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You dont have to be a liberal to recognize there are significant areas for cuts in the DoD budget, just like there are in every area of the fed. We continue to pay for pork projects solely because certain congressmen lobby for them, not because the military wants them. We continue to spend money on R and D projects with concepts sold by contractors that never come to fruition. Defense contractors hire retired colonels and generals, then get them to pitch concepts for contracts awarded and signed by general and colonols that are about to retire and end up working at...shockingly...that same defense contractor. They then have 7-10 years to run the project and if the idea is accepted after the investment then MORE cash is dumped into the program...if it is rejected (and MOST concepts never get beyond the concept and R and D stage) then the contract just expires and they move on to some new sales pitch.
Clearly, we should listen to China when determining our defense budget.
:roll:
Oh, no, no, no! Everyone KNOWS we need $500 screwdrivers and $1000 toilet seats
Communist are going to be running the world in the next few generations.
Even going by the likely inflated DoD estimates Chinese military spending is still lower as a percentage of GDP when compared to Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. The Russians are actually nearly at the point of the U.S. in that respect, though obviously the white Ruskies of the north aren't quite as frighteningly foreign-looking as the great yellow threat of the East.
And you know this. I would like to see the massive amount of links that you have to prove your point. There have to 100's of thousands of them to back up your claim.
in fact I do know this. When China builds a "highway" through a mountain in the middle of nowhere that is 16 lanes wide, and bent at the entrances with bomb traps, and is near no large population center except a tank division? that's not a highway for Farmer Xiao to drive his mule to the field - that's a tunnel to protect/hide a tank column. but it's just them building a road, so it's 'civilian infrastructure'. When China goes "mining for iron ore" in a place that has no iron ore, and we see them pouring 7,000 psi concrete burster slabs on top of the "mine"? That's not a mine, that's a bunker. But it's a mine so it goes under "mining" rather than military expenditures. and that's just two of the more obvious examples.
16 lane ones with bomb traps and blast doors in the middle of nowhere? regular tunnels for a road system are one thing - but just because the Chinese call it that doesn't make it that.
Clearly you hate freedom and apple pie.
Yep. When we built the interstate system, much of it ran through the middle of nowhere. In fact, most infrastructure is built where there is no one because people prefer to live where the infrastructure already exists.
Will wonders ever cease?
Ok so we've taken a guess, as accurate as can be I'm sure, and I trust your source. We're still looking at a a difference of about 600 billion dollars, so what was the point of this topic besides to equate the left with the Chinese.
Isn't that enough? How can you ask for more than that? It's vital information that all Americans need to know.O... what was the point of this topic besides to equate the left with the Chinese.
Oh, no, no, no! Everyone KNOWS we need $500 screwdrivers and $1000 toilet seats
No they aren't.
Especially since China isn't communist anymore.
That tells me that they will spend less. The US is already outspending them 5 or 6 to one. So they are correct the US is spending to much.
True as that may be, you are ignoring a good point made by me and others here, there is an incredible amount of waste and bad contracting in the military more than any politician will ever freely admit in fear of retribution and more than any Republican will ever care to think about because even though they question the government as a whole's motives and cost non-stop they dare not question the motives of the security and defense departments as they misinterpret that as unpatriotic.
I have a question:
Let's say we cut our military spending in half. What impacts would you forsee re: China?
Yes, yes you should cut down on military spending. Cut down on the little things. Like that extra stock pile of missiles, or maybe cut out the uranium that is in the Abram's armour. Small things that wont affect the effectiveness of the US military.
How do you know there is uranium in the armor of M-1's?
Depleted uranium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaArmor plate
Because of its high density, depleted uranium can also be used in tank armor, sandwiched between sheets of steel armor plate. For instance, some late-production M1A1HA and M1A2 Abrams tanks built after 1998 have DU reinforcement as part of the armor plating in the front of the hull and the front of the turret, and there is a program to upgrade the rest (see Chobham armor).
How do you know there is uranium in the armor of M-1's?
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