4 ms·

"Improves defense" is such a canard. The US outspends every other military power on earth by a zillion to 1. And most of it is unaudited and except for the rare

"Improves defense" is such a canard. The US outspends every other military power on earth by a zillion to 1. And most of it is unaudited and except for the rare whisteblowing, we don't really know how much is a total waste. We can absolutely afford to shift a few billion to hard science.

OrvalWintermute 4y ago
The problem is, you are using an unlike comparison. We as Americans pay based on US salaries, US cost of living, etc. This is why many choose to use Military Purchasing Power Parity (MPPP) [1] instead. MPPP can explain why the USSR had at one point a truly gigantic force regardless of the spend. This explains part of the story around how huge China's military force is becoming [2] Another element to consider is how much of the entire US government (federal, state, local, and tribal) and US industry could be operationally controlled by the US Commander-in-Chief during wartime. China for example could be expected to have unity of command across the board. We wouldn't, despite things like the Defense production Act [3] Yet one other factor is the amount of unidentified military units, such as China's Fishing Fleet [4] (Chinese Maritime Militia) that serve as a somewhat disguised extension to their Navy. For force parity comparisons, you'd have to total up their Navy, their coast guard, and their CMM fleet. [1] https://voxeu.org/article/why-military-purchasing-power-parity-matters https://voxeu.org/article/why-military-purchasing-power-pari... [2] https://www.cassandracapital.net/post/the-colossal-scale-of-china-s-military-buildup https://www.cassandracapital.net/post/the-colossal-scale-of-... [3] https://www.fema.gov/disaster/defense-production-act https://www.fema.gov/disaster/defense-production-act [4] https://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-covert-naval-fleet-disguised-fishing-boats-2017-6?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-covert-naval-fleet...

OrvalWintermute 4y ago

The problem is, you are using an unlike comparison. We as Americans pay based on US salaries, US cost of living, etc. This is why many choose to use Military Purchasing Power Parity (MPPP) [1] instead. MPPP can explain why the USSR had at one point a truly gigantic force regardless of the spend. This explains part of the story around how huge China's military force is becoming [2] Another element to consider is how much of the entire US government (federal, state, local, and tribal) and US industry could be operationally controlled by the US Commander-in-Chief during wartime. China for example could be expected to have unity of command across the board. We wouldn't, despite things like the Defense production Act [3] Yet one other factor is the amount of unidentified military units, such as China's Fishing Fleet [4] (Chinese Maritime Militia) that serve as a somewhat disguised extension to their Navy. For force parity comparisons, you'd have to total up their Navy, their coast guard, and their CMM fleet. [1] https://voxeu.org/article/why-military-purchasing-power-parity-matters https://voxeu.org/article/why-military-purchasing-power-pari... [2] https://www.cassandracapital.net/post/the-colossal-scale-of-china-s-military-buildup https://www.cassandracapital.net/post/the-colossal-scale-of-... [3] https://www.fema.gov/disaster/defense-production-act https://www.fema.gov/disaster/defense-production-act [4] https://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-covert-naval-fleet-disguised-fishing-boats-2017-6?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-covert-naval-fleet...