"Time" Magazine's "Person of the Year&qu

[dai bread]

That article reminds me of the tourists (usually British) who came here for 3 weeks, then went home and wrote a book about us.

The book bore no resemblance to reality of course, but the British readers didn't know that.

Fortunately the practice has stopped. People who write about us now spend some time on the ground.

[shostakovich]

In this week's Time there were 11 letters about the "persons of the year". Three by "Americans" were favorable. One by a U.S marine in Okinawa and seven by "non-Americans" were unfavorable. The complaints were all about war in general or this particular war.
Shos

PS: "Americans" means people of the U.S. in this note. (a friendly reminder of south America and the rest of north America)

[dai bread]

I was re-reading some of this thread, and I noticed that you say troop numbers are down in the U.S. military.

I read in my newspaper of huge increases in military spending in the U.S.; probably more than our entire GDP.

So who's getting the money?

[barfle]

Originally posted by dai bread:
So who's getting the money?

Probably it's going to weapons manufacturers, spare parts manufacturers, and fuel suppliers.

The main expense of an Army isn't the salaries of the soldiers (which is probably true everywhere). It costs a million dollars for a Patriot Missile. That's probably about what Gen. Schwarzkopf drew in salary his entire career. Those tanks that we spent a lot of money airlifting to the middle east are several million dollars each, and for some strange reason, they keep getting attacked, sometimes damaged. Lots of other vehicles are being lost all the time.

And, I would guess that some of it is going into recruitment.

[haggis]

Pretty much what Barfle said. Although until 1995 (when I retired) the only operational deployment of a Abrams tank was when we carried one non-stop from the U.S. to Somalia. I was involved on that mission and can tell you that tanks are VERY expensive to move by air. I recall something like 4 (or 5?) mid-air refulings to get that beast there.

As a percentage of our GDP, defense spending has declined significantly since the end of the cold war (I'm on the road and don't have ready access to the specifics, but I can post them later if you want.

True, some newer weapons systems are expensive and add to the overall tab, but pound for pound, you (Mr/Ms Taxpayer) are getting a lot more bang for your buck than 10 or even 5 years ago.

I can't comment on manpower for the other services without some additional research but I do know that the USAF is smaller now than it was when it began in 1947, centainly much smaller than in 1965 at the beginning of the heavy build up in the air war in Vietnam.

As for salaries, Barfle is pretty close as well. When I joined the USAF I was getting $97.50 a month before taxes and when I retired 28 years later, I was at about $48K a year; the top salary for a senior enlisted NCO (E-9)

A popular saying in the military is the sardonic comment that "I'm only in the Army/Air Force/Navy?Marines for the money."

[haggis]

"probably more than our entire GDP."

Jeez, Dai, you're a sharp guy, google "defense spending vs. GDP."

On average, in the last 5 years or so the U.S. annually spent between 2.9% - 3.1% of it's GDP on defense

[bignaf]

New Zealand's GDP.

[haggis]

Oops, sorry, I stand corrected.

But, heck by that standard (NZs GDP) [joke]the U.S. probably spends more on diet sodas that the NZ GDP!!![/joke]

[dai bread]

Joke accepted, Haggis.

Aussies tell jokes about us all the time. Sample: Q. What's the capital of NZ?
A. About $5.

We tell jokes about them, too, but I can't think of a short one at present.

Thanks, folks, for the info. Once again, I am left speechless with amazement at the size and strength of the U.S. economy.

[piqaboo]

originally posted by daibread:
We tell jokes about them, too, but I can't think of a short one at present.

Or is it that you can't think of a clean one?

[dai bread]

Both. And don't mention sheep!

<small>[ 01-31-2004, 01:20 AM: Message edited by: dai bread ]</small>

[EJA]

Res ipsa loquitur.

[dai bread]

It's a nice memorial.

However I do wonder at the thoughtlessness of the person who put a photo of the artist (who fears for his life apparently) on a forum as public as the internet.