Zone1 What is Wrong with Inequality?

[rightwinger]

Do you deny that the American military's presence in Europe allows European nations to spend less on defense? How trusting, for one example, would France and England be to watch Germany ramp up military spending after America leaves? How trusting would Russia be with America not on the scene?

You need to think beyond your borders. It is in living memory that Germany and Italy devastated Europe.

Exactly

And Trump is pressuring EU nations to do more in their own defense.

If so, we should be able to reduce our defense spending and do more for social programs and infrastructure

 

[hadit]

Exactly

And Trump is pressuring EU nations to do more in their own defense.

If so, we should be able to reduce our defense spending and do more for social programs and infrastructure

And, as I pointed out, the expansion would quickly consume any savings we managed to scrape together and demand even more. There would be no satiation of the demands that we spend more, more, more. Always more.

You yourself have identified no stopping point beyond which you would consider the job done and nothing further need be done. I would give it 3 years.

 

[rightwinger]

And, as I pointed out, the expansion would quickly consume any savings we managed to scrape together and demand even more. There would be no satiation of the demands that we spend more, more, more. Always more.

You yourself have identified no stopping point beyond which you would consider the job done and nothing further need be done. I would give it 3 years.

Your need for defense is based on the current threat

We base the need for Army Divisions, Navy Task Forces and Air Force Air Wings based on the global threat.

If other nations are picking up some of that threat, there is less need for us to do it.

 

[hadit]

Your need for defense is based on the current threat

We base the need for Army Divisions, Navy Task Forces and Air Force Air Wings based on the global threat.

If other nations are picking up some of that threat, there is less need for us to do it.

Right, and there wouldn't be any issue with Germany sharply ramping up military spending while France and England stand by? You still haven't said how much will be enough. I don't think you ever thought that far, you just want more, more, more.

 

[rightwinger]

Right, and there wouldn't be any issue with Germany sharply ramping up military spending while France and England stand by? You still haven't said how much will be enough. I don't think you ever thought that far, you just want more, more, more.

I worked for DoD for 40 years and saw the U.S. global presence expand, even after the Cold War ended.

Frankly, the Russian threat is not as strong as we claimed it was. On paper, Russia looks formidable. In practice they have major flaws. NATO EU should handle most of it.

Then there is China. They threaten Taiwan but lack the Navy to take it. I would enhance Taiwans surface to air, anti-ship and drone capabilities and offer US air and submarine support.

I would like to target the Defense budget at 670 billion down from the current trillion dollars

 

[Woodznutz]

Cleared the clog. It took sulfuric acid to do the job.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Makes zero sense

Infantry Comes from a Word Meaning "Having No Say"

As long as the White working class soldiers get slaughtered for the Left's xenophilia and feralphilia, Limousine Liberal snobs are OK with funding Policemen of the World. Besides, the Young Democrats are funded by Daddy's Money, which is made off the M-I Complex.

 

[DukeU]

The current imbalance is unsustainable. Karl Marx was right about the inevitability of captialism’s downfall. He was not correct about the fix. It isn’t communism. The answer is regulating capitalism so that enough money gets down to the masses or it falls apart. IMHO.

"Regulating capitalism" is what is causing less money to reach the masses.

 

[hadit]

I worked for DoD for 40 years and saw the U.S. global presence expand, even after the Cold War ended.

Frankly, the Russian threat is not as strong as we claimed it was. On paper, Russia looks formidable. In practice they have major flaws. NATO EU should handle most of it.

Russia isn't the problem, it's distrust between European countries. Within the last 100 or so years, Europe was decimated by two of the worst wars the continent has seen. Do you really think France and England are going to watch Germany ramp up military spending and not do it themselves?

Then there is China. They threaten Taiwan but lack the Navy to take it. I would enhance Taiwans surface to air, anti-ship and drone capabilities and offer US air and submarine support.

And Japan. Japan and China don't like each other very much.

I would like to target the Defense budget at 670 billion down from the current trillion dollars

Which would gain you about 300 billion. As I've stated, and you've done nothing to counter, that would disappear into the bottomless pit of healthcare expenses and congress' insatiable appetite for brand new spending. You'd be lucky to get a few billion actually devoted to healthcare, and the deficit would simply grow even faster.

How much do you want to spend on a bigger net and infrastructure? We're already spending trillions on both and you seem to think 300 billion is going to usher in the liberals' lala land utopia. This is not the first time, BTW, that I've asked you how much is enough.

 

[rightwinger]

Russia isn't the problem, it's distrust between European countries. Within the last 100 or so years, Europe was decimated by two of the worst wars the continent has seen. Do you really think France and England are going to watch Germany ramp up military spending and not do it themselves?

 

[hadit]

We'll send you to take care of the situation. Cheaper than maintaining bases over there.

 

[citygator]

"Regulating capitalism" is what is causing less money to reach the masses.

That’s just a reflex post. If that is true why don’t we allow monopolies? It’s because it is bad for consumers. Monopolies and oligopolies are the end state of capitalism. We REGULATE capitalism to avoid those conditions.

 

[DukeU]

That’s just a reflex post. If that is true why don’t we allow monopolies? It’s because it is bad for consumers. Monopolies and oligopolies are the end state of capitalism. We REGULATE capitalism to avoid those conditions.

Was de-regulation of the airline industry a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[AZrailwhale]

And you still want to claim we can drastically expand the "safety net", even though we would have to borrow astronomical amounts of money to do it, with no negative impacts? You know that's where the wheels fell off your tricycle.

Let's say we cut military spending in half, freeing up $400 billion a year and putting that into socialized medicine. I would give it 3 years before the same people (that's you, in case you didn't know) would be clamoring that it wasn't nearly enough and it just wasn't fair that the wealthy could afford things others could not. IOW, right where we are now. And that's not even accounting for the chaos the world would fall into when Uncle Sam pulls up roots and leaves because we're not going to the world's police force anymore. Thank goodness we don't have to pay for big birthday parades for anyone.

Better to make that net a trampoline so people can get back on their feet instead of landing in a lifetime of dependency.

You really think it would take three years? I think it would take less than three MONTHS.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Doesn’t justify a military that is bigger than the next nine combined. Where is the threat?

Where does the Constitution allow military deployment around the world?

We deserve the best public services money can buy. Schools, medical care, transportation, parks

It doesn't. It also doesn't say that it can't.

Why are those responsibilities of the federal government listed in the Constitution?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

So you don’t want a police force or fire department telling you what to do, environmental regulations, zoning laws, municipal planning, clean water, sewers

You know….Civilization

Not a function of the federal government!

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Your need for defense is based on the current threat

We base the need for Army Divisions, Navy Task Forces and Air Force Air Wings based on the global threat.

If other nations are picking up some of that threat, there is less need for us to do it.

Until they do, we have to maintain our military, something Biden cared nothing about.

 

[Missourian]

Income inequality will never happen. Equality isn't really about everyone earning the same, it's about people not being screwed over by the rich.

How is a rich person screwing you over? Be specific.

 

[Concerned American]

And then some people are more equal than others.

As was clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence--All men are created equal--and then you have the equal opportunity to improve and advance yourself.

 

[rightwinger]

Until they do, we have to maintain our military, something Biden cared nothing about.

Biden and Obama maintained the strongest military on earth

US needs to stop being the worlds policeman and rely on allies to bear most of the burden in their region