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Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule
Given that the distance from China's border to Tehran is 3000 miles (or the distance from DC to SF approximately), I don't think we are going to see a vast tank column headed that way anytime soon. No those tanks are going to guard a border to their north where another military power just might be more of a concern to china. IF though an 8000 tank strong column approached Iran (through India who just happens to have nuclear bombs) I think they just might meet a little resistance before our military was called upon.
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Probably not, but China doesn't have to go through India. And if whatever the circumstance was that China was rolling tanks into the Middle East to control the oil supplies I don't expect they would have too much concern about or resistance from India without our involvement.
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again given that China won't have any fighters produced before 2020, and we will have 1100, I think we are ok.
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Given that we would be massively outnumbered in troops and tanks we would need all the air power we have. Also, actual delivery of the F-35 isn't scheduled until 2016.
This reinforces my point that the F16 & F18s are very near the end of their life cycle and the F-35 production is needed for their replacement so we don't waste $$$ on a stop-gap measure.
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Here is the first (and only) argument for me which is semi valid. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with military necessity, or the value of the program, but simply a logistical question. Now if this is the rationale for keeping this program going, I am assuming you were in favor of the various auto maker bailouts through the years, and 0 unemployment policies that say it's in the States interest to make sure all it's citizens have high paying specialized jobs?
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You know me better than that. The automakers should've went into bankruptcy to shed the bad labor deals that were crushing them and restructure their debt. If a state wants to implement some sort of 0 unemployment policy...well we both know they won't be solvent very long and will be like CA & NY, shortly hitting Uncle Sam up for a bailout.
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Budget realities should dictate, when our defense is not at stake. If we can't legitimately scale back this type of mammoth program when there is no real aggressor in the next few years than I would imagine we never will be able to.
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Our defense is at stake. And by eliminating the F-35B (VTOL version, which I agree can be eliminated) there will be significant savings and rollouts to the AF & Navy will be faster.
BTW, This is a multi-year program and Secretary Gates has already improved oversight and withheld performace $$$ from the contractors. Again, no problem with killing the USMC version, but delaying or killing the F-35 is the wrong move. Let's say the costs increase to $ 350B for the program, and the planes are delivered over 10 years, we're looking at about $ 35B / yr.
What are some other things the Fed spends over $ 35B / yr on?
- Interest on the debt in 2009 - $ 187B / yr. Anything tangible, nope.
- Medicare & Medicaid - $ 676B / yr., some estimates are 20% is fraud, let's be conservative and say 10% is fraud, that's $ 67B / yr. Anything tangible here, nope just "waisted" (per FD) Fed $$$.
- Social Security - $ 678B / yr., let's say fraud there is at 5%, another $ 34B, more wasted Fed $$$.
How about these duplicate programs (as of 2005, it's certainly worse now):
- 342 economic development programs;
130 programs serving the disabled;
130 programs serving at-risk youth;
90 early childhood development programs;
75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities;
72 federal programs dedicated to assuring safe water;
50 homeless assistance programs;
45 federal agencies conducting federal criminal investigations;
40 separate employment and training programs;
28 rural development programs;
27 teen pregnancy programs;
26 small, extraneous K-12 school grant programs;
23 agencies providing aid to the former Soviet republics;
19 programs fighting substance abuse;
17 rural water and waste-water programs in eight agencies;
17 trade agencies monitoring 400 international trade agreements;
12 food safety agencies;
11 principal statistics agencies; and
- Four overlapping land management agencies.