With bipartisan support, the House approves $40B bill to send Ukraine weapons

[VaporTrail]

After hammering Biden for the inflation crisis, only 57 GOP House reps voted against this. The uniparty and their military industrial complex win again. 

Will be fun to see how prioritizing the Ukrainian meat grinder over the American working class works out over the next decade.

[Westside Steve]

If I'm not mistaken the working title was "gasoline on the fire bill."

WSS

[MLD Woody]

We spend what, like $800B on defense each year?

We've been prioritizing military over the working class forever. Ukraine or not

 

[DieHardBrownsFan1]

[DieHardBrownsFan1]

22 minutes ago, MLD Woody said:

We spend what, like $800B on defense each year?

We've been prioritizing military over the working class forever. Ukraine or not

 

Prioritizing the military my ass.  Military gets shit on.  They proritize the Lockheed Martins and the Nortrup Gruman's. 

[MLD Woody]

12 minutes ago, DieHardBrownsFan1 said:

Prioritizing the military my ass.  Military gets shit on.  They proritize the Lockheed Martins and the Nortrup Gruman's. 

Fair enough.

Buy one less jet, give vets better healthcare

[VaporTrail]

2 hours ago, MLD Woody said:

We spend what, like $800B on defense each year?

We've been prioritizing military over the working class forever. Ukraine or not

That degree of funding makes sense when you are fighting against the Soviet empire. A lot less sense when they dissolve and you're fighting insurgencies in backwater countries. And even less sense when you're fighting a proxy war in another backwater country, in which your sanctions have had enormous effects on the global economy.

2 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan1 said:

Prioritizing the military my ass.  Military gets shit on.  They proritize the Lockheed Martins and the Nortrup Gruman's. 

Yeah. Highlights the problem with lobbying. All these retired military "analysts" that they put on the evening news are on Lockheed, Raytheon, Boeing payroll. Would be nice if the news introduced them as lobbyists, but that's probably too much to ask. The defense budget needs to be slashed. 

[calfoxwc]

4 hours ago, VaporTrail said:

The defense budget needs to be slashed. 

no, no, no. Absolutely not.  Money can be redirected, waste slashed, but slash out military budget outright

will lead to US being invaded like the Ukraine..That sounds silly now - but later on, we would be a sitting duck.

Military spending and strength keeps the peace.

Although very, very late - NATO countries have reversed course on military spending - Russian and china would take us out if they could. They can't.

but slash spending, and wwiii could happen right here. Then it's too late to reverse course and try to catch up.

https://www.19fortyfive.com › 2022 › 04 › 5-reasons-cutting-back-on-the-f-35-stealth-fighter-is-a-big-mistake

5 Reasons Cutting Back on the F-35 Stealth Fighter is a Big Mistake

This switch is emblematic of the biggest defect in military acquisition practices: unstable budgets leading to the loss of production efficiency. Aerospace experts have long recognized that buying systems in economic and predictable numbers saves money and promotes sound program management.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com › articles › 2020-02-10 › getting-less

For U.S. Defense Spending, Big Cuts Pose Big Risks - Foreign Affairs

A Gallup poll taken in 2019 found that 25 percent of them think the United States spends too little on its military, 29 percent believe it spends too much, and 43 percent think it is spending about the right amount—a remarkable degree of incoherence for politicians trying to interpret the public's will.

[DieHardBrownsFan1]

6 hours ago, VaporTrail said:

That degree of funding makes sense when you are fighting against the Soviet empire. A lot less sense when they dissolve and you're fighting insurgencies in backwater countries. And even less sense when you're fighting a proxy war in another backwater country, in which your sanctions have had enormous effects on the global economy.

You're forgetting that China has increased their Defense spending and will continue to do so.

[VaporTrail]

7 hours ago, calfoxwc said:

no, no, no. Absolutely not.  Money can be redirected, waste slashed, but slash out military budget outright

will lead to US being invaded like the Ukraine..That sounds silly now - but later on, we would be a sitting duck.

Military spending and strength keeps the peace.

Although very, very late - NATO countries have reversed course on military spending - Russian and china would take us out if they could. They can't.

but slash spending, and wwiii could happen right here. Then it's too late to reverse course and try to catch up.

https://www.19fortyfive.com › 2022 › 04 › 5-reasons-cutting-back-on-the-f-35-stealth-fighter-is-a-big-mistake

5 Reasons Cutting Back on the F-35 Stealth Fighter is a Big Mistake

This switch is emblematic of the biggest defect in military acquisition practices: unstable budgets leading to the loss of production efficiency. Aerospace experts have long recognized that buying systems in economic and predictable numbers saves money and promotes sound program management.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com › articles › 2020-02-10 › getting-less

For U.S. Defense Spending, Big Cuts Pose Big Risks - Foreign Affairs

A Gallup poll taken in 2019 found that 25 percent of them think the United States spends too little on its military, 29 percent believe it spends too much, and 43 percent think it is spending about the right amount—a remarkable degree of incoherence for politicians trying to interpret the public's will.

Have you bothered to look at who is paying the people who write these articles for Foreign Affairs? The author of that article is an employee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSIS is a think tank that was founded during the height of the Cold War for the purpose of understanding an enemy that doesn't exist anymore. These people get paid 6-7 figures, with our tax money, to sit around and circlejerk about military scenarios, 99% of which never happen. Their well would be the first to dry up if defense budget was cut. 

We remain decades ahead of our rivals, militarily. I have a buddy who was an Abrams driver. About 5 years ago, he told me that the Russian T-90 was the most advanced piece of hardware in the world. He said it was better than the Abrams. I think the recorded performance of Russian armor in Ukraine disproves that theory. The new Excalibur artillery that we are sending the UA has the power to decapitate in-theater Russian military leadership. It's accurate to within 18 feet on the first shot. There is already footage of it hitting a moving Russian mechanized column with multiple direct hits. And if you're worried about Chinese expansion, imagine what these will do to a bigger and slower target moving across the Formosa strait. 

We have spent enough money on R&D to the point where the US military versus anyone is like turning on god-mode in a video game. We can afford to back off on the spending and focus on domestic issues. And even if we did not have that technological advantage, we still have a shit ton of guns. No invading force would be able to subject any of our major cities to their rule without razing it to the ground. 

[VaporTrail]

Thank you, Rand.

[MLD Woody]

If you said you thought we should get rid of the penny Cal would argue with you by posting an article written by a zinc industry lobbyist