Cutting military spending makes us weak. I have already elaborated on the need to have bases in foreign lands, essentially to provide protection to our allies and preserve our first strike capabilities. Even were we to cut military spending, that stops the debt cycle from continuing. It is not like if we cut military spending, we suddenly have in our possession a new money tree.
It's not just an opinion that is voiced only outside the military, someone from the military even once said, trim the fat, not the muscle. Just because there is a fuck ton of money thrown at the Pentagon, doesn't mean that it actually ends up where it's needed. I mean, If your soldiers in Afghanistan are complaining about he fact that they have fuck old humwees that are not correctly protected against the dangers they face, where the soldiers have to perform missions with less men, outdated equipment and inadequate weapons, while billions of dollars are spend on projects that '
might' be usefull in 10 years, then you should consider that there is something wrong.
The conections between the Military and companies Halliburten, Northrop, Bell, Douglas and many more is borderline to corruption, just look at how many projects ended up being 1. way more expensive and 2. how many failures they actually produced, and we havn't even talked about the lobbyism and exchange of money and extraordinary benefits those companies throw out to high ranking officers in hope of gaining the contracts. The military and particularly the industry behind it, have become one of the swampiest swamps in the US.
I understand, that you Americans are very proud about your military, that you feel your safety is worth any trouble and a certain degree of supremacy with the military gives you protection. That's all understandable. But what I do not understand, is how you believe that all of this is secured simply by giving the military more money to play and toy with, while the needs and complains of the troops that are ACTUALLY in combat, are often ignored. Strange, how there is always money for companies and bases inside the US, but when it comes to the actuall fighting force, it's not rare that they have to deal with outdated equipent and performing their duty while understaffed. Missions where they would actualyl require some armor and heavy weapons, are denied for 'political' reasons - someone could get the idea it's a war if tanks are present! - Or beacuse it would be simply to expensive to deploy artillery units. I am pretty sure any Veteran who has spend some time outside the US and in combat, can tell you their little stories about how the 'money' the military gets, sometimes ends up in places, where it simply doesn't belong.
I also find it interesting how some believe, that all the US has to do is to make it more difficult for companies to outsource jobs, make a tax on it! Close the borders! And everything will be fine. As if ... the real new boogie man, is automation. Many of the jobs that dissapear right now, are not just disapearing because Mexcians do it for 1/3 of the money.
This, is why many jobs will be 'lost' in the future.
And if you thnk that Trump, or any other big mouth of a politican, REALLY works on that problem right now, then you're really delusional.
