cj117

We would overcome our nations debt in <20 years..
We currently have almost 12 trillion dollars in debt.

Check these out:


If we didn't spend so much #@$&ing money on blowing the @#$% out of each other, we'd all be out of debt =_=
THE WORLD IS DEBT!!! WAAHHHHH!!!

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troublemaker_42

Yeah, but to be out of debt, we have to EXIST as a country, and that likely wouldn't be possible without military spending, as we have no shortage of countries that hate us that aren't planning on stalling THEIR military spending. Talking about how fast we can overcome debt without military spending is like discussing how many fairies can dance on the head of a pin....interesting to talk about, but with absolutely no real world revalence. The only way we could safely halt military spending is if we were at peace with every nation, and every nation ALSO agreed to freeze its military spending. Go ahead, ask Iran and N. Korea is they are going to stop military spending and befriend the US. Its just not going to happen, and thus military spending is bound to continue and even escalate

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Ted Nugent: "To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."


If total government control equals safety, why are prisons so dangerous?

macphearsome

I can't agree with you. Obviously a nation needs some military defense, but I think it's laughable to call the trillions of dollars that the US spends on asserting itself globally a defense expenditure.

I'm pretty sure that Iran and North Korea have some catching up to do before they are a threat to the Great Nation of America

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"What if I want more than the pale facsimile of fulfillment brought by a parade of ever-fancier toys? To spend my life restlessly producing instead of sedately consuming? Is there an app for that?" - xkcd

Dino image from www.qwantz.com

troublemaker_42

So, we should sit ideally by and wait for them to catch up? N Korea is determined to develope a rocket that can carry a nuclear warhead to US territory, with the capability to hit Alaska not far off if not currently possible. Considering the attitude of the N. Korean and Iranaina govt in regards to the US, the idea of them developing weapons of mass destrction capable of hitting within our borders rightfully scares the shit out of me. I support spending that ensures our safety, not simply a hope and a prayer that the rouge nations will someday decide to play nice with us, and will just abandom their nuclear ambitions. When other countries prove that they are serious about disarming and cutting military spending, I'll support a decline in US spending too., However, when countries like N Korea starve their own people in order to pump every cent into their military, while harboring a hatred for us at the same time, I'm not ready to simply say we should lead by example.

MrIMStoned

Did you ever think that maybe the rogue nation is America? If the idea of Iranians and N Koreans having weapons of mass destruction "rightfully scares the shit out of you" then how do you think Iranians and Koreans feel about America?

Even though they are the ones who are heavily outmatched, they should be the ones to disarmour first?

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"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"

troublemaker_42

I believe the relative safety from terrorism and attracks from other nations is largely becasue of our military superiority. The safety of members of our armed forces depend on military expenditures. We've developed weapons that can be controlled from thousands of miles away to carry out attacks that would previously risk soldiers' lives. Whats one human life worth to you? How about 100? A thousand? A hundred thousand? The dollars spent funding our military save the lives of US citizens and military personal ever day, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. I see that as a more valueble use of resources that the failed 787 billion spent on the stimulus endorsed by Obama. Its now coming out that the so-called job creation aspect of this program has thus far been overstated by thousands. Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands - Yahoo! News

I can at least see some justification for military spending, but we're beiung buried in debt currently by a government who wants to spend spend spend. OUr current deficiet is greater than the sum of all previous deficiets. SOMETHING has got to give, but I don't necessarily believe its soley the military spending that needs to be pulled in. Govt spending in general is fucking outrageous, and we have a democratic leadership that is convinced we're not far enough in debt yet, and seemingly dream up more ways by the day to dig the hole deeper. Perhaps thewres rooms for cuts in the military budget. I won't deny that....but I also won't deny that ANY aspect of the US govt could (safely) be downsized to save money. Otherwise, our children's children will be buried in debt with no possible way out. Our government is spending us into a bottomless hole, and its far from only military spending thats contributing to this.

macphearsome

I understand your position, but I think your argument would be stronger if the US wasn't spending most of its money on things that aren't "nuclear defence"

According to the wikipedia article for the US military budget, 9.4 billion dollars are being spent this year on missile defence (of $518.3 billion total), and the rest of it appears to be funding a very expensive goliath.

The US is already in a position of ultimate military dominance over countries such as N. Korea and Iran, and adding more punch does nothing to prevent them from getting nuclear missiles, unless you start talking about invading or threatening invasion, which seems extremely counterproductive in the long run (diplomatically speaking)

If the justification for a high military budget was for the US to protect the continent from the deadly "north korean nuclear program" then we might expect to see a number in the ballpark of 9.4 billion + basic military operations cost to protect sovereign united states territory.

Quite frankly, I think the numbers speak for themselves.

cj117

Your statement reminds me of Liberty Prime from the XBOX 360 game Fallout 3. Liberty Prime is friggin awesome. He's like the epitome of US narcissism. This giant robot goes on a rampage near the end of the game, completely obliterating the hardest of enemies with ridiculous ease.

These are all the things he says, and they basically sum up America!

Hashishi

No shit,

Great post, Kushy. The MIC needs to be dismantled to the point where it can functionally resource any conflict that should arise around the world. Right now it's exceeding that capacity by a truly exhorbitant amount and the excesses are either wasted and decomissioned or used to arm the rest of the fucking world... who, every now and again, turn hostile - but that's OK because the MKI armoury we provided them with is by that time obsolete in the face of our MKIII, IV, V or whatever armoury.

It's a pipe dream, but if the MIC could be pruned to the point where it had a capable and sustainable pool of military resources and it's clippings directed to civillian industry the world would be a much safer and better place.

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goodgirl

"If people who live here and benefit from being in America don't like it..............leave."

Wow.....that was original. I will be sure to quote you the next time you start complaining about something TT.

Unless QFT stands for something along the lines of "I am about to use a tired old line that you can disregard based on it's pure ridiculousness"....then I will take it back.

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"No one is free when others are oppressed."