I've read that number and heard it quoted enough times. Feel free to look it up. I can throw GE in there as an example.
I think you're referring to the report that 1 and 5 big companies paid no corporate taxes from 2009 to 2011 (link:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/13/pf/taxes/gao-corporate-taxes/) Nothing about them "getting more than they paid", and I don't even know what you mean by that. That wasn't surprising considering many of the losses these companies incurred during the financial crisis, etc. It's not unusual. But I do agree that we need corporate tax reform. Lower the rate, make it flat, and there will be no need for deductions. That includes personal income taxes as well. I'm all for that. We've spoken before about flat taxes across the board.
Also, I can't find anything about GE not paying corporate taxes, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had one year where they were able to write off losses sustained by GE Capital, which was going through some trouble during the financial crisis.
If we had universal health care, we could eliminate the VA for the most part, if not entirely. A much smaller entity could stick around to cover pensions and other benefits.
You have to reform health care before you can just cut military spending. Otherwise you'll suddenly have millions of veterans inflating our Medicare and Medicaid budget, which will do way more harm than good. Those are two separate issues.
As far as emiminating military jobs, so what? Like coal and other fossil fuel jobs, folks need to transition to the 21st century.
So what? Millions of active duty personnel and those who work for defense contractors suddenly out of a job and looking for work is a good thing? Your solution to reducing the debt and providing everyone with free higher education is to lay off millions of paid workers and having them stand on the unemployment line?