America faces an axis of aggression. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are not only actively undermining US interests. They increasingly seem to be working together.
How should America respond? According to a new report published by Mississippi Senator, Roger Wicker, America needs a new national defense strategy capable of responding to this “emerging axis of aggressors”. “21st Century Peace Through Strength: a generational investment in the US military” offers a serious analysis of US military capabilities and makes some important recommendations. Wicker calls for an immediate $55 billion increase in military spending in 2025, on top of the almost $900 billion existing budget. The aim, he suggests, should be for the United States to spend around 5 percent of GDP on defense. To put that in context, America today spends 3.4 GDP percent on defense, and has not spent more than 5 percent since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. Reagan famously won the Cold War, facing down the Soviet threat by beefing up American strength. Wicker envisions a similar approach in “Peace through Strength”. What is really interesting about Wicker’s proposal is not the call for more money for the military, but his suggestion that there should be a “dramatic increase in competition in the defense industrial base”. Senator Wicker is right. Often, we think of applying free market principles to education or healthcare. There is a very powerful argument for applying free market discipline to defense spending, too. With the national debt growing, it is vital that America gets the maximum bang for every defense buck. Wicker puts forward ideas as to how to make this happen through far reaching “acquisition reform”. Allowing more market competition in the defense sector would help ensure that America avoided the sorry fate of my own native Britain.
The UK spends about $70 billion a year on defense. That might be less than a tenth of what America spends, but it still means that the UK has the sixth largest defense budget in the world, above Japan and roughly on a parr with Russia. Unfortunately, Britain has not been effective at converting what she is able to spend on defense into military muscle. Despite spending all that money, British aircraft carriers seldom seem to carry many aircraft. Indeed, the expensive new carriers don’t always seem to be able to spend much time at sea. The less said about British tanks the better. UK defense acquisition has been a series of costly disasters because the defense budget is often spent in the interests of various favored suppliers, rather than the military. I first became aware of quite how bad British defense acquisition was on a visit to Afghanistan as a Member of the British Parliament. Troops in Helmand complained about a shortage of helicopters, yet I noticed rows of American Black Hawk helicopters on the runway back in Kandahar. Why, I wanted to know, didn’t we Brits just buy Black Hawks from the American company that made them? I soon discovered that British defense acquisition is viewed by some as a giant job creation scheme. Or else it is about filling the order books of well-connected companies, not giving the military what they need. America needs acquisition reform to avoid defense dollars being spent by various vested interests, rather than on the best interests of the US military. Some will say that America cannot afford to increase defense spending. I worry that America cannot afford not to. Years of federal deficits mean than the US national debt is soaring. There will be enormous pressures on federal spending. All the more reason to ensure that the US gets maximum value for every defense dollar. Let’s hope Wicker’s reforms are acted upon whoever is in the White House. So often politics focuses on trivia. What Wicker has done is produce a serious study to address important geo political questions that the United States is going to have to deal with. Putting America first does not mean ignoring what is happening on the other side of the world. Merely wishing away anything outside the Western hemisphere does not make the United States more secure. It ultimately means that the world’s problems will show up at the US border. Putting America first means investing in defense. Wicker shows how we might do that. Douglas Carswell is the President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. MCPP sponsored this post.
43 comments:
Good explanation of the need for defense spending restructuring. And a good plan from Senator Wicker. Defense by strength works!
Military spending is out of control. The easiest solution would be isolationism. Fuck the rest of the world and their problems. Close our borders, kick out everyone that doesn't belong here, and take care of our own.
10:54 you just described the shortest path to war.
@10:54 If we close our borders to others, they will close their borders to us, or haven't you thought of that. We buy a massive amount of goods from other countries and sell them ours. Our largest trading partners are Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, and the UK (in that order). We export nearly a $1Trillion to these countries every year. That's a whole bunch of Americans that would be out of a job - and on welfare.
I get the whole "eff them all! US first!" attitude, and it feels good to say it. Fortunately, the adults in the room recognize that we are ALL better off if we can buy foreign goods and, more importantly, sell our products in foreign countries.
More for defense ?? Really ? We spend more than the top 7 countries in the world combined trying to push our democracy and way of life of them that they don't want. We are not the self-appointed police dept of the world. Pull all of our troops out and close all of our bases around the world and protect just the USA. If they need our help, send them a proposal with an estimate for services. When funds are transferred, only then should be respond.
Our country is $ 34 Trillion in debt and spends more than $ 2 Trillion a year more than we take in from taxes, etc. We need to stop the bleeding and balance the budget before we are broke and turn into Venezuala.
When I saw the title I knew it had to come from Wicker. How about we first stop sending billions upon billions to Ukraine and take care of our own house?
I've read that a $5000 military drone can take out a $1 billion warship.
Always count on the Birchers to show up and show their ignorance. Yeah, pull everything back. Navy is in home waters, no bases anywhere, no nothing overseas. Chinese are making major plays for Africa and South America. Russia is well, Russia. Japan is rearming because our navy is falling behind.
Meanwhile the Houthis are trying to shut down international commerce. What do you think would take place if that happened? Right now it's just driving up prices because shippers are using alternate routes. Shut down international shipping and see what happens to the economy. Let the Iranians shut down the straits and see what happens to the economy. Let's not invest any more money in future fighter planes while the Chicoms get a generation or two ahead of us. That will work out well.
Rome damn near starved to death when it lost the use of the seas as well as the parts of the empire that fed Rome.
As I understand what I read, we, The USA, send weapons to Israel, and aid to Gaza….just doesn’t sit right somehow…no offense to anyone, but if we don’t secure the United States border and looking out for our own country, we won’t be able to help anyone.
Uncontrolled entitlement spending is going to bankrupt us, not defense. Just look at the budget.
KF, our Navy does in fact have bases overseas. Bahrain, Italy (Catania/Sigonella, Naples, Gaeta), Japan (Yokuska), Singapore, Phillipines, Guam, to name a few.
As long as we have the system that we have in place we will always have wars. Politicians don't give a damn about the American soldier. If they run out of volunteers they will draft them. Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex and all that comes with it. Soldiers are expendable as long as palms are getting greased.
Fish, I hope you're not including SSI in "entitlement spending".
Anyone who has ever worked building war machines knows how much money is completely wasted. Aircraft and warships are where money could be saved. They both could be built for 20% of the cost that they are now being built. The shipyard in Mississippi waste billions of $$. Each ship they build could be built for 20% of the cost just by building it right the first time. But if the workers do build them right the first time they will be fired. Every job has to be done at least 8-10 times. The workers have to build it wrong then tear it out and build it wrong again and again.
I have seen something as simple as a light switch be built 6 different times. Everyone knows a light switch is not supposed to be in the ceiling of the room but the blueprint says put it there. After it is put in the ceiling it is inspected then immediately tore out to put the switch on the floor in the back of the room. Same process again, immediately tore out. Just think of the money and equipment we could save if they would let the workers put it in the right spot the first time.
Tripe like this is why I would never donate a dime to Kingfish. Our country is headed towards national bankruptcy because of an overextended empire just as the British Empire in the 1930's and 1940's, but hacks like Wicker and Kingfish can't see it. I'm not going to vote in November, because there is no hope in either Trump or Biden, and Biden's not dropping out of the race.
We need to raise taxes across the board.
We need to increase taxes on imported goods.
We need every American to take out a life insurance policy and leave $50,000 to pay down the debt.
We need NATO to step up and build up their militaries with us.
We need to shut Putin down in his tracks and bomb Iran off the face of the earth.
We need to reduce reliance on Chinese items and make all necessary items in the USA.
We must quit squabbling over sex issues and abortion. Don’t want to do any of it then don’t do it,
We must increase child care support and encourage to have more kids.
We must allow immigrants in the USA to perform the tasks we need them to perform.
If we all work together we can keep this place going,
If we want to cut each other over trivial shit we will fail.
The next war will be fought with AI, drones and malware. I hope we are investing in the right things. From what I can tell when going through TSA or dealing with the IRS, we will be in big trouble.
Did the Birchers not study WWII? Between the members of the Bund( American Nazis) and the fear of communists, we waited too long and 418,500 Americans died as a result. The French isolationists also stayed silent.
And apparently, some of you no longer "get" that communism no longer exists. It failed. What replaced it in the end was one party rule with militaristic underpinings or a dictator or monarch. As an economic system, it failed.
The Trumpsters may get their wish but remember Romans ended up with Caligula single country that expected a "savior" who established one party rule .It may
end the chaos for a short while but it always ends badly. Those regimes " eat their young". They burn the books and kill the intellectuals and the town criers or printers who once spread news. Then all who are left are surprised when things fall apart. Deliberate ignorance and greed and arrogance and false prophets are harbingers.
I would like one of you minds much smarter than me to reconcile the above plan (which I do not oppose) with the following:
Fiscal deficits. We are bankrupting the dollar continuing to run fiscal deficits.
And, most importantly,
In 2023 the Pentagon failed its sixth audit and could not account for 63% of nearly $4 Trillion in Assets.
Who knew George Washington was a Bircher? Washington, for those that care to look, had much to say about foreign entanglements.
Before you say that the world is different now, I want the skeptics, that support our present foreign policy, to list the successes of our military ignorance.
What have we to show for the blood of our soldiers, and the trillions that have been spent on military armaments with no victories?
Our military exist to keep the U.S. dollar as the dominant currency of world trade, and for no other purpose.
Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and the other nations that have, and will, sign on to the BRICS monetary system are a threat to the dominance of the U.S. dollar. Rumors are that India, and Pakistan are soon to follow.
The U.S. military will be used to bully nations not to join BRICS, or abandon the U.S. dollar for trade. Saudi Arabia will soon feel the heat.
For 50 years the U.S., and Saudi Arabia, had an understanding that the U.S. dollar would dominate the petro trading system. Saudi Arabia recently let that agreement lapse, after they had signed on to BRICS.
After that agreement had lapsed, the U.S. main stream media, the propaganda arm of the U.S. government, was linking Saudi Arabia to the 9/11 terror attacks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/new-video-documents-revive-questions-saudi-role-911-attacks-rcna158768
The United Kingdom propaganda wing, also, joined in.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/21/9-11-video-saudi-man-washington
There are reports that say the U.S. has spent over $10 trillion in the first 10 years of the war on terror. The U.S. is $35 trillion in debt.
I'm no Bircher, but I'm no fool, either. It's time for some of y'all to quit being one.
@2:07 PM "...communism no longer exists." Go to Beijing and tell that to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).
They even have their own website: http://cpc.people.com.cn/english/
Let me save you some airfare. Go to Havana and announce the same thing. The commies down there also have a website: https://www.pcc.cu/
Let us know how that works out.
Give me a break. Oh, the geniuses at the Free Market Institute decided the government should pay Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, etc. billions of dollars? How quaint. Good thing nobody important puts much stock in anything out of MS, well on its way to being the union's first failed state.
That entitlement spending has for at least fifty years included Israel and Egypt, and though not an outright gift we let lots of ugly partners by weapons. That’s entitlement spending. Israel bites the hand that feeds them and we bow down, suckers.
Dear Trivial Shit @ 1:02pm:
Have you written your voluntary check to the IRS, and for how much? China, Russia and North Korea all have a mutual defense pact with Iran and all 4 are Nuclear armed. Do you have a nuclear proof bomb shelter for the Armegeddon you advocate?
2:39 pm, half of the weapons and money we spent can't be accounted for. It seems to have disappeared. I have heard you can buy some of the weapons on the dark web.
Who knew George Washington was a Bircher? Washington, for those that care to look, had much to say about foreign entanglements.
Before you say that the world is different now, I want the skeptics, that support our present foreign policy, to list the successes of our military ignorance.
What have we to show for the blood of our soldiers, and the trillions that have been spent on military armaments with no victories?
Our military exist to keep the U.S. dollar as the dominant currency of world trade, and for no other purpose.
Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and the other nations that have, and will, sign on to the BRICS monetary system are a threat to the dominance of the U.S. dollar. Rumors are that India, and Pakistan are soon to follow.
The U.S. military will be used to bully nations not to join BRICS, or abandon the U.S. dollar for trade. Saudi Arabia will soon feel the heat.
For 50 years the U.S., and Saudi Arabia, had an understanding that the U.S. dollar would dominate the petro trading system. Saudi Arabia recently let that agreement lapse, after they had signed on to BRICS.
After that agreement had lapsed, the U.S. main stream media, the propaganda arm of the U.S. government, is linking Saudi Arabia to the 9/11 terror attacks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/new-video-documents-revive-questions-saudi-role-911-attacks-rcna158768
The United Kingdom propaganda wing, also, joined in.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/21/9-11-video-saudi-man-washington
There are reports that say the U.S. has spent over $10 trillion in the first 10 years of the war on terror. The U.S. is $35 trillion in debt.
I'm no Bircher, but I'm no fool, either.
Kingfish @12:06 Here's the news: We're already bankrupt. We would be in receivership if there was a country able AND willing to act in that capacity. I guess we're our own receiver.
Wicker loves pork.
The last time I was in Beijing, I remember heading out the front door of the Regent Hotel and passing by an Aston Martin dealership and a Gucci clothing store on my way to a Peking duck dinner at Beijing Da Dong. Didn't look like communism to me.
Senator Joe McCarthy was right. I am old enough to remember those hearings.
@6:36 PM - You don't have a clue about communism. In the old Soviet Union there were car dealerships, but only for the party elite. There were highways with a traffic lane only for the party elite. There were upscale, well stocked supermarkets, but only for the party elite.
There were vacation homes (dachas) in the country, but only for the party elite.
Good old Wicker - servant of the military/industrial complex.
They only military spending an America that stayed within its Constitutional limits as a federal government would need would be enough to defend our own borders. Funny how “isolationist” Switzerland has managed to engage in trade with the rest of the world without being involved in any of the 20th or 21st century wars.
The country is bankrupt and the dollar has been almost destroyed by the welfare/warfare state and the Federal Reserve that has enabled said state. Kingfish is right in that entitlement spending is the main culprit, however the bloated military spending has certainly played a large part. Just look at the trillions wasted in Afghanistan and Iraq that accomplished absolutely nothing. Same with Vietnam, Korea, and both World Wars. Read “War is a Racket” by General Smedley Butler.
Wicker and the rest of the neoconservatives are leading us right onto WWIII for no good reason. The US empire is over with and they can’t accept that. Quit antagonizing Russia and China and let them handle their own hemisphere. We meddle for the sake of international corporations and bankers, not for “freedom” or “democracy’
“. It’s all lies.
@11:25
How many wars has Switzerland been involved in the last 50 years?
For all the spending on this bad-ass US military, we have little to show for it. WWII was a win in the Pacific; but Russia did the heavy lifting in Europe, then Eisenhower held Stalin's cloak while the Red Army took Berlin. Then the Allies turned Eastern Europe over to the Soviets for a half century of butchery.
Korea was a draw at best.
Vietnam, big, bad US war machine had its ass handed back to it, whupped by 4-foot tall rice farmers.
Six-Day War, the USS Liberty -- shhhh. Can't talk about that one.
Afghanistan, big, bad US war machine had its ass handed back to it, whupped this time by 5-foot-tall goat herders in sandals carry AK-47s, all the whiz-bang wonder weapons for nothing.
There were a few what might be called wins: Iraq -- well, no, not Iraq; Grenada (no standing army); Panama (an armed force for political control but not defense).
What am I getting for my money here? Washington has billions for Israel, billions more for Ukraine, money every penny of which needs to be spent on you and and me and our American infrastructure.
I'm not buying your line that military spending keeps us safe from foreign powers. None of them can project any such force you should fear here in your crumbling home. The US projecting its force abroad is more "you'll do what we tell you to." This is Washington as playground bully while the American populace cheerleads the show of force.
Enough is enough.
July 13, 2024 at 10:30 AM, that was very, very, very well put.
July 12, 2024 at 9:15 PM - Wow! You've got to be really full of yourself to make such a broad statement, while completely missing the differentiation between observations in China vs the former Soviet Union.
Have you been to Beijing and Shanghai, and the industrial/business centers in Nanjing, Wuxi, and Guangzhou? I think not as you'd have a much different perspective.
Today, the middle class in China (RMB 60,000 to 500,000/yr) represents over 50% of their population and 20% of the global middle class. The Brookings Institute forecasts that by 2027 China will have 1.2 BILLION people in the middle class. BTW - currently 50% of the US population is in the middle class here, but it's shrinking.
July 13, 2024 at 11:24 AM, so, you're saying communism is better than the current system in the U.S.? When are you moving, comrade?
1:02, please explain why you even read this blog if KF is such a hack and the blog is not important enough for you to support.
Seriously, what/who is a Birch/er?
@ 2:14 PM - Not at all. Read it again slower this time. China is not practicing true communism. While they have an authoritarian for of government, their commitment to abolishing capitalism is far from convincing.
Reading through these responses is terribly depressing. Good thing tomorrow is Sunday and I can attend Sunday School.
Before I go...Hello to Kingfish at 2:50 p.m. who owns the board but claims he never responds as anonymous.
July 13, 2024 at 3:36 PM, John Birch Society.
July 13, 2024 at 4:29 PM, don't be shy, comrade. You spoke in such glowing terms of their wonderful middle-class, I was sure you were pen pals with comrade Bernie Sanders.
There are many that openly confess their love of the Chinese Communist Party. See, they don't hide their communistic proclivity, they put it in the name. Are you telling me you don't know what CCP stands for? Your secret is safe with us.
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