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Donald Trump has ordered the US' withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan and has proposed material cutbacks in our presence in the ROC and Germany...And yet he also authorized a massive increase in the DoD's budget, and wants even more next year. Mind you, Trump also portrays stunts such as these as catalysts to crafting a US military that "does more with less." Less what? Less coherent comprehensive cogent cogitation?
Read the content linked-to below and you'll see that what Trump is actually proposing is to do less and spend a lot more doing it.
Think about that.
- The US already has what is far and away the world's most powerful military.
- The US already spends more on its military than the seven next most militarily "spendy" nations COMBINED
- Trump wants to reduce the nature and extent of our military involvement and deployments overseas.
- Trump orders Pentagon to consider reducing U.S. troops in South Korea
- Trump says the US should spend less on NATO -- Nevermind that "spending less in/on NATO" isn't remotely a factually or contextually accurate depiction of how the US' or any other nation's so-called NATO spending works.
- Trump instructs Pentagon to consider removing troops from Germany
- Yet he thinks we need to purchase...
- 15,000 more units
- 93 new F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighters,
- 142 Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, and
- 13 Navy battle force ships.
... blithely treading over the Budget Control Act to the tune of ~$85 billion.
However...
- Social security has to, in his mind, be cut and he wants billions to build a wall that won't work.
Why have I presented the above line? Because I haven't forgotten that Ronald Reagan essentially "forced" the USSR into economic ruin by "daring" it to keep up with the US' capitalism-enabled spending when the USSR's command economy simply couldn't allocate resources adequately enough to sustain its doing so. (The USIC didn't contemporarily see and glean the nature and extent, thus germanity, of the economics of the matter, but hindsight is 2020 and the professionals in the military and intel communities, if nothing else, learn from their mistakes.)
What we're witnessing now is Trump over-allocating increasing shares of the US' economy, both current earnings (tax dollars and GDP) and future ones (future GDP, tax dollars plus the interest on the debt we incur to fund budget increases), thus threatening to do to the US economy what Reagan did to the Soviet Union's.
Hmm... the (logical?) alternative is to spend less on the US military and to deploy them everywhere (anywhere?) that local governments are unable (or unwilling?) to handle insurgents or terrorists on their own.
After 17 years of military deployment in Afghanistan (the world's leading opium supplier?) we are now said to be (somewhat?) beyond a stalemate and may be able to reduce our military forces deployed there within a few decades. US military 'involvement" in Iraq is going on 15 years and shows similar progress. It is a bit too soon to tell in Syria (under 5 years?) but that seems to be going quite well too. Meanwhile, Africa shows some signs that our military could be helpful in various whack-a-mole campaigns to fight global insurgency and terror.
Hmm... the (logical?) alternative is to spend less on the US military and to deploy them everywhere (anywhere?) that local governments are unable (or unwilling?) to handle insurgents or terrorists on their own.
After 17 years of military deployment in Afghanistan (the world's leading opium supplier?) we are now said to be (somewhat?) beyond a stalemate and may be able to reduce our military forces deployed there within a few decades. US military 'involvement" in Iraq is going on 15 years and shows similar progress. It is a bit too soon to tell in Syria (under 5 years?) but that seems to be going quite well too. Meanwhile, Africa shows some signs that our military could be helpful in various whack-a-mole campaigns to fight global insurgency and terror.
Much as I dislike the "Military-Industrial Complex" I am aware enough to recognize that it is a mainstay of the American economy.
Money spent on defense contracts goes to American businesses, who hire American workers to produce American-made guns, tanks, ships, airplanes, munitions, clothing, preserved foods, and other support materials. The military budget also goes to wages for military personnel and civilian support services. Then there are all the military facilities which provide economic support for surrounding civilian communities. This doesn't even touch on research and development investments, or all the various G.I. education bill programs.
One of the things we have come to expect from our government is jobs programs, and the US Military is one major jobs program as I have described above. That's where the increase in military spending is validated.
Meanwhile, just because we pull out of places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria does not mean we would no longer need the same level of active-duty forces for other possible military response purposes. What it does mean is we can stop depending on national guard call-ups which disrupt home life and place part-time soldiers at constant risk of death or injury...at least until the next time we NEED to call them up for a real war.
The thing I find most strange about this negative reaction? Both Hawks and Doves are decrying this pull-out. Yet is seems most of those doing it are content with risking other people's lives for their political view points.
I am not an isolationist, but I do not support overseas adventurism. Nor do I support the idea that it is the USA's responsibility to be the policeman off the world.
Donald Trump has ordered the US' withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan and has proposed material cutbacks in our presence in the ROC and Germany...And yet he also authorized a massive increase in the DoD's budget, and wants even more next year. Mind you, Trump also portrays stunts such as these as catalysts to crafting a US military that "does more with less." Less what? Less coherent comprehensive cogent cogitation?
Read the content linked-to below and you'll see that what Trump is actually proposing is to do less and spend a lot more doing it.
Think about that.
- The US already has what is far and away the world's most powerful military.
- The US already spends more on its military than the seven next most militarily "spendy" nations COMBINEDhttps://tinyurl.com/y74c77ke
- Trump wants to reduce the nature and extent of our military involvement and deployments overseas.
- Trump orders Pentagon to consider reducing U.S. troops in South Korea
- Trump says the US should spend less on NATO -- Nevermind that "spending less in/on NATO" isn't remotely a factually or contextually accurate depiction of how the US' or any other nation's so-called NATO spending works.
- Trump instructs Pentagon to consider removing troops from Germany
- Yet he thinks we need to purchase...
- 15,000 more units
- 93 new F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighters,
- 142 Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, and
- 13 Navy battle force ships.
... blithely treading over the Budget Control Act to the tune of ~$85 billion.
However...
- Social security has to, in his mind, be cut and he wants billions to build a wall that won't work.
Why have I presented the above line? Because I haven't forgotten that Ronald Reagan essentially "forced" the USSR into economic ruin by "daring" it to keep up with the US' capitalism-enabled spending when the USSR's command economy simply couldn't allocate resources adequately enough to sustain its doing so. (The USIC didn't contemporarily see and glean the nature and extent, thus germanity, of the economics of the matter, but hindsight is 2020 and the professionals in the military and intel communities, if nothing else, learn from their mistakes.)
What we're witnessing now is Trump over-allocating increasing shares of the US' economy, both current earnings (tax dollars and GDP) and future ones (future GDP, tax dollars plus the interest on the debt we incur to fund budget increases), thus threatening to do to the US economy what Reagan did to the Soviet Union's.
Profound Incoherence? :roll:
So some can't understand the merit in Trump's effort to "Retract US military round the world, yet increase DoD budget?"
1. Let's take the military budget increase issue first.
Much as I dislike the "Military-Industrial Complex" I am aware enough to recognize that it is a mainstay of the American economy.
Money spent on defense contracts goes to American businesses, who hire American workers to produce American-made guns, tanks, ships, airplanes, munitions, clothing, preserved foods, and other support materials. The military budget also goes to wages for military personnel and civilian support services. Then there are all the military facilities which provide economic support for surrounding civilian communities. This doesn't even touch on research and development investments, or all the various G.I. education bill programs.
One of the things we have come to expect from our government is jobs programs, and the US Military is one major jobs program as I have described above. That's where the increase in military spending is validated.
2. Now as to the decreased military presence overseas?
Just because we pull out of places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria does not mean we would no longer need the same level of regular military active-duty forces for other possible military response purposes. What it does mean is we can stop depending on National Guard call-ups which disrupt home life and place part-time soldiers at constant risk of death or injury...at least until the next time we NEED to call them up for a real war.
The thing I find most strange about this negative reaction? Both Hawks and Doves are decrying this pull-out. Yet is seems most of those doing it are content with risking other people's lives for their political view points.
I am not an isolationist, but I do not support overseas adventurism. Nor do I support the idea that it is the USA's responsibility to be the policeman off the world.
Donald Trump has ordered the US' withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan and has proposed material cutbacks in our presence in the ROC and Germany...And yet he also authorized a massive increase in the DoD's budget, and wants even more next year. Mind you, Trump also portrays stunts such as these as catalysts to crafting a US military that "does more with less." Less what? Less coherent comprehensive cogent cogitation?
Read the content linked-to below and you'll see that what Trump is actually proposing is to do less and spend a lot more doing it.
Think about that.
- The US already has what is far and away the world's most powerful military.
- The US already spends more on its military than the seven next most militarily "spendy" nations COMBINED
- Trump wants to reduce the nature and extent of our military involvement and deployments overseas.
- Trump orders Pentagon to consider reducing U.S. troops in South Korea
- Trump says the US should spend less on NATO -- Nevermind that "spending less in/on NATO" isn't remotely a factually or contextually accurate depiction of how the US' or any other nation's so-called NATO spending works.
- Trump instructs Pentagon to consider removing troops from Germany
- Yet he thinks we need to purchase...
- 15,000 more units
- 93 new F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighters,
- 142 Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, and
- 13 Navy battle force ships.
... blithely treading over the Budget Control Act to the tune of ~$85 billion.
However...
- Social security has to, in his mind, be cut and he wants billions to build a wall that won't work.
Why have I presented the above line? Because I haven't forgotten that Ronald Reagan essentially "forced" the USSR into economic ruin by "daring" it to keep up with the US' capitalism-enabled spending when the USSR's command economy simply couldn't allocate resources adequately enough to sustain its doing so. (The USIC didn't contemporarily see and glean the nature and extent, thus germanity, of the economics of the matter, but hindsight is 2020 and the professionals in the military and intel communities, if nothing else, learn from their mistakes.)
What we're witnessing now is Trump over-allocating increasing shares of the US' economy, both current earnings (tax dollars and GDP) and future ones (future GDP, tax dollars plus the interest on the debt we incur to fund budget increases), thus threatening to do to the US economy what Reagan did to the Soviet Union's.
Yeah....speaking softly, while carrying a Big Stick.
Hilarious watching the nonstop **** TALKING LEFT suddenly become HAWKS.....
What???? Are you serious?
How perfect is this for Putin? Once Erdogan eventually crosses the border to destroy the Kurds (and he will if we are gone and Syria is left to Assad/Iran/Russia we will be left with the choice of abandoning the Kurds COMPLETELY who fought side by side with us against ISIS in Syria or defending them against a NATO ally.
Do you think Putin will declare a national holiday and hold an orgy at one of his Dacha's or just get on RT and show us that wry cheshire cat grin of his? Either option is pretty detestable. But what the heck....MAGA!!!!
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