Health Care Reform Debate-Megathread

[mikekerrIII]

Just like in Canada and Europe and just about everywhere else?

In the US medicine is not a government operations, and is not likey to be within the foreseeable future

[king mob]

It is stupid but it also the current reality, and very unlikely to be changed within our lifetimes.

Ah well, there's no point trying to change anything then is there?

[Castel]

There may be one way to find the money to pay for it without the need for layoffs.

Lol, no wonder there is no money left with such a ridiculously high military budget.

[mikekerrIII]

Ah well, there's no point trying to change anything then is there?

Not soon, since doing so is simply contra-productive.

[mikekerrIII]

Lol, no wonder there is no money left with such a ridiculously high military budget.

try looking at the size of the economies involved, US spending is not that far out of line

[Castel]

try looking at the size of the economies involved, US spending is not that far out of line

Considered how screwed up the economy is, yes, it's way out of line.

I mean, doesn't that bother people that this country spend 10 times more money on the military than for example China ? Are they feeding soldiers with caviar and French wine ? More than 600 bn for god's sake, that's ridiculous.

And to make war against who exactly ? Don't need that much for a war against weak countries like Irak for example. And there is no other country who spend even a tenth of that for their military.

[Nick Soapdish]

try looking at the size of the economies involved, US spending is not that far out of line

It is if you compare them to the next two largest economies - Japan and China. It isn't hugely out of whack if you compare the US to the UK, Germany or France since we only spend about 2-3x what they do per dollar of GDP, but it's easy to see how China has so much room for economic growth compared to us.

[Charles RB]

The US, UK, and France all want to have overseas bases, navies that can go anywhere, and the ability to project force wherever they feel they need to - that costs a lot more than China wanting to project force around its backyard. (Though even there, the US spends vastly more than the UK, France etc)

It all depends on if Americans will feel comfortable if America can't do whatever it wants wherever and has to rely on another country, say, keeping the Strait of Homuz open.

[edhopper]

try looking at the size of the economies involved, US spending is not that far out of line

Yes it is. The combined countries of the European Union, a larger Economy than the United States and a bigger population, spend about a third of what the US spends. It is around 1.6% of GDP, for the US it is almost 5% of GDP.
The US has over 40% of the World's total military spending.

[mikekerrIII]

The US, UK, and France all want to have overseas bases, navies that can go anywhere, and the ability to project force wherever they feel they need to - that costs a lot more than China wanting to project force around its backyard. (Though even there, the US spends vastly more than the UK, France etc)

It all depends on if Americans will feel comfortable if America can't do whatever it wants wherever and has to rely on another country, say, keeping the Strait of Homuz open.

If the US drops things like keeping the straight of Hormuz open loses the capabilities to do things like Libya we can have a much smaller military and that would b a great thing,western Military Spending ding would not go down all that much though since other nations would have to build forces to do things like Protect Taiwan and keep the Straight of Hormuz open. they would have to build military capabilities that they don't possess to replace what the US provides. We can also drop things like our participation in places like Kososvo and Libya the cost of building the tools that we were depended on to provide will change the budgets jets of many countries

[Vibranium]

If the US drops things like keeping the straight of Hormuz open loses the capabilities to do things like Libya we can have a much smaller military and that would b a great thing,western Military Spending ding would not go down all that much though since other nations would have to build forces to do things like Protect Taiwan and keep the Straight of Hormuz open. they would have to build military capabilities that they don't possess to replace what the US provides. We can also drop things like our participation in places like Kososvo and Libya the cost of building the tools that we were depended on to provide will change the budgets jets of many countries

IMO and maybe this is just my bias of having served in the USN in that part of the world, the US being over there keeps North Korea honest, because they are just waiting for any opportunity to take the whole country....otherwise why would a basically isolationist nation field one of the largest ground forces in the world?

[king mob]

Not soon, since doing so is simply contra-productive.

Might as well not bother about doing anything long term then. Might as well just keep things as they are eh?

[mikekerrIII]

Might as well not bother about doing anything long term then. Might as well just keep things as they are eh?

Why take the risk of destroying the progress that has been made? that destruction is very likely if the matter is pushed in the near future.

[thehod]

Why take the risk of destroying the progress that has been made? that destruction is very likely if the matter is pushed in the near future.

Yes, because that's exactly the method by which we've progressed as civilisations over the last 10,000 years.

[mikekerrIII]

IMO and maybe this is just my bias of having served in the USN in that part of the world, the US being over there keeps North Korea honest, because they are just waiting for any opportunity to take the whole country....otherwise why would a basically isolationist nation field one of the largest ground forces in the world?

I just fins it a bit bothersome for folks who want the US to cut it's military budget and not cut the responsibilities that go with it as if the missions and the budgets are not connected. Cutting the budget sharply but keeping the same missions is just a good way to get people killed. that has happened repeatedly