cd estimates that billion could be saved in 1986 alone by cancelling or slowing these and other questionable procurement but it recommends increasing administration proposals by billion to eliminate a proposed civilian personnel pay and by million to expand army ammunition the pending congressional budget setting Only the pentagons Overall spending is a vital first if restrictive it might even Force the armed services and appropriations later this to make hard decisions to cancel unnecessary weapons and hardware and focus instead on Mili tary new York times news service Taketo granted quotient soars in today society remember the reaction to the writing on the Wall at Belshazzar feast old fashioned old testament fear took the fun out of the in Ohio and in Maryland there have been episodes like involving savings and loan there has been a spurt of some of it reason ably related to the condition of some mismanaged and inadequately insured but there is another and remarkably simple explanation for the kind of panic that can produce runs on Thrift the simple explanation is of nothing is simple in a world in which a run on a Bank involves lines of people sitting in line in Lawn do you know How your Bank works you know you rent your Money to the Bank does stuff with and makes and gives some of it to you in inter est and such As checks decorated with scenes of Cape but that is a pretty sketchy knowledge of something As crucial if you think about it As the whereabouts and activities of your you rarely have to think about which is something to think Thrift institutions Are examples of this facet of mod Ern life we Are surrounded by things we cannot do without and do not Banks Are not income Bankers understand them at least some some of the but the rest of us have to take it on Faith that the banking system works swim we must take much on if we took time to understand we would never get the Lawn Mower sharpened or the screen door when that Trust begins to it can crumble producing a Century ago transportation a horse and buggy was in the sense that All the moving parts were visible and the horse was but you know what i today we go to an step into a thin tube of Are hurled feet up and Miles and few of us have even the foggiest notion of How a Jet engine Why a plane flies or How the  system keeps the planes from bump ing one in the 19th when doctors were they could not do much for other than make them somewhat comfortable while waiting for nature to or kill today doctors Are vastly More they also Are proportionately less intelligible not less in the 19th of an a family Ohio savings and loan you pe0oe in w wanted it could try conversation ask grandmother she can Tell you what that was or there was nothing mysteriously today families stare at devices that bring sights and sounds into their living although we Are sure there is a reasonable explanation for the physics of lord for the sights emitted by not one american in can do Justice to a child who How does that work a flourishing indeed a functioning depends on the mass of men and women not thinking about a Large and growing number of things they depend on in daily one measurement of the modernity of the modern world is the of go the Takezo granted a crucial task although often mundane of modern government is to enlarge the it does this by inspecting so customers need not calculate the risk before deciding to Trust an unfamiliar it certifies the safety of elevators so my Tomey amp it were till 0e Safe we never need to make a Prudential calculation before inserting ourselves in a Box hauled aloft by i am guess ing bullies and cables and of course As is its often gets car ried away and tries to reduce to Zero lifes never to keep modern society government must act in Many Small ways to take Large amounts of hesitancy out of it does for when it provides insurance for deposits in Thrift Uch insurance removes the drag of anxiety from a crucial social activity we May fling ourselves into a wrote in a fit of divine but we Are glad that the net maker did not make the Hammock in a fit of divine modern society requires government that looks Over the shoulder and occasionally the makers of the Many networks of institutions on which we Washington Post writers group