Saturday, February 16, 2019
It's coming. US Debt is on the verge of wrecking our defense budget...
via Breaking Defense.
A senior Pentagon official said Thursday he expects some belt tightening in upcoming defense budgets as the national debt eats up more and more of Washington’s money.
Alan Shaffer, deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said at the WEST conference here that he’s “not terribly optimistic” about future growth. Some hard choices lay ahead, he warned, on what programs will push forward and which ones die off.
Story here.
“We’re going to have enormous pressure on reducing the debt which means that defense spending — I’d like to tell you it’s going to keep going up — [but] I’m not terribly optimistic,” he said.
Federal debt payments are expected to be larger than the entire defense budget by 2025, the Congressional Budget Office estimated just last month. As a result of that pressure, the Pentagon will have to make a “stronger effort” to identify which programs it simply cannot cut or scale back, while making hard choices elsewhere.
This.
This is why!
This is why I post stories about the economy!
Defense guys. Guys interested in the military and all things with regard to the military, international affairs etc....MUST BECOME AT LEAST a bit associated with economic issues.
What does this mean? It means hard times ahead for our defense procurement and even our force structure.
That 6th gen jet to replace the F-35? Expect that to be pushed out because there will be no money. The F-35? Expect numbers to be cut. The CH-53K? 200 is a joke. we'll be lucky to get 150 to replace the CH-53E on a one for one basis. The list goes on.
Tough times ahead...and the Pentagon (even though this has been shouted about since at least 2010) isn't ready.
Friday, February 15, 2019
Eating out of garbage trucks is the new reality in Venezuela...
Venezuelan students don't have meals to come home to and are forced to eat garbage. pic.twitter.com/jrX0MmWsep— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) February 11, 2019
Warning! Conspiracy Theory Ahead!
Do you remember the build up to Gulf War 1 and the Iraqi Invasion? Do you remember the build up to the operation in Afghanistan?
It all started with a massive effort to explain to the public why it was necessary for us to get it done.
Now let me show my age.
Do you remember the buildup to landing troops in Somalia? This one is unique because the whole basis of the thing wasn't to defend us from possible threats or to defend allies. That op was based on the optics of starving Somalians.
It was humanitarian.
I don't know if the above pic is real or not. I hope it isn't. But whether it is or not isn't the point. The point is I'm getting whiffs of the same buildup in Venezuela that I remember from Somalia. Heart wrenching scenes of people doing things that we would deem beyond belief in order to eat. Cries of outrage from experts that the US must lead. Explanations to the public that if we don't do X then we face the ramifications of our inaction and will deal with a worse Y.
I really do hope that this is all nonsense and I need some sleep but think about it before you punt the idea into orbit.
Do you remember the build up to Gulf War 1 and the Iraqi Invasion? Do you remember the build up to the operation in Afghanistan?
It all started with a massive effort to explain to the public why it was necessary for us to get it done.
Now let me show my age.
Do you remember the buildup to landing troops in Somalia? This one is unique because the whole basis of the thing wasn't to defend us from possible threats or to defend allies. That op was based on the optics of starving Somalians.
It was humanitarian.
I don't know if the above pic is real or not. I hope it isn't. But whether it is or not isn't the point. The point is I'm getting whiffs of the same buildup in Venezuela that I remember from Somalia. Heart wrenching scenes of people doing things that we would deem beyond belief in order to eat. Cries of outrage from experts that the US must lead. Explanations to the public that if we don't do X then we face the ramifications of our inaction and will deal with a worse Y.
I really do hope that this is all nonsense and I need some sleep but think about it before you punt the idea into orbit.
FNSS -- Protected Mobility at Your Service for 30 Years
I'm a huge fan of the big boys...BAE, Rhienmetall, General Dynamics, Patria, Nexter...the list goes on.
But I'm also a fan of those middle guys that are moving up fast and doing it the right way.
FNSS is one of them.
Have any view you want of their govt but this company is rocking. Even better they're buying designs and improving them (PARS) or they're doing smart team ups to get better.
If you hate Chinese theft then you should love FNSS' approach. They're doing it right and I'm a fan.
Did McCabe (Former Acting FBI Director) admit to considering a coup?
via CNN
Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is confirming for the first time publicly that there were high-level discussions at the Justice Department about recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office in the aftermath of former FBI Director James Comey's firing.Story here.
The discussions also included speculation about which Cabinet members could be on board with the idea, McCabe said in an interview with CBS's Scott Pelley. According to Pelley on "CBS This Morning" Thursday, McCabe confirmed the discussion among Justice Department officials. This segment of the interview, which was taped for "60 Minutes," was not aired Thursday morning.
McCabe, who was fired from the FBI last March, also said he ordered an investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice as a way to preserve ongoing inquiries into Russian election meddling in case there was an effort to terminate them.
By now you've all heard this story but to me this is stunning.
First. I'm not a fan of Trump. I do like some of his policies. I do not like the idiotic tweeting, the inability to form a complete sentence and his tendency to vacillate on issues to the point of confusing everyone in the room.
Having said all that.
This is proof of a deep state. They can roll out whatever evidence they want at this point and I will still believe that this was a coordinated campaign by people that were philosophically opposed to a duly elected president of the United States.
This threat came from within.
It does not come from Russia.
A few advertisements and trolling various factions inside our country couldn't be 1/1000's as damaging as this is.
The reality?
We're all serfs. There are certain officials that feel that they know better, are better and must lead we the sheep.
It's offensive on every level. But forget me. What do you think?
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