Obama plans to cut 10,000+ troops

[SMEGMA STENCH]

You're making a false argument. I didn't say we should engage in every world problem out there. I said national defense is one of the VERY few things the government should do and should be HEAVILY funded

I'm not sure you even need to argue for heavy military funding. If we're not heavily invested in our military, then you can be damn sure someone else will be in theirs. What do you think they'll do then? No one on the earth is as nice as us. They'd start changing everything. Imagine if all those animals out there had little to fear from us. They need something hanging over their heads to keep them in line. Not saying use it all the time, just let the threat speak for itself.

[Slowhand]

I'm not sure you even need to argue for heavy military funding. If we're not heavily invested in our military, then you can be damn sure someone else will be in theirs. What do you think they'll do then? No one on the earth is as nice as us. They'd start changing everything. Imagine if all those animals out there had little to fear from us. They need something hanging over their heads to keep them in line. Not saying use it all the time, just let the threat speak for itself.

Ah the military industrial complex. I seem to recall another empire using such a strategy to great effect until it kind of fucking imploded in their faces.

[Forever_frost]

Again, defense is one of the Constitutionally mandated things. Everything else should be cut before defense.

[SMEGMA STENCH]

Ah the military industrial complex. I seem to recall another empire using such a strategy to great effect until it kind of fucking imploded in their faces.

So at what point do you say, to people with obvious malicious intent towards you, "Eh, screw it. Yall can sail far ahead of us in military technology, we'll just hope for the best. We'll just hope yall are nice guys."

I don't have that much faith in those fucking dogs.

[Slowhand]

So at what point do you say, to people with obvious malicious intent towards you, "Eh, screw it. Yall can sail far ahead of us in military technology, we'll just hope for the best. We'll just hope yall are nice guys."

I don't have that much faith in those fucking dogs.

Building a massive standing army to hang around and wait for such an occasion stimulates an environment that justifies and rationalizes the use of said standing army. It doesn't take an inordinately large standing army to stay on top of military technology.

The current setup that the Pentagon has going is a fucking gravy train for military contractors. It's a splintered, unorganized conglomerate of companies getting paid inordinately large sums of money to build military technology, often with little to no cooperation. To blindly suggest that the amount of money being pumped into our defense budget is absolutely necessary is typical of the government and its contractors: no one wants to lose their pants when it's discovered that they're pissing away billions in taxpayer dollars.

Yes, we absolutely need a substantial military presence. Yes, we do need to be a leader in military technology. But that doesn't mean that the current system isn't rife with inefficiencies that waste hundreds of billions of dollars. Just because a dollar is spent on our military does not mean it is well spent.

[Forever_frost]

Which of course is why the F22 was canceled. Can't be that far ahead of everyone.

[SMEGMA STENCH]

I thought it had funding problems? Like... I don't know. It was something about the money. Wasn't cost effective or something, VS other shit that we had that would work well enough. Probly just an excuse, though such things can happen.

[no4njnk]

It's not 10,000 any more the want to cut 500,000

[FastFox]

I think 10,000 soldiers is about a division. Since Ft. Hood at Killeen, Texas has I think 2 divisions and a regiment, that the cut will come there. Obama hates Texas anyway.