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Nothing on that list has an obvious probability ratio of 1. This is world politics, not a computer simulation. Most government services provide a safety net fo

Nothing on that list has an obvious probability ratio of 1. This is world politics, not a computer simulation. Most government services provide a safety net for minimal-income workers. You take that away, the lower class could quickly become insolvent, threatening our entire social structure. Obviously I'm specifically hitting entitlement, but all government services have people who rely on them, and in most cases the government does them more efficiently than private business can. Military spending secures the US role as world superpower. You take that away and businesses working abroad have a much harder time creating factories with exploitative labor pricing. Prices rise. There is a possible good outcome where factories are forced back into the states, but it's a gamble. Take that stuff away, there's barely 100 billion worth of cuts with a probability ratio with anything approaching 1.

eru 16y ago
> Military spending secures the US role as world superpower. You take that away and businesses working abroad have a much harder time creating factories with exploitative labor pricing. Prices rise. Sounds very outlandish to me. But then, by that understanding, say, Germany is probably just freeriding on American oppression.
- lukeschlather 16y ago
  Yes, but nobody can agree on which cuts have a reasonably small chance of an economic backlash that wipes out the hypothetical cost saving. So it sounds outlandish to you, but there's a large group to which our military budget is a thing of vital importance to the stability of our nation that we cannot cut. Me I'd like to see it drastically reduced, but I'm not going to pretend it's clear the results will be economically positive.