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And? We like to win. We like to win so much that we cringe at the thought of hundreds of casualties, as opposed to thousands/tens of thousands when we have to fight.

Got a problem with that?

 Crimson wrote:
As we are posting pie charts:



I've never understood whom the US is preparing to fight...

Easy.

Everyone.

At the same time.

 Crimson wrote:
As we are posting pie charts:



I've never understood whom the US is preparing to fight...

Why should we care what other country spends?

We spend a little bit on the miltiary, and send our troops into harms way without the best equipment, people bitch. We spend enough money to send our troops into harms way with the best, and people bitch.

Everyone just loves to bitch about the military.

That's a lovely graph. Does it include the fact that the other 39% expects the US to intervene any time they have a civil war?

People like to bitch about pretty much everything.

 Da Boss wrote:
People like to bitch about pretty much everything.

That is the truth, but I'll bitch against the people who want to take the axe to those who stand in harms way. Plus it's my pay check you guys are talking about.

 djones520 wrote:
We spend a little bit on the miltiary, and send our troops into harms way without the best equipment, people bitch. We spend enough money to send our troops into harms way with the best, and people bitch.

Everyone just loves to bitch about the military.

We'd bitch less if we had personal RoboTRex suits that shot lazers. Just saying.

 cincydooley wrote:
That's a lovely graph. Does it include the fact that the other 39% expects the US to intervene any time they have a civil war?

If I recall correctly, most of the world was not that pleased about that Irak misadventure.

 Crimson wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:
That's a lovely graph. Does it include the fact that the other 39% expects the US to intervene any time they have a civil war?

If I recall correctly, most of the world was not that pleased about that Irak misadventure.

bs. They weren't happy because our government was deceitful about the reasons.

Had the WMD piece never came to light and people simply said, "The Husseins are violent dictators that commit numerous human rights violations against their people," outsting him would have been fine. You know, like is happening in Africa RIGHT NOW.

 Crimson wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:
That's a lovely graph. Does it include the fact that the other 39% expects the US to intervene any time they have a civil war?

If I recall correctly, most of the world was not that pleased about that Irak misadventure.

Really? We went in solo eh?

 whembly wrote:

Why should we care what other country spends?

There is such thing as overkill. And we were talking about unnecessary spending, US military spending per capita is absurd when compared to any other western democracy. But it's not my money, so I don't really care.

 Crimson wrote:

 whembly wrote:

Why should we care what other country spends?

There is such thing as overkill. And we were talking about unnecessary spending, US military spending per capita is absurd when compared to any other western democracy. But it's not my money, so I don't really care.

So... did you look at what that money buys us?

Besides... who else has 11 fricking aircraft carrier groups and foreign bases?

And I approve of pig poop research. By altering animal diets we can greatly reduce/increase methane production, which has many useful applications.

 whembly wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

 whembly wrote:

Why should we care what other country spends?

There is such thing as overkill. And we were talking about unnecessary spending, US military spending per capita is absurd when compared to any other western democracy. But it's not my money, so I don't really care.

So... did you look at what that money buys us?

Besides... who else has 11 fricking aircraft carrier groups and foreign bases?

Err, that's kind of the point.

I've heard it said that a single carrier group is the second most powerful navy on earth.

... the other 10 become kind of superfluous. Yes, yes, power projection in multiple places at once, redundancy, backup during maintenance or upgrades/retrofitting, etc.

It's still a simply immense expense.

 Da Boss wrote:
And I approve of pig poop research. By altering animal diets we can greatly reduce/increase methane production, which has many useful applications.

Only if Master Blaster says so.

But seriously, that kind of research is wasteful bs. We already know there are alternative fuels out there. There's literally no reason for any consumer vehicle in the US to run on anything but electricity. We've had that tech since the late 60s. The only reason there aren't more of them is because the car companies are all in the same bed as the oil companies and our government.

 Forar wrote:

 whembly wrote:

 Crimson wrote:

 whembly wrote:

Why should we care what other country spends?

There is such thing as overkill. And we were talking about unnecessary spending, US military spending per capita is absurd when compared to any other western democracy. But it's not my money, so I don't really care.

So... did you look at what that money buys us?

Besides... who else has 11 fricking aircraft carrier groups and foreign bases?

Err, that's kind of the point.

I've heard it said that a single carrier group is the second most powerful navy on earth.

... the other 10 become kind of superfluous. Yes, yes, power projection in multiple places at once, redundancy, backup during maintenance or upgrades/retrofitting, etc.

It's still a simply immense expense.

Right... so, evidently we (as in, us Americans) are generally okay with that.

We get touchy when foreigners starts telling us what we should or should NOT do.

 whembly wrote:

So... did you look at what that money buys us?

Yes. Far larger military than you reasonably need. Also, you should ask yourself what else could (some of) that money used for. I bet using it for medical research for example would in the long run end up saving much more lives than using it to military.

Besides... who else has 11 fricking aircraft carrier groups and foreign bases?

No one. Because they understand that they don't need such.

 Crimson wrote:

 whembly wrote:

So... did you look at what that money buys us?

Yes. Far larger military than you reasonably need. Also, you should ask yourself what else could (some of) that money used for. I bet using it for medical research for example would in the long run end up saving much more lives than using it to military.

And who are YOU to decide what we need or don't need?

Besides... who else has 11 fricking aircraft carrier groups and foreign bases?

No one. Because they understand that they don't need such.

I'd think you'd find other countries scrambling to fill the void if the US cuts down.

Wouldn't you rather have it to be the US?

Would you be okay if China replaced us?

Many countries think China is epic cool. I'm fine letting them find out.

Time to lay down our burdens and go back to being a comercial power, not responsible to anyone, nor entangled by their petty regional nonsense.

 Frazzled wrote:
Many countries think China is epic cool. I'm fine letting them find out.

Time to lay down our burdens and go back to being a comercial power, not responsible to anyone, nor entangled by their petty regional nonsense.

\

If only.

 whembly wrote:

And who are YOU to decide what we need or don't need?

Well you were the one who was worried about how your government is spending money. But as I said, it's not my taxes, so if you are okay with wasting the money, it's really not my problem.

I'd think you'd find other countries scrambling to fill the void if the US cuts down.

No i don't think so, not massively at least. There really is no need for anyone to have such an massive army if their enemies don't have one. We would probably see tighter EU co-operation in military matters, which I would welcome.

Wouldn't you rather have it to be the US?

Would you be okay if China replaced us?

China is not in position to do that. But as I said, 'having an army that can take rest of the world combined' is not really a position that needs to be filled at all.

Whats to stop us?