US Military Budget Just Increased By Another 100 Billion...Media Silent

[Minimalist]

Self defense is absolutely necessary. BUT....using it as a means of welfare for large contractors is a big no no in my opinion.

It's even worse than that.  It means JOBS in congressional districts.  It's why the Arizona congressional delegation loses its shit over the thought of retiring the obseolete A-10 and using the ground crews who are supporting it for the F-35. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthomps...746df868a1

Obsolete A-10 Thunderbolt Becomes A Symbol Of American Air Power's Decline

It's also why we continue to build tanks that the Army does not need.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-...story.html

Of course, this presupposes a major land war with Russia or China.  But it also keeps the money flowing in!

[Anomalocaris]

Self defense is absolutely necessary. BUT....using it as a means of welfare for large contractors is a big no no in my opinion. We could easily trim off 25% of our defense budget, put that money somewhere else more useful. What's funny is this money only drips to those who are actually serving.

As a country protected by oceanic moat on either side and neighbors with 10% of war waging potential on the other two sides, such self defense as might extravagantly be deemed absolutely necessary would still be minuscule compared to grotesquely bloated complex we are loath to trim.

In our circumstances an absolutely necessary defense spending might be "equal to the largest naval budget in either ocean", 0.5%-1% of GDP, not 6%.  The other 5.5% exists for self aggrandizement, and to placate majority of the population with whom the country has no seen fit to share the increase in the size of economy for over 40 years, so must be brough off by being made stupid and suck on the lollipop of being part of the flag wrapped construct that can “kick ass”.

Gradually, over the 75 years since the end of WWII, American economy has declined from 60% of the world economy to 20% of the world economy, while a level of defense capability deemed "absolutely necessary" has grown from "being able to hold off aggressors long enough for economic and industrial superiority to be brought to bear" to "the only way to be secure in our home is to have such offensive power always ready that everyone else is totally and continuously vulnerable to us in their homes".

Not that I think it is illegitimate for a country to seek to aggrandize itself.  But let’s not sell aggrandizement as absolute necessity.

[Minimalist]

You are correct.  The Department of Defense should really be named the Department of Offense.

Like so much else, we are full of shit about that too.

[Anomalocaris]

Imagine if China defends herself against us by building naval basis in Hawaii, and Vancouver island, and stationing 50,000 troops in Mexico, and deploy strategic bombers to the Bahamas. Such is america’s Defence against everyone else.

[Minimalist]

We seem to be losing our minds because they built an island in the South China Sea.

[Anomalocaris]

We seem to be losing our minds because they built an island in the South China Sea.

china’s economy is already larger than ours.   Although they lag in key technologies, their actual industrial production capacity in key areas is as much greater than ours as ours were greater than those of japan during WWII.   In the long run they will be able to more than match us ship for ship, plane for plane, all else being equal.

But all else is not equal.   They will enjoy the huge cost advantage of short supply line because most of their assets will be based near China and close to their source of supply.  What is more their forces will need no time to transit to and from the field of battle.   All their forces can be made ready and brought to bear at their moment of their choosing.

Not only would each piece of our asset require a much more costly logistic tail, a large chunk of our total force will always be in transit to and from their distant area of operation from an America half a world away. Unless we give away the game first by maneuvering to move all of our forces there, and if they see it coming they can attack before our full force get there and destroy us in detail, we will always only be able to count on part of our forces to face all of theirs.

So even if they merely match us ship for ship and plane for plane, they can still do that on a far smaller military budget, and yet still be confident they will enjoy large numerical advantage at the point of actual contact.

[Minimalist]

The WLB is incapable of comprehending any of that.

He still thinks he is screwing plumbers out of payment.

[Anomalocaris]

The WLB is incapable of comprehending any of that.

He still thinks he is screwing plumbers out of payment.

Let’s see if he is screwing plumbers or if plumbers are screwing him in the prison shower.

[vorlon13]

Military increase??

Well, they have to spend all that tariff money on something . . . . .

[ReptilianPeon]

Somebody needs to tell Donald Trump that investment in clean, green, energy will create far more jobs than increasing the military budget. NASA could have done with that money too. But - like most of Washington D.C. - the president prefers to listen to those with the largest wallets.