All the outcasts moving to Trump in the hope of a job.
Maybe she helps him get 6 more votes in Hawaii!
2024 U.S. Elections | Trump v Harris
- Thread starter Raoul
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All the outcasts moving to Trump in the hope of a job.
Maybe she helps him get 6 more votes in Hawaii!
something worth internalising when debates about messaging and attack ads come up:
the battle is just to frame things on your terms, the actual policy could fall into left or right and it will get support and opposition purely based on framing
the battle is just to frame things on your terms, the actual policy could fall into left or right and it will get support and opposition purely based on framing
But poor Benny boys wife is not, and that, my friend, is the true crime.
I thought there were a couple of parts of her speech that felt aimed at sane republicans.
Oh do feck off Bernie, your foreign policy is the one thing stopping me from ever supporting you. US defense budget is the only budget which contains Military pensions and healthcare provisioning as part of its budget which eats up a huge chunk. Then, all the other big spenders don't have any provisional oversight.
The US military is chronically underfunded, with problems in all branches, across every fecking system from Procurement to Manpower availability to Strategic assets to Shipbuilding to Intelligence to Platform design.
If this rot continues the West is fecked in 20-30 years.
What's the % spent on pensions and healthcare out of interest? The US military budget is enormous. 40% of the entire world's military spending unless I'm mistaken? Saying its chronically underfunded sounds absolutely ridiculous on the face of it. But I'm aware you're a lot more clued up on current military matters than most posters on here. Have you got any stats you can share to back that up?
Besides pensions and healthcare, I can imagine a lot of the budget being hoovered up by suppliers etc. It also must cost a lot to simply maintain the shear size and scale of the current force too, even if parts of it are becoming redundant. And downsizing any aspect of it isn't going to go down well.
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She gave an answer, a clear one at that. These measures would increase the tax base so there is no need to raise taxes.
So regarding % wise, I don't know. Because DoD and DoVA has it's seperated funding which added together totals slightly over a trillion. The DoD Healthcare and Pensions costing is part of it's Personnel costings, where some of the breakdowns aren't fully available in the public domain. Or it's broken down in some 500 page DoD PDF that I haven't managed to sift through.
But total numbers wise: Personnel Salaries + Active Personnel Healthcare + Pensions + Housing + Veterans Healthcare totals to a number just short of 600 Billion USD
https://department.va.gov/administrations-and-offices/management/budget/#:~:text=The U.S. Department of Veterans,above FY 2024 estimated levels.
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Por...Y2025/FY2025_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf
So let's go through all the chronic shortages of the US right now:
1) Shipbuilding - This is the biggest problem facing the US military right now. There are a lot of reasons that factor in to why US military shipbuilding is in catastrophically bad shape right now, but my main gripe is with the Jones Act and the general lack of political willingness to subsidize the building of new shipyards. This, plus the general malaise of the civilian shipbuilding industry has made the USN unable to expand. In the Cold War, the US could field 600-700 ship fleets. Now, the US Navy is aiming to reach a 400 ship navy by the end of the 2030's. To put into context of how bad this problem is, China at the moment is able to build 6 destroyers a year, the US is able to build 1.5. China is able to build 5 Submarines a year, US is able to build 2. China has put out 2 new aircraft carriers (with a further one currently undergoing early stage trials) in 6 years, US in the same time frame has been able to build the USS Gerald R. Ford. In the past 5 years, China has built 21 modern frigates. US has built....none. China has built 8 LHD/LHA's, US has built 2.5. You see how the disparity here is incredibly, incredibly concerning?
2) The state of the Navy in general. There are so so many things wrong with the Navy right now that requires sustained investment of hundreds of billions in order to begin to rectify.
-There is still no active US Frigate since the Oliver Hazard Perry's retired, and until the Constellations are built. This means that bigger ships have to do the duty of frigates, which leads to overworked hulls, degredation (Which leads to further increased costs of R&R) as well as crew fatigue.
- There is still no DDG(X) Program to replace the 45 year old Arleigh Burke hull. Arleigh Burke's have reached the end of their design lifespan.
- There is still no LSC design to replace the Ticonderoga class which reached the end of its service life. LSC should have been completed a decade ago, but due to budget cuts there was never a replacement for the cruisers. What the Navy have done instead is to turn the LSC program into Arleigh Burke Flight III, which is to cram even more engine power into a 45 year old hull, put in flagship modules and add a few more missile tubes and a more power radar to replace the Ticonderga. It's not a real Tico replacement, just a short term stop gap.
- There are not enough sailors, which has led to many fatal accidents this past 5 years, especially to the 7th Fleet.
- There are simply not enough ships in general, again mainly to the 7th fleet, which has led to some horrendous faults.
- The navy simply do not have the money to buy enough F-35C's. What they're doing is praying NGAD FA(XX) comes through and they will buy those instead. If it doesn't, the Navy is screwed in a Pacific war where it has to rely on Superhornets against 5th Gen Chinese Aircraft.
Oh, you know whats funny about the last point? The Navy is delaying its FA(XX) program because...it cannot afford it due to so many other pressing urgent issues! Furthermore, due to the obsolescence of the existing FA18 Hornets, the production lines for them have been shut down. So Navy have no way of procuring current Naval Air Wings, cannot afford F-35's and cannot afford to research FA(XX) to replace the FA18's.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03...x-fighter-spending-for-near-term-investments/
https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/the-nation-needs-400-ship-navy#:~:text=To achieve the 400-ship,current long-range shipbuilding plan.
3) The Air Force is not faring any better.
- There is no long term primary Air Superiority Fighter in the works. The primary project for this just got suspended, partly due to lack of funding. Without Airforce NGAD, the USAF is incredibly vulnerable. The lifespan of the F-22 is coming to an end soon and the USAF are still going to have to rely on its baseline F-15's from the 1970's as the main frontline Air Superiority Fighter (Granted, F-15EX is exponentially more modern and better than F15-C's). Congress were so worried USAF were going to retire the F-22 due to lack of scalability and modernization that they actually put a law in that prevented F-22's from being retired.
https://www.airforce-technology.com...ngress-with-f-22-retirement-data-gao/?cf-view
https://meta-defense.fr/en/2024/07/31/chasseur-de-6ᵉ-generation-ngad-suspendu/
- Loyal Wingman integrated networked drones is delayed. This was meant to be the future of the USAF - F-35's and NGAD's supported by autonomous cheap fighter jets that didn't require a pilot and was fully AI controlled. Well, this has been delayed by about 2-3 years now.
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/12/no-bucks-no-bang-secaf-kendall-warns-24-budget-logjam-could-cost-a-year-on-ai-fighter/#:~:text=REAGAN NATIONAL DEFENSE FORUM — The,Force Frank Kendall warned today.
- Lack of any deep penetrative tactical bomber on the horizon. B-21 is a strategic bomber, F117's have been retired, F-35's can do it but are not suitable entirely for that purpose due to lack of payload size, B-1 Lancer's are a mess. There is nothing that will allow for Tactical level deep penetration bombing missions against critical infrastructure. There isn't even a R&D/Research Program to overcome this problem right now.
- Delay in AIM-260 A2A missile. This is meant to be the counter to the PL-15 but it's offset with delay after delay, due to lack of congressional funding and no money to be spent on it.
- The KC Tanker procurement plan is an absolute mess right now.
4) The Army is in okay shape, but it's undergoing a massive modernization program that is being completely underfunded.
- Old M2A2 Bradleys need replacing. XM30 has been given the go-ahead, the Army says they need to procure 4000 of them, just for active service (Forget reserves and backup vehicles). It was meant to be done by 2014, but due to funding issues, got delayed and delayed and the final contract hasn't even been given due to this.
- M113's are being replaced. In 2012 the US Army proposed they need 3000 AMPV's (M128(X) series). It never got funded so we're now in 2024 and it took until 2023 for the FIRST BATTALION of AMPV's to get delivered to the Army.
- MBT Modernization program is going incredibly slowly. It's now a competition between AbramsX and AbramsM1A3X. IF it gets funding, a new MBT might be in service by 2030.
- M109 Paladin's have been earmarked for replacement. A project called M1299 Howitzer was earmarked. Cancelled in 2024. Why? Too expensive relative to its value.
https://www.defensenews.com/land/20...nded-range-cannon-artillery-prototype-effort/
- Light Tank Project finally saw the light of day, with the M10 Booker finally entering service. About 5-8 years too late and not enough funding for mass production yet.
-
https://meta-defense.fr/en/2024/03/12/super-canon-m1299-erca-abandon-us-army/
Man, It's really late and I could go on and on and on about all the issues that need resolving (primarily with desperately needed funding), but I'd be here all night.
I haven't even touched on SM-6 production bottlenecks, LRASM low rate production, Standard Issue Rifle replacement delays and all the other myriad of problems plaguing the US military right now.
The US military is in its worse shape relatively since about 1975.
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To put this into context,
USA defense spending is at almost historic 100 year lows as a % of its GDP
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=US
USA defense spending is at almost historic 100 year lows as a % of its GDP
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=US
The ancient man is right, the US military should get less money.
It's ok, Trump says the US has F-32'S....
Huh?
He’s at a sports bar explaining to someone that Michelle Obama is a female.
Very common in the South to run into folks who swear that she’s a man & that Barack is gay.
Are they insane? If someone said that to me and were serious I'd be scanning for the exit so I could flee at the drop of a hat.
This is something that upsets me also. A navy founded on frigates not having a single one at sea, when we are now the main blue water naval power. Boggles the mind.
Instead we wasted all that money on the Zumwalt class.
Haha. Welcome to our world.
The US economy is the world's biggest so it really shouldn't be a surprise that its defence budget is also the world's biggest.
I'll never understand that only 32 percent of Repuplicans think the government should provide health care. It's just bizarre.
I wonder if there'll be any blowback at Trump when he skips the debate. It's obviously going that way now.
As per the assassination attempt, his voter share seems kinda locked in.
I just hope Harris keeps the timeslot and does an interview instead.
As per the assassination attempt, his voter share seems kinda locked in.
I just hope Harris keeps the timeslot and does an interview instead.
Her undercover work as a democrat was effective.
So you agree with the thesis "the US military is chronically underfunded"?
I don't know about that. @AfonsoAlves is better suited for that question.
My point is aimed at people who talk about how big the defence budget is and bigger than the rest 10 countries combined and all that jazz, but never add the nuance that the US also has the biggest economy in the world.
I have no problem with folks debating whether the US spending on defence as part of its GDP is too low or big, and how it stacks up to spending on healthcare etc. All valid discussions.
Asking @AfonsoAlves if the US spends enough on the military is like asking @Carolina Red if they spend enough on public education. Except in the former case the apparent result is the most powerful military in human history, and in the latter it's states putting slavery apologism in text books.
What's your point? And why just not quote me directly?
But the US’ GDP isn’t bigger than the next 10 countries in the world, that’s what gives context to their military spending. He didn’t say they’re the biggest military spenders, he said they spend c. 40% of the total. They generate as much GDP as the next 4 biggest countries, but they spend as much on their military as the next 10.
So the general point they’re making without alluding to the specifics is true: the US spend a (relatively) huge amount on the military, so it sounds ridiculous to say they’re chronically underfunded.
China's defence spending is vague and may be higher than is publicly known.
Then there are GDP vs PPP debates.
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/debating-defence-budgets-why-military-purchasing-power-parity-matters
Regardless, if you like to argue that US spending on its defense as part of GDP is too high, feel free to do so.
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I feel like you might be missing some context there…
https://data.worldbank.org/indicato...ontextual=default&locations=GB-US-FR-CN-RU-DE
I thought my point was clear, given you're the one who invoked AfonsoAlves. My point is that while he knows a whole lot of stuff, he is neither objective nor the ultimate arbiter of military spending truth.
As for why I didn't quote you directly, there's no particular reason. You found my post easily enough anyway.
Any view of minimal government intervention for stuff like healthcare and poverty scares me really, like where are they expecting the help to come from otherwise or do they genuinely want people to die through being poor and ill? Weird, especially when usually they're the Christian type.
He's not the ultimate arbiter but probably better suited to argue to what extent US spending on defence fits its military goals. It's often said the US wants to be capable of fighting 2 wars simultaneously. Is that still the goal? What are the other goals and desires? Is there funding for that?
I'm not implying that his word is final or anything like that.
Great post, thanks for spending the time to write it.
Republicans generally take the view that economic outcomes for individuals are purely based on talent and effort. If you are rich you deserve it, and if you are poor you just need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Any invocation of structural issues in the economy, and solutions to address it, is basically communism to them. It doesn't matter if it's healthcare, education, minimum wages, labor organizing, etc. It's just an inherently warped world view that's been allowed to become fairly mainstream to the point where lots of workers will vote against their own interests. It's wild.
His word is definitely much more informed than the collective ignorance of Caf that has as much depth on it as memeworthy statements as ‘the US spends on military more than the next 10 countries combined’, without taking into account GDP vs PPP, China spending far more than it claims, and pensions etc being part of the ‘spending in military.
The fact that the bulk of air force is still based on airplanes based on seventies means that relatively speaking, the US military is in the worst state it has been in a very long time. Add to that China’s much faster growth in economy, and consequently in military, means that the advantage the US is quickly shrinking. So for people who prefer a world led by the US, instead of China, yes, the US should spend more on military.
Meme worthy 
Sounds like child abuse to me. And I'm not joking.