At this point you’re just making a semantic argument about the word “massive”. The impact of that 11% cut in spending was massive; between 1990 and 1998, manpow

At this point you’re just making a semantic argument about the word “massive”. The impact of that 11% cut in spending was massive; between 1990 and 1998, manpower dropped from 2.18 million to 1.59 million and the total number of active ships in the Navy dropped from 570 to 344. The total budget didn’t drop by a similar proportion because there are a lot of expenses that are much less flexible; it’s not simply a matter of employing fewer personnel and buying less equipment.