I can think of a few better ways. "Hey guys, your allowances have been torn to shreds, quarters are moudly and expensive, you're on a real-money 4 year pay cut, costs and charges have gone up, time away's increased, training's shot to hell, but don't worry, the budget's balanced and the equipment's affordable! You feel supported, right?"
But surely, it's the economy, stupid! Balance the budget and you can afford to address the deficiencies. The current SoS could fairly reasonably argue that the failings that you highlight, exist only because the budget has never been balanced.