Thread: USA defence spending

  1. #1
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    USA defence spending

    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world...648112,00.html
    US defence spending is comparable to the rest of the world combined i am wondering what people think the implications of this is (a unchallenged superpower wich can do whatever it wants).

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    I hope it never ends.

    The richest country in the world, even if it wasn't the USA, is always going to have the largest/most advanced military.


    I think the article is complete BS. They keep asking this question:

    The question the rest of the world is asking itself is: Who is the enemy America is arming itself so against? And why?

    ...

    But against all this even the manufacturers of America's arms - like the aviation giant Lockheed-Martin - have been struggling for a decade or so to define the threat its top-shelf jets will be battling in the skies

    It's not that we're preparing to fight any one country, or that these defense spendings are directly related to terrorism...we will perpetually be spending money on research and development to enhance our military. That's how we stay ahead of the game, in the case of any future threats.
    Last edited by Darkness; 03-06-2005 at 10:46 PM.
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    I dont think it will.
    The only challenges to american supremacy are China and India but i doubt they will ever rival the american military they have large economies but are very poor so they dont have much disposable income. (China 7trillion GDP only 60billion spend on defence, India 3trillion GDP only 19billion spent on defence)

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    Quote Originally Posted by cgod
    I dont think it will.
    The only challenges to american supremacy are China and India but i doubt they will ever rival the american military they have large economies but are very poor so they dont have much disposable income. (China 7trillion GDP only 60billion spend on defence, India 3trillion GDP only 19billion spent on defence)
    Of course it will end eventually. No government, kingdom, or empire has ever lasted forever.

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    Having a military does not mean much really, when other countries control the world economy.
    http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

    i found this by doing a search, http://www.ariannaonline.com/forums/...ad.php?t=15837

    http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2328

    it doesnt look good does it.
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    goverments spend on their military because otherwise you would have a lot of people out of work, not just in the military but civillian contractors to. Impressing the public with how much they spend on defence and how great their military is, will deflect the publics intrest away from areas where the government is not so good.
    Anyway did nobody tell you its quality not quantity

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    >> am wondering what people think the implications of this is

    I think you can see the implications in S11 and Iraq.

    No one can fight a conventional war against the US so it has to be a 'terrorist' war.

    The US needed a battle ground to stop the 'terrorists' attacking mainland USA (and to lure the 'terrorists' into one fighting in one location).
    That battle ground is Iraq.

    So it is US servicemen and Iraqi civilians / infastructure that have become the easily reached targets.
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    China has had the bomb for quite some time now, and that article talks about some ballistic missile system that can be launched from trucks that can reach the United States coast? Well, all I have to say is, about friggin time. I mean, EVERY country in the world is

    a) trying to become more developed
    b) trying to enhance its military


    In my opinion, any article that makes China seem 'bold' is fundamentally flawed. Our relationship always has, and always will be, tentative at best, but I highly doubt China would do anything to upset us. I believe China will not take military action against Taiwan because of possible United States intervention (we recognized an ousted anti-communist Chinese leader in Taiwain as being 'China' because we would not recognize China as a communist state). If anything, the article shows how far behind China is if they are developing these things for the first time. The spin on the article is that China is somehow going to pull ahead of the US militarily, but it seems that just isn't so.

    EDIT:
    again, I'd just like to point out how these articles spin things. The article keeps speaking of how advanced China is because it is investing in Submarines, training with Russia, developing in-flight refueling, etc. It also says that for the firth year in a row, china has 'increased military spending'. However it's not until the middle of the aritcle that they come forth with this interesting little fact:

    Even so, China's military spending is only about one-tenth of what the US is due to spend in the coming year.
    Last edited by Darkness; 03-13-2005 at 11:05 AM.
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  10. #10
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    I think one of the important issues in the article was that although China spent less, it was able to target spending on contingencies for specific conflicts, i.e. Taiwan.

    If you try to compare the spending of the US for the same conflict scenarios, the numbers are not so out of the park.
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  11. #11
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    Makes me feel proud to be Chinese

    Except I don't REALLY want China to take over the world. That could be scary.
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  12. #12
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    And speaking of the situation with Taiwan...

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4346283.stm
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    >>but I highly doubt China would do anything to upset us.

    China won't attack the US, it will bankrupt the US.

    The current MASSIVE US deficit is proped up by foreign investment, much of it from China.

    China has its currency 'pegged' to the US dollar. This must / will change soon.

    If China decides to sell all its US investments the US$ will crash (further than it already has). This will be followed by OPEC converting to the Euro. Japan selling its US reserves (retirement funds). So will North Korea......

    At this point the US won't be able to afford a war with anyone.
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    China won't attack the US because they wouldn't be able to win a conventional war against the USA, especially if it isn't on their own soil. Due to its size and relatively advanced military, and the size of its military, it would be the hardest country to defeat overseas however. The only thing that they might really do at this point is take military action against Taiwan. Everything else is basically pretty much leftist propaganda in my opinion.

    We are, however, starting to crack down on Iran. Bush basically has said that he's trying to stop Iran from developing its nuclear program diplomatically, but military action is a definite possibility. In that respect, the whole US going bankrupt thing very well may be a reality, lol.
    Last edited by Darkness; 03-15-2005 at 07:19 AM.
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    i really dont get the point with mr bush..first it was afghanistan, then it was iraq and now it is supposedly iran..i mean, can't he just shut up and sit in america without interfering in other countries' matters..i mean, ok..iran is developing nuclear weapons, but whats the point? isnt US developing bombs itself?? US invaded iraq to find the WMDs, but were they found?? what about the prisoner abuse in iraq? i guess, he just wants to set up his rule in the middle east countries for the oil they have..and thats what is going to happen if they attack iran as well..IMO the US should stop attacking other countries and try to curb the violence within US rather than doing what it is doing now..attacking others.
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