Defense: The Problem Is Not Money

[Minimalist]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/324595...tary-power

Russia, China making gains on US military power

The United States still outspends its rivals on the military, with a roughly $600 billion budget that is three times as much as Beijing and more than six times as much as Moscow.
But much of the U.S. spending is paying for military operations overseas, such as the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“U.S. forces … go halfway around the world to fight. And they fight in the other guy’s backyard, at times in places of the other guy’s choosing. And that’s the problem,” said David Ochmanek, senior defense researcher at the RAND Corporation.

We're never happier than when we are fucking with people.  And its driving us into the poor house.

[Anomalocaris]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/324595...tary-power

Russia, China making gains on US military power

The United States still outspends its rivals on the military, with a roughly $600 billion budget that is three times as much as Beijing and more than six times as much as Moscow.
But much of the U.S. spending is paying for military operations overseas, such as the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“U.S. forces … go halfway around the world to fight. And they fight in the other guy’s backyard, at times in places of the other guy’s choosing. And that’s the problem,” said David Ochmanek, senior defense researcher at the RAND Corporation.

We're never happier than when we are fucking with people.  And its driving us into the poor house.

One would think the 8000 mile moat to our west and the 4000 miles moat to our east would have allowed us to spend less on our military then china who has Russia on one border and India on another.

Keep in mind that when america's fundamental economic strength was truly rising in the world, which really all happened before WWII,  American military spending ranked something like 20th in the world. During this period of anemic military spending, American economy rose from something like 3% of the world to 30% of the world's. Since the end of WWII, American military spending has been the largest in the world, and now surpasss the combined total of the next 20 largest spenders, American relative economic strength had be in continuous decline, falling from something like 40% of the world in the mid 1950s to about 20% of the world's now.

Given how we have utterly failed to capitalize on the best defensive geography on the entire earth to better allocate our resources,  and think strength means to further misallocate our resources and further fail to capitalize on our natural geographic advantage, I hold very little hope for this country's long term position in the world over the next 50-100 years.

[Thumpalumpacus]

It's almost as if no one in the Administration has ever read The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. What we're experiencing epitomizes "imperial overstretch".

[abaris]

Given how we have utterly failed to capitalize on the best defensive geography on the entire earth to better allocate our resources,  and think strength means to further misallocate our resources and further fail to capitalize on our natural geographic advantage, I hold very little hope for this country's long term position in the world over the next 50-100 years.

Don't forget that after 1945 it was almost a constant state of war for the USA. Korea, some regime change efforts in the late 50ies, the quagmire of Vietnam until this so called war on terror that's been raging for the last 16 years. The only time without new military interventions were the Carter years, if you don't count the hostage liberation attempt.

War feeds war and the military industrial complex. I can't imagine how it is to grow up in a country that has been at war for something like 7 decades. Must be pretty Orwellian if you don't buy the official tales.

[Minimalist]

As George Carlin pointed out.