US Military Funding and Staffing (1 Viewer)

[Huntn]

It is extremely irresponsible to remove most regulations on business. Yes there are some regulations that aren't needed but most are.

It's just as extremely irresponsible to lower taxes so much that we don't have the money to pay our nation's bills.

It's extremely irresponsible to slash spending on needed programs while increasing spending on programs that are already properly funded. Such as the military.

The responsible thing to do is to return to the taxes and regulation that caused America to become super power.

Since you mentioned the military and expense, I decided to start a new thread…

Can we still afford to be the World’s Police?
An argument can be made that the miltary part of the budget is overblown, this year projected to be $860B, and you could legitimately ask, can we afford being the world’s police while glancing at our ever increasing National debt? ($34.5B ever growing) I tried finding a 2023 Pie Chart that showed the percentage of miltary spending as compared to total federal budget but could not find one.

Here is another issue, our, recruitment levels are down in all branches of the military services. Our government leadership actually got rid of 20year “legacy” pensions, replaced by a 401k which as most people know is not as good as a guaranteed pension. I suspect that most on the service men end, call that a mistake, especially with a volunteer force. And what happens when we get ourselves involved nvolved in the next war?

How about 4 years of mandatory National Service for all able bodied citizens after high school? It does not have to be military, and it would add expenses to our National budget, If we get into another shooting war, I predict our military will become super stretched for citizens.

Military recruitment is down. Why don’t young Americans want to join? | USAFacts

A diminishing pool of Americans are eligible to join the Army, Navy, or Air Force. An even smaller pool want to.

usafacts.org

Army, Navy and Air Force predict recruiting shortfalls this year

Only the Marine Corps is confident it'll meet this year's mission.

www.militarytimes.com

https://www.usdebtclock.org/

 

[Taurus]

Shouldn't we be able to spend say, as much as Russia and China combined and still be able to whup either of them?

For my money we ought to tell our allies that we'll guarantee them ownership of the sky and the sea, they handle the ground and we'll be happy to sell them as much N-1 equipment as they want.

 

[J-DONK]

Shouldn't we be able to spend say, as much as Russia and China combined and still be able to whup either of them?

For my money we ought to tell our allies that we'll guarantee them ownership of the sky and the sea, they handle the ground and we'll be happy to sell them as much N-1 equipment as they want.

The EU as a whole has a higher GDP then America. They just need to centralize, and standardize a fighting force to protect the EU. It's weird that Europe still expects America to big brother them like this. NATO can and should still exist as a deterrent, but the EU should the primary driver of their own defense.

Taiwan is the place America might really be needed. According to experts that fight will happen in the next decade or not at all.

I'm all for cutting defense, but a lot of it needs to be the gazillion bases we have overseas.

 

[Heathen]

I thought this article was interesting:

We Get What We Pay For: The Cycle of Military Spending, Industry Power, and Economic Dependence | Costs of War

The Costs of War Project is a team of 35 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2011. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

watson.brown.edu

 

[samiam5211]

If the US ever faced a true existential threat, it would be a nuclear war.

We only need people to defend other countries.

 

[Dragon]

If the US ever faced a true existential threat, it would be a nuclear war.

We only need people to defend other countries.

Not correct. The US economy is build on trade for one thing. Another issue is Alaska. With climate change the north becomes ice free for longer and longer periods of time and the arctic regions holds huge deposits of important raw materials. The Berings strait is not so big after all (51 mi) so Alaska could easily become a war zone.

 

[samiam5211]

Not correct. The US economy is build on trade for one thing. Another issue is Alaska. With climate change the north becomes ice free for longer and longer periods of time and the arctic regions holds huge deposits of important raw materials. The Berings strait is not so big after all (51 mi) so Alaska could easily become a war zone.

If Russia or China invaded Alaska, it would be a nuclear war.

Any direct conflict between us and Russia would eventually escalate to the point of being nuclear, and one side or the other would get ahead of that and it would escalate to nuclear very very quickly.

 

[Dragon]

If Russia or China invaded Alaska, it would be a nuclear war.

Any direct conflict between us and Russia would eventually escalate to the point of being nuclear, and one side or the other would get ahead of that and it would escalate to nuclear very very quickly.

The way to avoid that is to have allies. If Europe falls then the US will be the next target. And remember that Nato member states have fought and died along side US troops at the last two wars that the US was involved in. My nephew was in Afghanistan and lost 2 of his best friends there. I keep hearing about how the US is doing all the fighting but facts are that post WW2 more nato units have fought in US wars than the other way round.

 

[samiam5211]

The way to avoid that is to have allies. If Europe falls then the US will be the next target. And remember that Nato member states have fought and died along side US troops at the last two wars that the US was involved in. My nephew was in Afghanistan and lost 2 of his best friends there. I keep hearing about how the US is doing all the fighting but facts are that post WW2 more nato units have fought in US wars than the other way round.

I think we should continue to expand NATO.

We should get Mexico to join too.

 

[LovesMusic7360]

Since you mentioned the military and expense, I decided to start a new thread…

Can we still afford to be the World’s Police?
An argument can be made that the miltary part of the budget is overblown, this year projected to be $860B, and you could legitimately ask, can we afford being the world’s police while glancing at our ever increasing National debt? ($34.5B ever growing) I tried finding a 2023 Pie Chart that showed the percentage of miltary spending as compared to total federal budget but could not find one.

Here is another issue, our, recruitment levels are down in all branches of the military services. Our government leadership actually got rid of 20year “legacy” pensions, replaced by a 401k which as most people know is not as good as a guaranteed pension. I suspect that most on the service men end, call that a mistake, especially with a volunteer force. And what happens when we get ourselves involved nvolved in the next war?

How about 4 years of mandatory National Service for all able bodied citizens after high school? It does not have to be military, and it would add expenses to our National budget, If we get into another shooting war, I predict our military will become super stretched for citizens.

Military recruitment is down. Why don’t young Americans want to join? | USAFacts

A diminishing pool of Americans are eligible to join the Army, Navy, or Air Force. An even smaller pool want to.

usafacts.org

Army, Navy and Air Force predict recruiting shortfalls this year

Only the Marine Corps is confident it'll meet this year's mission.

www.militarytimes.com

https://www.usdebtclock.org/

I'm flattered that what I posted inspired you to start this thread.

I'm a life long liberal and proud of it. I have always believed that the military is way over funded.

I have also believed that there needs to be an audit of how that military money is spent every 5 years or so. Whatever is found to be wasteful, unnecessary, or theft should be defunded. Whatever company is found to be overcharging to be held accountable, made to return the money and those responsible for it, put in prison for their theft.

We spend way too much on the military while parts of our nation turn into third world conditions.

It needs to stop.