US Defense Spending 'Cost vs Affordability'

[Kat Tsun]

How many strykers are getting bought each year? It's not like we're just standing up Stryker brigades and having to buy all the vehicles.

GDLS Canada received a $715 million contract for -A1 Strykers last year.

We're replacing the entire fleet just in time for the trade war. Thankfully it's a fixed price contract, so it only hurts General Dynamics.

 

[Scott Kenny]

What Trump is doing is an interesting crossroad. He is flexing the power of the president in order to reduce the size of the federal government.

My personal schaderfreude is that Trump is using Obama (and other D pres) constructions to do it.

GDLS Canada received a $715 million contract for -A1 Strykers last year.

We're replacing the entire fleet just in time for the trade war. Thankfully it's a fixed price contract, so it only hurts General Dynamics.

With Ontario alone looking at 500k jobs lost, I don't think the trade war will continue for very long.

 

[NMaude]

With Ontario alone looking at 500k jobs lost, I don't think the trade war will continue for very long.

Canada will retaliate with counter-tariffs if Trump implements them also Trump doesn't seem to understand that by imposing them he's shooting the US in its' collective economic foot.

 

[Scott Kenny]

Canada will retaliate with counter-tariffs if Trump implements them also Trump doesn't seem to understand that by imposing them he's shooting the US in its' collective economic foot.

I think the balance of payments is pretty firmly in the US favor on this one.

 

[NMaude]

I think the balance of payments is pretty firmly in the US favor on this one.

Accept that a lot of automotive manufacturing (Both cars and spare-parts) is done in Canada (Along with Mexico) for example, this will fail spectacularly but then Trump does have a room-temperature IQ.

 

[Kat Tsun]

With Ontario alone looking at 500k jobs lost, I don't think the trade war will continue for very long.

The U.S. literally started it. Only the U.S. can end it.

Given Trump's track record, it will not end, and the Big Three automakers and General Dynamics are going to be feeling pretty sad in 18-24 months time. Trump, unlike most 21st century Presidents, also never had a major war. We have yet to see how he might react if/when a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 occurs that pushes the U.S. into an immediate major regional conflict.

I think the balance of payments is pretty firmly in the US favor on this one.

It won't. The only country that can readily weather a trade war would be Russia, France, Germany, and PRC all as demonstrated. Relatively speaking, the United States is actually in the worst possible position because it is the world's largest net importer and evidently lacks the administrative foresight to include a massive industrial subsidy and retraining program with its "reshoring" idea. Lacking that, this will simply replicate the problems of the Rust Belt nationwide: businesses won't be able to afford increasing overhead as there's little government effort to offset the costs of simply being in the market.

The USSR survived mainly because it balanced a lack of imports with a strong support of domestic industry. It then extended this to the rest of the COMECON like Cuba, Nicaragua, and North Korea. Once that support disappears, you're left with a lack of imports, but also a commensurate lack of subsidy, which just causes economic backsliding.

Not say that the United States will become Venezuela. That would be too far. It might become the UK though, and maybe in a few decades it (like the UK) will wake up, and find itself rejuvenated enough to build a respectable navy or something. CVF was kind of impressive in a dreary way but it's more genuinely impressive if you have contemporary early 1990s books confidently stating that CVF is impossible and the UK should simply settle for a pair or triplet of Invincibles instead.

 

[bobbymike]

Hmm

 

[Kat Tsun]

Hmm

An accurate measure would be China's tech sector and Europe's banks. Huawei and ZTE dominate European markets for 5G, for instance.

 

[Colonial-Marine]

An accurate measure would be China's tech sector and Europe's banks. Huawei and ZTE dominate European markets for 5G, for instance.

The EU allows this given likely security concerns?

 

[Halcyon66]

Globally China has made multiple investment in sensitive areas and the most countries allowed it.

Ports, telecoms, water, electricity and the list goes on.

For instance,

China has invested billions in ports around the world. This is why the West is so concerned

Donald Trump claims China ‘operates’ the Panama Canal. This isn’t quite right, but China’s investment in shipping infrastructure globally has made many countries jittery.

theconversation.com

Regards,

 

[Aubi]

When any country can block basically anything, EU can't effectively prohibit Chinese influence from sensitive areas. Our former president was in love with China, visiting it several times with a bunch if businessmen in tow. All while the head of his office was a shady guy without security clearance. Now there's Orbán and Fico in similar role.

 

[Joint Soviet Fighter]

There is no real border issue, it was all just campaign propaganda in order to institute tariffs that will wreck the economy and greatly increase the cost of military equipment.

Bingo.

 

[Joint Soviet Fighter]

Yes and No. Dem led congress during Nixon did try to limit him but it's not clear cut philosophical alignments of the parties. They did that with W Bush. However, GOP led Congress tried to limit Obama and sued his use of executive powers. Every president dem or republican have always pushed for more authority and every opposing congress when led by the other party had always argued that such and such powers belonged to Congress.

In general conservatives' fundamental tenet is to reduce the powers of the executive branch, which including downsizing the federal government AND reducing the powers of the president and hand those powers back to Congress. What Trump is doing is an interesting crossroad. He is flexing the power of the president in order to reduce the size of the federal government.

No - Trump is taking a YUGE wrecking ball to the rule of law in this country in order to establish a dictatorship.

 

[Apophenia]

I think the balance of payments is pretty firmly in the US favor on this one.

You're right. And that balance of payments is the direct result of US car-makers working their cross-border advantages for half a century. So go ahead and abruptly halt the delivery of Canadian-made components. Then quickly find some really clever solution for the current personnel shortages and/or work force skill deficiencies being reported by 74% of US manufacturers .

Meanwhile, in Canada, consumer boycotts will likely extend to include US car-maker subsidiaries (who, in any case, will suddenly be demanding higher prices to account for all those countervailed US-made components).

That's all guesswork, of course. But is it plausible? A kind of limited precedent can be cited from Jan 2025. For purely political reasons, Tesla sales dropped 70% in Canada within one month. Perhaps the same fate will befall the offerings from GM Canada, Ford Canada, and Stellantis Canada?

 

[Halcyon66]

When any country can block basically anything, EU can't effectively prohibit Chinese influence from sensitive areas.

You can say that again.............

MEPs cry foul as Strasbourg Airport buys Chinese scanners

Nuctech equipment will scan kit passing through one of European Parliament members’ favorite transport hubs.

www.politico.eu

Security Scanners Across Europe Tied to China Government, Military

At some of the world’s most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to China’s military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party. The World Economic Forum in Davos. Europe’s largest ports. Airports from...

www.voanews.com

Off topic yet a cause for concern.

Regards,

 

[Kat Tsun]

The EU allows this given likely security concerns?

The US is presenting far more significant security concerns. The PRC wants to build airport scanners and railroad links. The US wants to seize Greenland. Comparatively, America is behaving more like Russia while the PRC is behaving like America. That is the issue the EU has and one America doesn't seem to, or want to, understand under the current leadership.

At best it results in a cooling relationship with the EU being neither friend nor foe, but snuggling up closer to the PRC, to keep the economy moving. At worst it results in a joint trade alliance between EU and PRC to target America with sanctions, like how the US and EU have successfully isolated Iran or Russia, in an attempt to stop America from being an aggressive revisionist power.

 

[donnage99]

My personal schaderfreude is that Trump is using Obama (and other D pres) constructions to do it.

As an independent, this fills me with sadness. The partisanship through the echo chambers of the internet has made it so that even something is bad for the country in the long run, as long as you get your dunk on the other side, you happy about it. It's not a republic anymore. It's a sport game.

Imagine in a distant future, this interpretation of executive powers is now in the hand of a ultra left president, or someone who the Chinese successfully brainwashed through the bubble of misinformation targeting his/her social media footprint, unilaterally terminated cyber command so Chinese can steal info on missile defense network.

Like this but x10 on the F*K America meter:

Exclusive: Hegseth orders Cyber Command to stand down on Russia planning

The secretary of Defense has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions, sources tell Recorded Future News.

therecord.media

 

[Scott Kenny]

As an independent, this fills me with sadness. The partisanship through the echo chambers of the internet has made it so that even something is bad for the country in the long run, as long as you get your dunk on the other side, you happy about it. It's not a republic anymore. It's a sport game.

Imagine in a distant future, this interpretation of executive powers is now in the hand of a ultra left president, or someone who the Chinese successfully brainwashed through the bubble of misinformation targeting his/her social media footprint, unilaterally terminated cyber command so Chinese can steal info on missile defense network.

Like this but x10 on the F*K America meter:

Exclusive: Hegseth orders Cyber Command to stand down on Russia planning

The secretary of Defense has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions, sources tell Recorded Future News.

therecord.media

Considering that I expect Trump to demolish the agency at the end of his term, after he's pruned the gooberment bureaucrazy down to a more reasonable scale, that'll be hard to do. Since first they would have to create a new agency to do what they want, have said agency survive legal challenges, have the changes survive legal challenges, and then have said changes happen.